Watashi mo is the phrase for “me too” in Japanese

Japanese people often say “watashi mo” meaning ‘me too’ in Japanese. It can be used like an interjection in conversation. Depending on the situation, however, it needs to be used as a part of sentence. In this blog post, I will explain it in detail based on its components. And also, I will explain how it is made and when to use it through examples. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meaning of watashi mo
• Example of watashi mo meaning ‘me too’
• Example of watashi mo in the full sentence
• When to use
• Summary
• And the rest

Definition and meaning of watashi mo

First of all, let me start with a definition and meaning of “watashi mo”.

• watashi mo – 私も (わたしも) : a phrase often used as an interjection meaning ‘me too’ in Japanese. Depending on the situation, however, it cannot be used as an interjection. It needs to be a part of sentence.

As its appearance suggests, it consists of two parts. Definitely, they are the key to understanding the meaning of the phrase deeply. So, let me check them one by one.

• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• mo – も : a binding particle put after a word to mean ‘too’, ‘also’ or ‘as well’ in Japanese. Here, it is used after the pronoun, “watashi”, to form the phrase, “watashi mo”, which means ‘me too’.

As you can see here, the binding particle, “mo”, plays a significant role in the phrase. It adds a nuance of ‘too’, ‘also’ or ‘as well’ to the phrase. So, in a way, its usage is quite similar to that of ‘too’, ‘also’ or ‘as well’.

So far, I’ve explained the phrase, “watashi mo”, based on its components. In the following paragraphs, I will explain how Japanese people use it in daily conversation.

Example of watashi mo meaning ‘me too’

Below is an example conversation between two Japanese, Haru and Aki.

Below are new words used in the example.

• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. In the example, it is put after the pronoun, “watashi”, to make the subject word in the sentence.
• ashita – 明日 (あした) : a noun meaning ‘tomorrow’ in Japanese. Learn more about “ashita”.
• shigoto – 仕事 (しごと) : a noun meaning ‘work’ in Japanese. Learn more about “shigoto”.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. In the example, it is put after the noun, “shigoto”, to make it sound polite.

Here, the auxiliary verb, “desu”, has been added at the end of the phrase, “watashi mo”, but doesn’t have any effect on its usage itself. As you can see, it is used in a very similar way that the English phrase, “me too”, is.

In order to understand “watashi mo” more deeply, please take a closer look at the following example in which the above example sentence is paraphrased a bit.

Example of watashi mo in the full sentence

Below is an example conversation between the two Japanese, Haru and Aki, again.

This would be very helpful for Japanese learners to understand how the phrase, “watashi mo”, is made. The second sentence in the previous example has been paraphrased as shown above. To tell the truth, this is a full sentence of the previous one without any abbreviation or omission. This means, the phrase, “watashi mo”, in the previous example was made by omitting all words after the binding particle, “mo”. This is how the phrase is made.

Sometimes, this kind of abbreviation or omission can happen to Japanese sentences. Actually, it is also found in a process to make another phrase “anata wa”. Furthermore, a similar technique can also be found in other languages like English. As the translation in the above example shows, “me too” can be paraphrased as “I have work tomorrow too” in this context. Strictly speaking, this abbreviation is a bit different from that in Japanese. Yet, the concept behind is still the same.

When to use

I’ve explained how the phrase, “watashi mo”, is made. Now, when to use it is also clear, I think. Whether we can omit all words after the binding particle, “mo”, or not is the key. In other words, when we use “mo” to add a nuance of “too”, “also” or “as well” and when we repeat the same phrase or sentence as already mentioned by someone, we can just say, “watashi mo”. If these two preconditions are not fulfilled, we cannot use it as an interjection in conversation. It needs to be a part of sentence.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained the phrase, “watashi mo”, based on its components. And also, I’ve explained how it is made and when to use it through examples. Let me summarize them as follows.

• watashi mo – 私も (わたしも) : a phrase often used as an interjection meaning ‘me too’ in Japanese. It consists of the two parts. “Watashi” is a pronoun meaning ‘I’. “Mo” is a binding particle used to add a nuance of “too”, “also” or “as well”. It is made by a kind of abbreviation. When we use, “mo”, and when we can omit all words after it, we can use this phrase like “me too”.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.

And the rest

In this blog post, the pronoun, “watashi”, has been used for the explanations. However, this does not mean that other pronouns or words referring the speaker cannot be used. Actually, Japanese people often use “boku”, “ore” or some such instead. Japanese language has a lot of words to refer to the speaker.