Structure
Noun + も
Details
Particle
Linking Particle
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!
Although this was a pairing of で and も as individual structures in the past, in modern Japanese, でも is considered its own word. This is most often translated simply as 'but' in English, despite the nuance sometimes being 'While (A), also (B)', which highlights more clearly the historical concept.
Related
Examples
--:--
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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A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 247
Genki I
Page 37
Genki I
Page 81
Genki I 2nd Edition
Page 65
Genki I 2nd Edition
Page 111
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 35
みんなの日本語 I
Page 14 [CH 1]
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も – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (16 in total)
Marcus_Aseth
Regarding the sentence “車は速い、でも危ない” , I went ahead and did some more digging:
I went and checked “A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar”, page 111 (でも).
The description of this grammar point is "The te-form of desu + mo “even”, example sentences:先生でも間違う・間違います。
Even a teacher makes mistakes.私は難しい仕事でもする・します。
I will even do a difficult job.ここからでも富士山が見える・見えます。
Even from here you can see Mt. Fuji.Notice that in all 9 example sentence this でも always follow a noun, or a particle as in the case of からでも, which makes sense because if we wanted to use this “even” with an i-adjective it would turn into ても, for example:
安くても美味しい。
Even if it’s cheap, it’s tasty.So let’s go back to the sentence 車は速い、でも危ない.
If you really want to force this でも meaning on it would be
車は速くても危ない。<...
izubizu
hello , I am new to Bunpro
I want to ask about the very first exampler- 私も先生です Does it mean -“Me as well (as you), I am a teacher” , or " I am a teacher as well as other things"
casual
Welcome to the forums!
Japanese particles are post-positional, meaning they apply to the word that’s right before the particle, in this case to 私.
So the meaning is the first one: “me as well as (you/somebody else), I’m a teacher”.
To construct the other meaning “I am a teacher as well as other things” you’ll need to put も after 先生 in one way or another. But that requires some grammar you learn a little later. For example 「私は先生もやっています」“I also work as (do the job of) a teacher”.