日: 2026年1月6日

Japanese Learning: Particle to indicate that the noun is the same kind with another noun that appeared in the preceding sentence; [Noun] mo

Think that two people are university students;

1. Satou-san wa dai-gakusei desu. (Ms. Sato is a university student.)

2. Suzuki-san mo dai-gakusei desu. (Mr. Suzuki is a university student, too.)

The subjects are different between sentences 1 and 2. Is there any other difference?

In the sentence 1, the subject “Satou-san” is followed by particle “-wa”, which is the topic marker and is also the subject marker in this case.

In the sentence 2, the subject “Suzuki-san” is followed by particle “mo”, which is the particle that we are going to learn today.

In the combination of { [Noun]+mo }, the particle “mo” functions to indicate the [Noun] is the same kind as the noun in preceding sentence. In the sentence 2, you see { [Suzuki-san]+mo }. This indicates that Suzuki-san is the same kind as Satou-san in terms of being a university student.

Note that the particle “mo” is NOT always placed just behind the subject. This caution is usually forgotten in Japanese teaching. So far, we have learned simple noun predicate sentences only. There are other types of sentences that are more complicated in their constructions. Sometimes, the particle “mo” is attached to a word that is NOT the subject. Remember that particle “mo” is attached to the word that you think is the same kind with a word in the preceding sentence. For this matter, an example will be shown after we learn more complicated sentence constructions.