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suffix -mo I am listening to my Japanese audio course and there are few sentences where -mo is used. Normally this is translated with also, but I have the feeling that in this context it is used differently. Two friends go to a pachinko parlor and over there they talk about who is winning and what they lost. - ウナすけくん、どう?でてる? - いや、ぜんぜん…。だめだ。2まんもつかってしまったよ…。お、リーチ! - はっはっはー!ついているね。10まんもかったよ。 - いいなぁ。ぼくは3まんもまけてしまったよ。 As you see they keep using -mo when indicating the money. Translating -mo each time with "also" results in weird sentences. The first sentence I can understand: I am not lucky AND I "also" lost 20.000. However, why would you use -mo when indicating that you also won 100.000? That sounds weird, because that is all he won. There is nothing else.
Mar 11, 2014 11:30 AM
Answers · 2
As you said, '-mo' can be translated as 'also'. In the example conversation you wrote, however, it's showing the speaker's "unexpectedness". That is, the words which -mo is attached to weren't expected by the speaker. For example, in the sentence "だめだ。2まんもつかってしまったよ", the speaker didn't expect that he would use as much as 20.000 yen. Similarly, in the sentence "ぼくは3まんもまけてしまったよ", the speaker didn't expect that he would lose as much as 30.000 yen. Whether -mo means 'also' or shows "unexpectedness" depends on the context. As far as the example conversation is concerned, -mo is showing the speaker's unexpectedness. Hope this helps a bit. Good luck with your language learning!
March 11, 2014
Actually,we also use mo for another context.Sometimes,when the mo is used after some figures,it is just used to express the surprise of the large amount of these figures. Actually,It doesn't have any definite meanings
March 11, 2014
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