We 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.
Literally: "read. + but + didn't understand."

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.
Literally: "child + even + can do + よ."

↑ 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.
Literally: "even if (it's) cheap + won't buy."

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.
Literally: "even if (I) read + won't understand."

 

---

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.
Literally: "how many times + even if (you/I) read + won't understand."

↑ 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.
Literally: "even if (you) don't buy + good + です + よ."

↓ 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.
Literally: "even if (you) don't buy + good + よ."

↓ 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.
Literally: "even if (you) don't buy + good + よ."

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?
Literally: "coffee + でも + drink?"

Doesn't the Japanese sentence seem so much more simple than the English one? Ah, I love Japanese.

---

---

Noticed any typos we've missed or other issues?
Report them here at this link.

Have questions about something in this lesson? Something not quite clicking yet? Join our discord community and discuss any questions / comments with us and fellow students.
You can join by heading to this link.