other N4 common casualpolitewritten

何でも — anything / everything

何でも・なんでも

Meaning

anything / everything / whatever (it may be) — question word 何 + でも, sweeping in every option without exception

何 ('what') + でも turns into 'no matter what → anything at all'. It's the affirmative free-choice indefinite: 何なにでも食たべる means 'eats anything (you name it)'. The same 〜でも pattern builds the whole family — 誰だれでも (anyone), どこでも (anywhere), いつでも (anytime). Don't confuse with 何なにも + negative, which means 'nothing'.

Key sentence

彼かれは何なにでも知しっている。

He knows everything.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Question word + でも	何 / 誰 / どこ / いつ … + でも	何なにでも / 誰だれでも / どこでも

Examples

好すきなものを何なんでも頼たのんでいいよ。

Order whatever you like.

ここでは何なんでも売うっている。

They sell everything here.

聞ききたいことは何なんでも質問しつもんしてください。

Ask me anything you want to know.

Easily confused with

何も〜ない Mirror images: 何なにでも + affirmative = 'anything (all of it)'; 何なにも + negative = 'nothing (none of it)'. でも sweeps in, も…ない sweeps out. でも This 何でも is the question-word + でも 'free choice' use of でも; bare でも also means 'even ~' (子供こどもでも) or starts a sentence as 'but'. Same particle, broader jobs.

Notes

なんでも (rather than なにでも) is the standard reading. Sentence-initial 何なにでも〜らしい can also mean 'apparently ~' colloquially, but that's a separate hearsay use.

See 何でも in real sentences

Jengo shows 何でも the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.

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