Study Resource: Summary of all the uses of も (mo)

By: Mayumi Ito

Associated Articles

These activities are part of our Japanese Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our articles:

The chart below summarizes all of the common uses of the particle も[mo] in Japanese. Follow the links to learn more about each use.

Function of も[mo]	Structure	English equivalents	Example
Similarity Learn more: も[mo] with nouns も[mo]with non-nouns	parallel element + も	too, also, as well, either	ぼくもラーメンが大好きです。 Boku mo rāmen ga daisuki desu. I love ramen too.
Emphasis (sense of surprise)	surprising element + も	even X	チュンさんは難しい漢字もすらすら書ける。 Chun san wa muzukashii kanji mo surasura kakeru. Chun can write even difficult kanji with ease.
Larger/smaller number than expected	number + counter + も	as much/many as… as little/few as…	１０万円もする。 jūman en mo suru It costs as much as ¥100,000.
Approximation	approximate number + も	…or so	１万円もあれば泊まれる。 Ichiman en mo areba tomareru. You can stay if you have ¥10,000 or so.
Emotions about change	changing element + も	hard to believe, wow, my!	弟も今日から社会人だ。 Otōto mo kyō kara shakaijin da. Wow, my younger brother is going to be a working adult starting today.
“All” or “nothing” words	question word + も	no one, always, never, ...	だれも来なかった。 Dare mo konakatta. No one came.
“All” or “nothing” words	question word + particle + も (in a negative sentence)	(to) nowhere, ...	どこへも行かなかった。 Doko e mo ikanakatta. I didn’t go anywhere.

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