も

Particle (Basic ㊦ 247)

A particle which indicates that a proposition about the preceeding element X is also true when another similar proposition is true.

Equivalent: Too; also; (not) ~ either

私も学生だ・です。: I, too, am a student.
私はスペイン語も話す・話します。: I speak Spanish, too.
私は村山さんにもプレゼントを上げる・上げます。: I will give a present to Mr. Murayama, too.
ハートさんは日本へ行った。ルイスさんも（日本へ）行った。: Mr. Hart went to Japan. Mr. Lewis also went to Japan.
林さんはテニスをします。（彼は）ゴルフもします。: Mr. Hayashi plays tennis. He plays golf, too.
この町では新しい魚が買えません。隣の町でも（新しいか魚が）買えません。: You can't buy fresh fish in this town. You can't buy it in the next town, either.

Formation

(i) Noun も	私も	I, too/me (as direct object), too
(ii) Noun (particle) も	日本(に)も	In/to Japan, too
	アメリカ(へ)も	To America too
(iii) Noun Particle も	先生にも	To/for the teacher, too (indirect object)
	フランスからも	From France
	イギリスでも	In England, too
	友達とも	With my friend, too

Notes

1. In general, when the element Xも appears in a sentence, a related sentence with the element Y (plus particle if necessary) in place of Xも is presupposed. For example, when a speaker states (1), a sentence like (2) is presupposed.

私はニューヨークへも行った。
I went to New York, too.

私はボストンへ行った。
I went to Boston.

Thust when Xも appears in a sentence, Xも is always the element under focus in that sentence.

2. There are cases in which Xも is used, althougn it does not exactly replace the element Y in the presupposed sentence. For example, (3b) can be spoken after (3a).

a. 私の家は居間がせまい。
The living room of my house is small.

b. それに台所も不便だ。
On top of that, the kitchen is inconvenient, too.

In this case, the speaker implies that his house is inconvenient when he says (3a), and this implication is the presupposition of (3b), where the speaker elaborates on the inconvenience.

3. "XもAだ" cannot be used to mean 'X is also A' in the sense that X is A as well as something else. "XもAだ" can be used only when "Yは/がAだ" presupposed. Thus, (4) does not mean (5). (In fact, (4) is nonsensical if it is stated by the same person.)

私は医者だ。 *私も先生だ。

I am a (medical) doctor. I am also a teacher.

The idea that someone is a doctor as well as a teacher is expressed as in (6).

私は医者だ。そして先生でもある。
I am a (medical) doctor and also a teacher.