Structure
Noun + も
Details
Part of Speech
Particle
Word Type
Linking Particle
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Standard
About も
も can mean 'too/also', or 'even', or 'neither/either', depending on if the sentence is affirmative or negative. Multiple meanings like this are quite common for Japanese particles, as there is no need to use different words simply to agree with other statements in the sentence (unlike English).
As you can see here, English requires 'either/neither (when negative)', or 'too/also', but Japanese only requires も. You can think of it as simply meaning 'Whatever is true for (A), is also true for (B)'.
も is part of many other compound grammar structures in which it keeps its original meaning, but shifts the nuance a little bit. Some of these include でも, にも～ない, とも. As we can see, it is frequently paired with other particles!
Here, も can be seen pairing with で. This suggests that 'With (A), (B) also'. This is regularly translated simply as 'but' in English, despite the nuance being closer to 'and also'.
Synonyms
Examples
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あなたもトムです。
You are also Tom.
私も。
Me too.
彼も先生です。
He is also a teacher.
服も古い。
The clothes, too, are old.
君も、忙しい。
You are also busy.
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も – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (12 in total)
IcyIceBear
I wouldn’t say it’s outright wrong.
“The car is fast, but dangerous” the car is still both fast and also dangerous. The difference is that one implies a negative attribute.
Scyamntic
Yeah good callout, I was just about to update to mention that technically you can make the case that “but” and “and” are pretty similar in function in this case. But it seemed a little too “extra”
Gambarre
Thank you so much both! Language can be so subtle. It was the implied negativity with “but” vs additional statement of “also” that threw me. So interesting. Thank you for the examples, gives me a better overall understanding of the sentence construction and your responses are much appreciated!
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