adverbial N4 common casualpolitewritten

何も〜ない — nothing / not anything

何も〜ない・なにもない

Meaning

nothing / not ~ anything — question word 何 + も with a negative predicate, sweeping out every option

何なに + も requires a negative verb and together they mean 'not anything at all'. The も is essential — 何なにを食たべない just negates a specific thing, but 何なにも食たべない means 'eat nothing'. Same pattern across the family: 誰だれも〜ない (no one), どこも〜ない / どこにも〜ない (nowhere). The affirmative counterpart is 何なにでも ('anything').

Key sentence

今日きょうは何なにも食たべていない。

I haven't eaten anything today.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Question word + も + negative predicate	何 / 誰 / どこ … + も + 〜ない	何なにもない / 誰だれも来こない / どこにもない

Examples

冷蔵庫れいぞうこに何なにもない。

There's nothing in the fridge.

心配しんぱいしないで。何なにも問題もんだいないよ。

Don't worry — there's no problem at all.

誰だれも知しらなかった。

No one knew.

Easily confused with

何でも Opposite polarity of the same indefinite: 何なにも + negative = 'nothing'; 何なにでも + affirmative = 'anything'. The predicate's sign flips the meaning. も Ordinary も means 'also/too' on a known item; here も rides a *question word* with a negative to make a sweeping 'not any', a distinct construction.

Notes

With a particle, も attaches after it: どこにも (にも), 誰だれとも (とも) — 誰だれとも話はなさない = 'doesn't talk to anyone'.

See 何も〜ない in real sentences

Jengo shows 何も〜ない 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 Advanced Japanese Grammar.

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