Page 397 - Basic Japanese

Structure Notes

8.1. Interrogatives + mo or ka

An interrogative is a word that asks a question, like dare

‘who,’ dore ‘which,’ nani ‘what,’ dō ‘how,’ ikura ‘how much,’
ikutsu ‘how many,’ itsu ‘when, what time,’ dono ‘which one,’

or donna ‘what sort of.’ These interrogatives can also be

followed by the particles mo and ka with special meanings.
When followed by mo, the meaning of the phrase is

GENERALIZED, meaning something like ‘every, all’ if the
predicate is affirmative. However, it means ‘no, none, not at

all, not any’ if the predicate is negative. Phrases consisting
of INTERROGATIVE + mo occur more often with the negative

than with the affirmative. In the affirmative, phrases of the
type INTERROGATIVE + de (COPULA GERUND) + mo are often used

instead. (These are discussed in 8.3.) See the following pairs

of examples:

Interrogative + mo with an Interrogative + mo with a

affirmative predicate ‘every, all’ negative predicate ‘no, none, not
at all, not any’

Itsu mo kimasu. Itsu mo kimasen.

He comes over all the time. He never comes over.

Dono kōsu mo

torimashita.