Last Wednesday, I talked about “も/mo” meaning “too” or “also” but if used in a negative sentence with a question word, “も/mo” together with the negative expresses the meaning of “no”.
Read the examples below to see what I mean.
|
Question word |
Question Sentence |
Negative Sentence |
|
what |
なにをたべますか。 nani wo tabemasuka What do you eat? |
なにもたべません。 nanimo tabemasen I eat nothing. |
|
which |
どちらがすきですか。 dochiraga sukidesuka Which do you like? |
どちらもすきじゃないです。 dochiramo suki janai desu I like neither. |
|
who |
だれがきますか。 dare ga kimasuka Who is coming. |
だれもきません。 daremo kimasen Nobody is coming. |
|
where |
どこにいきますか。 dokoni ikimasuka Where are you going? |
どこにもいきません。 dokonimo ikimasen I’m going nowhere. |
You cannot add “mo” to question words “when” and “where” in a similar way as above but “itsu + mo” means “always” and “doko + mo” means “everywhere”.
このレストランはいつもこんでいます。
kono resutoran wa itsumo konde imasu
This restaurant is always busy.
連休中はどこもこんでいます。
renkyuu chuu wa dokomo konde imasu
It is busy everywhere during consecutive holidays.
In order to add the meaning of “any” in an affirmative sentence, use “でも/demo” instead of just “も/mo”.
|
Question word |
Sentence with “demo” |
|
what |
なんでもたべます。 nandemo tabemasu I eat anything. |
|
which |
どちらでもいいです。 dochirademo iidesu Either is fine. |
|
who |
だれでもつれてきてください。 daredemo tsurete kite kudasai Bring anybody. |
|
where |
どこ（に）でもいきます。 doko(ni)demo ikimasu I’ll go anywhere. |
|
when |
いつでもいいです。 itsudemo iidesu Any time is fine. |
