I am a bit confused about a sentence I came across in an anki deck:
誰もその話を知らない。
I know that that 誰 means "who" and も means "also", but the translation it gives me is:
"No one knows that story."
Someone please explain.
Thank you n_n
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Sign up to join this communityI am a bit confused about a sentence I came across in an anki deck:
誰もその話を知らない。
I know that that 誰 means "who" and も means "also", but the translation it gives me is:
"No one knows that story."
Someone please explain.
Thank you n_n
誰
by itself does not mean 'who'. Nor does も
always mean 'also'. Words like 誰
are called indeterminates, and are more essential than wh-words (It can be a part of the meaning of a wh-word; Not wh-word itself). 誰
only means 'some variable (something that does not have a fixed reference) that ranges over people'. Depending on what particle it is used with, it would be translated into different words in English:
誰 who
誰か someone
誰も anyone/everyone
used with a negative verb 誰も means no one or nobody.
誰もその卑わいな冗談を笑わなかった。No one laughed at the obscene joke.
Used with a regular verb (positive?) it can mean anyone, anybody, everybody or everyone.
誰もがその話を知っている。Everyone knows that story.
誰もそのことに異存[異論]はない。Everyone agrees about that. (No one objects to that.)
here are a number of examples http://eow.alc.co.jp/誰もその/UTF-8/?ref=sa
誰でも
or 誰もが
?