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何でも details

anything, anyone, anywhere, any time — a question word plus でも takes in the whole set + write

nandemo kaku

anything, anyone, anywhere, any time — a question word plus でも takes in the whole set

meaning: write anything at all

かれきらいがなくて、何でもなんでも食べるたべる

kare wa sukikirai ga nakute, nandemo taberu.

He isn't fussy and eats anything at all. neutral

場所ばしょはどこでもいいよ。まかせる。

basho wa dokodemo ii yo. makaseru.

Anywhere's fine by me — your call. casual

  • alternant
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Examples

any at all — the speaker refuses to narrow the choice, and the predicate holds for every member of the set

かれきらいがなくて、なんでもべる。

kare wa sukikirai ga nakute, nandemotaberu.

He isn't fussy and eats anything at all. neutral

場所ばしょはどこでもいいよ。まかせる。

basho wa dokodemo ii yo. makaseru.

Anywhere's fine by me — your call. casual

この資料しりょうは、だれでも自由じゆう使つかえます。

kono shiryou wa, daredemo jiyuu ni tsukaemasu.

Anyone is free to use these materials. neutral

不明ふめいてんがございましたら、いつでもおわせください。

go fumei na ten ga gozaimashitara, itsudemo o toiawase kudasai.

If anything is unclear, please get in touch at any time. formal

Formation

Variant notes

Notes

Sentence-initial なんでも is a different word altogether — なんでも、
かれ来月らいげつめるらしい means "from what I hear".

Related patterns

Similar

  • ても needs a whole clause to concede (だれんでもかる); a question word plus でも packs that same concession into one word and leaves a noun phrase you can mark with が or を — だれでもかる, なんでもべる.

Opposite

  • だれでも and bare だれも split the same set by what follows — でも sweeps it with a positive predicate (だれでもかる, everyone does), while an unmarked or に-marked だれも wants a negative one (だれからない, nobody does).

Lookalikes

  • One kana decides how much of the set you get — か opens a single member and refuses to name it (だれた, somebody came), でも takes in every member at once (だれでもられる, anybody may come).