Structure
Number + Counter + も
Details
Standard
About Number + も
The adverbial particle も is often used for labeling (A) as part of a category, when it would not usually be considered part of that group. In this way, it emphasizes that (A)'s inclusion is something that is surprising/unexpected in some way.
When も is used after a specific number + counter, it shows that the number itself is surprising. This can be when the actual number is lower, or higher than what was expected. Due to this, も can translate as 'as much as (A)', or 'not even (A)', and other similar phrases in this expression.
At first glance, this may seem different than も's translation as 'too' or 'also', but in those cases, も is also just pointing out that the something unexpected is part of whatever group was initially highlighted.
The above sentence just shows that the (B) speaker is unexpectedly putting themselves in the group that the (A) speaker initially only considered themselves to be a part of.
Antonyms
Related
Vocab Coverage
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Examples
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１０万円も払わなくてはいけない。
I have to pay as much as 100,000 yen!
１０回もやったけど、できなかった。
I tried to do it as many as 10 times but couldn't do it!
アメリカまで１５時間もかかりました。
It took as long as 15 hours to get to America!
１０時間も運転したけど、あまり疲れていない。
I did as much as 10 hours of driving, but I am not really that tired.
「掃除をして」って何回も言ったでしょう。
I told you to clean many times, right? (as many as)
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As many/much as
Renshuu
Expressing excessive amounts
Tae Kim
How to use the particle も
MaggieSensei
Offline
[AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
Page 115
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 250
Genki II 1st Edition
Page 36
Genki II 2nd Edition
Page 58
Genki II 3rd Edition
Page 54
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 253
みんなの日本語 II
Page 108 [CH 42]
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Number + も – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (5 in total)
Ambo100
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar : Page 250
Please add this to the readings page.
SteveB
I have just had this review from the ‘Number+も’ sentences:
僕は一回も日本に行ったことがない。“I have NOT been to Japan, NOT EVEN once” This doesn’t sound like an ‘excessive amount’
I’m not sure how the ‘も’ is adding emphasis to what is described by the hint as a low number, seems like it should be しかThe meaning states that it can be ‘not even’, can someone please explain the difference in nuance or how its used (and why not しか).
nekoyama
The emphasis comes from the whole 一回も. Without it, it’s just “I’ve never been to Japan”. The も conveys a meaning of inclusion. Going out of your way to include something that the statement would apply to by default anyway results in an emphasis. Something similar happens in English when we’re making a point of adding “not even once”. The meaning doesn’t change, we’ve still never been to Japan. We’ve been there zero times either way.
We can’t use しか for this. 一回しか行ったことがない means “I’ve only been there once”.
しか marks an exception. The statement applies in general but not to the thing marked with しか. With numbers and amounts, しか additionally expresses that the number is perceived as small. Since しか is only used with negative verbs, the meaning is often given as “only” or similar since that’s a natural way to convey the same nuance in English.