GERMAN QUESTION! What's the difference between "warum" and "wieso"?

Question

This isn't a trick question or anything, I really wanna know. Because I think that they both mean "why"... so.. what's the difference?

Answer 1

"Warum" is generally used as "why" for most common circumstances. If I'm correct, there really isn't a huge difference beyond contextual usage. Oxford lists them both as "why," and since wieso is easily read as a contraction of "how" and "so", à la "how so", think of wieso to belong to th question "how does that work," while "warum" would belong to "why is this that way."

Hope that makes since! It's really all quite indefinite and contextual.

Answer 2

The natives claim that it is basically the same.
http://de.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...
I think wieso is a deeper "why", like you are asking why and how come at the same time.

Answer 3

warum is basicacly why and wieso is basically how come

Warum bist du hier?
Wieso bist du hier?

why are u here ?
how come u r here?

Answer 4

Wieso is really how is that and warum is why.

Answer 5

they both mean the same :

but literally, they are:

warum: why

wie-so: why -so/ is that?