Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
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も Particle (Even / As Many As)

も Particle (Even / As Many As)

もParticle (Even / As many as) Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Particle

Essential Meaning: Even / As many as / As much as / As long as

Construction: 

  • Noun + も
    • E.g. 漢字かんじも [Even kanji]
  • Quantifier + も
    • E.g. 百人ひゃくにんも [As many as 100 people]
  • Singular Counter + も
    • E.g. 一人ひとりも [Not even one person]
  • WH-Question Word + も
    • E.g. だれも [Nobody]
    • E.g. なにも [Nothing]
  • Verb ます-Form + もしない
    • E.g. 食たべもしない [X Doesn’t even eat X]

Notes:

  • も (Even / As many as) is an emphatic extension of も (Too / As Well). The precise meaning of も (Even / As many as) depends on the preceding parts of speech.
    • With plural quantifiers (e.g. 五十ごじゅう [Fifty], 百人ひゃくにん [100 people], ３本ぼん [3 long items], etc.), Xも means “As many as X” (e.g. “I have as many as 1000 friends“). The implication is that the quantity is high, significant, praiseworthy, et cetera.
      • E.g. 私わたしは漢字かんじを八千はっせんも知しっている。[I know as many as 8000 kanji.]
    • With singular quantifiers (e.g. 一人ひとり [One person], 一つひとつ [One thing]), Xも means “Even one X“. It is typically used with a negative verb to mean “Not even one X” (e.g. “I don’t even have a single friend“).
      • E.g. そのパーティーには女おんなの子こは一人ひとりも来こなかった。[Not a single girl came to that party.]
    • With a Noun phrase, Xも simply means “Even X“. The implication is that the agent in the sentence can do other things, and they can do X as well. The fact that they can do X is noteworthy or surprising.
      • E.g. グレッグさんはこんな難むずかしい漢字かんじも読よめる。[Greg can read even a difficult kanji such as this one.]
    • With a Verb ます-Form, Xも is always followed by a negative form of する. The meaning is that the agent “Doesn’t even do X” (e.g. “I don’t even drink tea“).
      • E.g. ナンシーは私わたしの話はなしを聞ききもしない。[Nancy doesn’t even listen to what I say.]
    • Lastly, there are various idiomatic forms of WH-Question Words + も to remember.
      • E.g. いつも [Always]
      • E.g. どこも [Anywhere]
      • E.g. どちらも [Both / Neither]
      • E.g. どうも [Somehow]
      • E.g. なにも (only w/ negative verb) [Nothing]
      • E.g. だれも (only w/ negative verb) [Nobody]

Example Sentences:

ハリスさんはこんなやさしい漢字かんじも読よめない。[Mr. Harris can’t even read easy Kanji.]

私わたしは漢字かんじを八千はっせんも知しっている。[I know as many as 8000 kanji.]

私わたしは漢字かんじを一つひとつも知しらない。[I don’t even know a single kanji.]

私わたしは何なにも食たべなかった。[I didn’t eat anything.]

ナンシーは私わたしの話はなしを聞ききもしない。[Nancy doesn’t even listen to me.]

春男はるおは一年生いちねんせいのたし算ざんもまともにできない。[Haruo can’t even do first grade addition correctly.]

今日きょうは車くるまが十台じゅうだいも売うれた。[Today I sold as many as 10 cars.]

だれもそのことをしりません。[Nobody knows about that.]

私わたしは木村きむらさんがくれた本ほんをまだ見みもしていない。[I haven’t even looked at the book that Mr. Kimura lent me yet.]

WILD Examples:

も (Even / As many as) is used repeatedly throughout this song. The first line is: テレビもねぇ、ラジオもねえ、車くるまもそれほど走ってねぇ [There aren’t even TV, there aren’t even radios, cars don’t even drive through very often] The joke is that the singer’s town is totally bereft of entertainment and liveliness, so he wants to move to Tokyo. By the way, ねぇ is just a casual way of saying ない.
Listen to this line at 0:51: ねぇ、これ欲ほしい？、２０個こもあるの [Hey, do you want this? There’s as many as 20 things in here.]

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