文法の説明

N4 レッスン 1: 1/18

でもOr something, Any... (with question words), No matter (who)

使い方・接続

Noun + でも + Suggestion
だれでも - Anyone
なんでも - Anything
どこでも - Anywhere
いつでも - Anytime

詳細

  • 使用域

    一般

「でも」の情報

でも is one of many adverbial particles in Japanese. These are particles that behave like a regular 助詞(じょし) (in that they appear after the words that they are referencing), but their role is a little bit more specific. でも itself has several uses, and the use that we will examine in this grammar point is called 例示(れいじ). Basically this means 'presenting examples'.

In English, this results in a translation similar to 'even', or 'or something'. To use this structure, simply attach でも to the end of any noun, or pronoun.

When grouped with a standard noun as above, でも is just showing that the noun is an example/suggestion, and that there are other choices/possibilities available. However, when the noun is a word like 誰(だれ), どこ, 何(なん), or いつ, the translation becomes much closer to English words like 'anyone', 'anywhere', 'anything', or 'anytime'.

Fun Fact

There is debate among Japanese native speakers about whether でも should be considered its own word, or if it is actually just a combination of the particles で and も (or て and も in the case of verbs, but we will cover that later). As で and も together could be translated as 'even with (A)', it would also be correct to consider it this way.

Caution

When grouped with 何(なに), the pronunciation will almost always change to なん. This is purely to make なんでも easier to say.

関連

例文

--:--

    どこでもいいよ。

    Anywhere is good.

    いつでも家(いえ)に来(き)てください。

    Please come to my house anytime.

    いつでも電話(でんわ)に出(で)るから。

    I will answer the phone anytime.

    いつでも洗濯(せんたく)できますよ。

    I can do laundry anytime.

    お茶(ちゃ)でもどう？

    How about tea or something?

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「でも」に関する文法ディスカッション

最近の返信 (合計12件)

  • Jake

    Jake

    or something, “any…” with question words

    Structure

    • Noun + でも,だれでも・Anyone
    • なんでも・Anything
    • どこでも・Anywhere

    View on Bunpro

  • swozzy

    swozzy

    Is using “demo” inherently rude when saying it in a sentence? I’ve seen somewhere that you shouldn’t always use “demo” is why I’m asking.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Sorry for late answer

    It is not really rude when used as “but” or “any”. However, using it as “or something” similar to とか might be considered rude when talking to your senpais at work, unknown people, older people etc.

  • Pep95

    Pep95

    Could いつでも also be added to this list?
    You’re using it in your example sentences and it is also mentioned in the れんしゅう source.

    image.png750×285 17.8 KB
  • Aythreuk

    Aythreuk

    So, I guess anyone can sometimes mean everyone?

    誰でも彼の名前を知っています。
    Everyone knows his name.

  • Pep95

    Pep95

    They have basically the same meaning here. It is literally translated as “Anyone knows his name”, but since that doesn’t sound as natural, “Everyone knows his name” is used.

  • TheUltimateAbsol

    TheUltimateAbsol

    I’m having a hard time grasping how でも means “or something”.

    “or something” implies that there might be something else.

    For example, I came across this sentence:
    お茶でもどう – “How about tea or something?”
    This would theoretically be equivalent to “How about tea or something (else)?”

    This seems far different from the other uses of でも seen so far.

    I’ve mainly seen でも used to express extents (as far as, until, even, etc.) So an alternative meaning I’d deduce would be “Even tea - how would that be?” or less literally “If even there was tea, how would it be?”

    I’ve also seen でも used to express universality (Any person, any thing, etc.). This meaning seems to derive a bit from the extent meaning, as the phrase 誰でも can be roughly translated as “even who”, which can be further extended to “even an unknown person”, which reaches the concept of “anyone”. So when I read the sentence お茶でもどう, the first thing that comes to mind is “Any tea - how would that b...

  • robnice

    robnice

    I ran into the following sentence and was really thrown by the でも。

    １００ 以上 の 人工 衛星 を １ 台 の ロケット で 打ち上げる こと は 、 世界 でも ほとんど あり ませ ん 。

    I came back to bunpro and looked up the grammar point for でも and it confused me even more. I agree with the examples you gave to better explain how でも is actually working with nouns and the interogative words.

  • hanslim77

    hanslim77

    isn’t でも also used as ‘but’? at least when connecting 2 clauses (also why sometimes instead of けど or が in reviews when I first started using it, Bunpro flags it as a potential answer (yellow text)

    but if it’s used as ‘even’ or ‘anything’, it doesn’t seem to sound right?

  • MikkaT

    MikkaT

    Hi,
    i started the N5 vocab deck in anime order and でも came up with the translation “but”, which i heard tons of times in several anime. Why is this a meaning in vocab but not at the grammar point and most importantly what are the differences to が and（だ) けど which are described as formal and less formal ways to say “but”?
    Thanks in advance

  • Charliebrown287

    Charliebrown287

    In this case でも would mean even.

  • Charliebrown287

    Charliebrown287

    I have lived in Japan and my wife is Japanese. I have never heard of that before. When I was in school learning Japanese in Japan never heard of this. Even with Japanese friends, and my wife is Japanese they all use でも。

  • flevy

    flevy

    Charliebrown is right. In your example, Mikka, でも sorta translates to “even so” as in「そうでも…」
    Hope my input helps

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