- Nuance Ninja
も Particles, も Problems, Part II
NikoWe just talked about も in the last lesson, but here we're actually talking about a two-kana particle: でも (also, ～ても).
Several lessons back, we saw でも being used to mean "but," yeah?
読んだ。でもわからなかった。
よんだ。 でも わからなかった。
I read it. But I didn't understand it.
でも can also mean something like "even," though:
子供でも出来るよ。
こども でも できる よ。
Even a child can do it. // Even kids can do it.
↑ Here we see でも coming after a NOUN. When we're working with i-adjectives and VERBS, however, we'll need to conjugate them so that they end in ～ても／～でも. This involves putting them into て-form, then adding も.
安い（やすい // cheap; affordable）
↓
安くて（やすくて // cheap; affordable [and]）
↓
安くても（やすくても // even if [it is] cheap）
安くても買わない。
やすくても かわない。
Even if it's cheap, I won't buy it.
読む（よむ // to read）
↓
読んで（よんで // read [and]）
↓
読んでも（よんでも // even if [one] reads）
読んでも分からない。
よんでも わからない。
Even if I read it, I won't understand it.
Since we love to take detours, look at what happens when we add the word 何回 (なんかい // how many times) to the beginning of this sentence:
何回読んでも分からない。
なんかい よんでも わからない。
No matter how many times I read it, I won't [can't] understand it.
↑ We're going to be talking more about adding ～ても／～でも to question words (e.g. 何回 [なんかい // how many times]) in the very next lesson.
We briefly saw the ～ても ending in our conjugation lessons, but in our conjugation drills we were looking at a more casual version, in which the も is dropped from ～ても：
買わなくてもいいですよ。
かわなくても いい です よ。
You don't have to buy it.
↓ Less Formal ↓
買わなくてもいいよ。
かわなくても いい よ。
You don't have to buy it.
↓ Less Formal ↓
買わなくていいよ。
かわなくて いい よ。
You don't have to buy it.
So this isn't actually your first encounter with ～ても.
It won't be your last, either. We'll be using it a lot in our future lessons.
Now, something exciting (for a nerd like me): My favorite use of でも！
OK, maybe not exciting. Sorry.
A usage of でも (not ても, which is never a standalone particle) that I've always thoroughly enjoyed is when it translates to something like "or something" in English, which I say all the time!
For example, let's say you're walking around Shibuya with a friend. The two of you don't really have much to do. As a scholar might put it, you're "leisure-ing." Seeing a cafe, you turn to your friend and say:
コーヒーでも飲む？
コーヒー でも のむ？
Wanna get a coffee or something?
Doesn't the Japanese sentence seem so much more simple than the English one? Ah, I love Japanese.
Niko
