6

When looking it up on the internet I find that とは限らない means 「イメージと違って、100%~と言えないという意味」. But the problem is I also get similar meanings for とも限らない.

I've asked a Japanese speaker about it and they gave the answer below:

「Xとは限らない」は、Xが成立しないことがある、と言う意味。
「Xとも限らない」は、Xが成立しないことがあるし、同類の事柄があることを暗示している。

たとえば、
「お金持ちになれたらいいのに。」
A:「お金持ちが幸せだとは限らないよ。」
B:「お金持ちが幸せだとも限らないよ。(お金があるとトラブルになることもあるから。)」

「早く日本に行って日本語を勉強したい。」
A:「早く日本に行くことが良いとは限らないよ。」
B:「早く日本に行くことが良いとも限らないよ。(いまここでしっかり基礎を学ぶことも大切かもしれないし、 日本で生活するための準備をきちんとすることも重要だよ。)」

Based on the answer he gave me, I still don't get the difference. They both seem the same but I know there has to be a difference.

2 Answers 2

5

とはいえない and ともいえない are interchangeable, but the latter sounds a little milder and indirect. This usage of も is described on 明鏡国語辞典 as the twelfth definition:

(12) さりげなくとりたてて、文意をやわらげる。
(ア) 《多く、文末表現に使って》一歩引く気持ちで、その判断をやわらげる。

「自由に発言すること可能だ」「もう帰っていいんだぜ」「彼だって素直になることある」「その件なら知らなくない」「そんな感じがしないでない」「乞われれば応じしよう」「やむをえないと考えするが…」

一歩引く気持ち (literally "take-a-step-back feeling") is a confusing explanation, but anyway this も adds an extra nuance of admitting, concession, euphemism, etc. Perhaps an English word that has a similar role is an interjection 'well' as in "Well, you can say that, but..." or "They were, well, not quite good." They are perfectly grammatical without 'well', but they sound a little milder, "nuanced" or "deep" with it.

I think the native speaker you asked explained like that because they wanted to say this も has such a "nuance". But this role of も may be difficult to grasp if you try to analyze it as an extension of 'also' too much. In this case, I think this も in とも限らない can be translated as "you know" or "well" (if it needs to be translated).

By the way, this usage of も is explained in the dictionary next to this も. And this question is also loosely related.

0

From that person's answer, it seems that とも implies other things as well.

I want to hurry and go to Japan to study. The とも version that rushing to japan is not necessarily a good thing, and implies other things like, you should focus on studying Japanese here and now, or prepare to live in Japan"?

It adds implications.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .