Dec 8, 2010

Negative uses of the Japanese particle mo

Nai is a word used often in Japan. It is equivalent to the English word "not". Using our question words + mo construction, let us now add nai to them to see what kind of new words we can create.

We'll use the question words,"Who", "What",and "Where",

daremo + nai = daremo nai
who + also + not = nobody

nanimo + nai = nanimo nai
what + also + not = nothing

dokomo + nai = dokomo nai
where + also + not = nowhere