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I understand the sentence "Can I take a picture with you?" in Japanese overall, but I am a bit confused as for why one can use the particle も in the sentence? What does it do?

Thanks for the help! C

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It's part of the construction ～てもいいです, which expresses permission.

In this case, も isn't the same as the particle も meaning 'also' or 'same'.

Examples:

  • 新しくなくてもいいです。it's all right if it's not new/fresh.
  • ビールでもいいですか。Will beer do?
  • このいすを使ってもいいですか。May I use this chair?

source: Makino S., Tsutsui M.. (2006). A Dictionary Of Basic Japanese Grammar: 日本語基本文法辞典. Tokyo: The Japan Times, page 471-473.

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    The way I was taught it is that it is the same も and it expresses 'Even if I take picture, is it ok?'. Not that it's important or we'd ever know how the grammar actually formed, but it might help someone to remember the grammar.
    – Ordoshsen
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 15:11

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