how should I know

English

Alternative forms

• how am I to know
• how do I know
• how would I know

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

how should I know?

1. A rhetorical question asked to show that the person asking it neither knows the answer nor would be able to know it.

Synonyms

• I don't know
• God knows
• who knows

Translations

Translations

• Dutch: weet ik veel
• Finnish: mistä minä tietäisin?
• French: qu’est-ce que j’en sais ?
• Polish: bo ja wiem (pl)
• Russian: отку́да я зна́ю? (otkúda ja znáju?), отку́да мне знать? (otkúda mne znatʹ?)

References

• “how should I know”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “how should do I know” (US) / “how should do I know” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “how should I know how am I to know how do I know” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.