What does 何もいません mean?

Question

I am trying to understand the dialogue 5:03 in this tutorial video. What I'm hearing is this:

なにがいますか。

なにもいませんね。

あれ。ねこがいますよ。

え、どこに？

あそこにいますよ。

The lesson is about how to say that something is somewhere and the differences between います/あります。 So the video goes on to explain the last three sentences.

The first sentence, I think, means something like: "Who's/what's there?". However, I don't understand that the second means. I know も is used for "also", so all I came up with was the nonsensical

What too isn't there, is there?

Please help :)

Answer 1

This use of the も expresses completeness or totality, like the English word all. And in particular, when it's attached to an indefinite demonstrative (なに, どこ, どれ, だれ, どなた, and so on), it causes that word to refer to a complete set of the type denoted by the demonstrative:

　　だれ　　　who
　　だれも　　everyone   (with positive verb)
　　だれも　　no one     (with negative verb)

The same thing happens when you add も to other words like this:

　　どこ　　　where
　　どこも　　everywhere (with positive verb)
　　どこも　　nowhere    (with negative verb)

　　どれ　　　which
　　どれも　　all        (with positive verb)
　　どれも　　none       (with negative verb)

But なに is an exception. It doesn't usually appear in positive sentences:

　　なに　　　what
　　なにも　　everything (with positive verb)
　　なにも　　nothing    (with negative verb)

So let's make things easier to understand by starting with an example that's not an exception. We'll use だれ, which means who, and we'll add も to that to make everyone. Here it is with a positive verb:

[ だれも ] が　知っています【しっています】
[ everyone ] knows

And now, with a negative verb:

[ だれも ] いません。
[ no one ] is here.　　　　

Why does the meaning change with a negative verb? Well, it doesn't really. The example above literally means "Everyone is not here", but the usual way to say that in English is with the logically equivalent "No one is here".

Okay, so now let's try a sentence with なにも. Like I said before, this is an exception, so we'll skip making a positive sentence and go straight to the negative:

[ なにも ] ありません。
[ nothing ] is there.

This literally means "Everything is not there". But again, that's not how we usually say it in English, so we translate it instead to the logically equivalent "Nothing is there". And your sentence is the same, except that it uses います (animate existence) rather than あります (inanimate existence).

Answer 2

This means "There isn't anything" or "Nothing is there", where "nothing/anything" has to be an animal or something living due to the use of います. It's worth noting that it is NOT a "who", since both question and answer use なに instead of だれ.

You are correct that も is used for "also". But it is used as a "negation" particle in the pattern 〜も〜ません. Here are some examples.

• なにもいません／ありません　→　There is nothing (living/non-living) (there).
• だれも来【き】ません　→　No one will come
• なにもしませんでした　→　I didn't do anything
• どこにもいきませんでした　→　He didn't go anywhere