他怎麼沒來？

What prevented him from coming?

How come he didn't show up?

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 他 tā
  1. (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his
  2. (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日 tārì and 他人 tārén)
2 怎麼 zěnme
  1. how?
  2. what?
  3. why?
=3 沒 méi (negative prefix for verbs) have not; not
=3 沒 mò
  1. drowned
  2. to end
  3. to die
  4. to inundate
4 來 lái
  1. to come
  2. (used as a substitute for a more specific verb)
  3. hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來 huílai)
  4. ever since (as in 自古以來 zìgǔyǐlái)
  5. for the past (amount of time)
  6. (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 來世 láishì)
  7. (between two verbs) in order to
  8. (after a round number) approximately
  9. (used after 得 dé to indicate possibility, as in 談得來 tándelái, or after 不 bù to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不來 chībulái)