Saturday 25 April 2015

grammar - What does the sentence structure AでもB mean in this song?


The song in question can be found here. For example:




いっぽんでもニンジン



While I do know that でも means 'but', I also know that most particles have multiple meanings.


Since 'but' wouldn't make much sense as a translation here, I am confident that でも is used here to mean something else. That's what my question is about.


What does the sentence structure AでもB mean as it is used in the song?



Answer



The でも in the song is conditional/hypothetical "even if" (indicating 逆接の仮定条件), rather than the conjunction (接続詞) でも, "but", which usually comes at the beginning of a sentence.


The でも here consists of で (the continuative form (連用形) of the copula だ) + binding particle も.


So 「AでもB(だ/です)」 means "(It's) B, even if it's A."




1本でもニンジン lit. (It's) ninjin, even if one.
→ It's called [ni]{2}njin, even if there's one piece (of carrot).


2足でもサンダル lit. (They're) sandaru, even if two pairs.
→ You call them [san]{3}daru, even if you've got two pairs (of sandals).





Examples of this でも:




  • でも行きます。 I'll go even if it's rainy.


  • 難しい仕事でもやります。 I'll do even if it's a difficult task.

  • 2個100円。3個でも100円。 Two for 100 yen. It'd still be 100 yen even if you bought three.



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