Thursday, 20 August 2015

translation - Meaning and use of どの when not in a question


Can someone please help me to understand these sentences from the Tobira textbook?


秋田市の「竿燈祭り」、仙台市の「七夕祭り」、そして青森市の「ねぶた祭り」。どの祭りもすごいスケール!毎年、日本だけじゃなくて、海外からも観光客がたくさん来るし、とても人気のある祭りだよ。


I am confused about this sentence どの祭りもすごいスケール!. I've never really understood how どの is used outside of a question, so I'm not sure what it means here. I think it might mean something like, each of (the three) festivals is very large?


How specifically are どの and も functioning in this sentence?




Answer



「どの」=「いずれの」 = "each and every (one of the items mentioned)"



「どの + Noun + も + Verb or Adjective Phrase」 =


"Every (noun) [that have been mentioned] is/does ~~~."



This 「も」 does not mean "also". It expresses the complete kind of affirmation or negation. In other words, it is saying that there is no exception (to what one is saying).



「どの[祭]{まつ}りもすごいスケール!」 = "Each festival is of an awesome scale!"




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