まで details
even N — the last member the speaker expected turns out to be in the set as well
こんな細かい話、子供まで知ってるの？
konna komakai hanashi, kodomo made shitteru no?
Even the kids know the details? casual
台風で、電車だけでなくバスまで止まってしまいました。
taifuu de, densha dake de naku basu made tomatte shimaimashita.
Because of the typhoon, not just the trains but even the buses stopped. neutral
- alternant
Examples
even N — one more member is added to what happened, and the speaker flags it as the one they did not expect
こんな細かい話、子供まで知ってるの？
konna komakai hanashi, kodomo made shitteru no?
Even the kids know the details? casual
台風で、電車だけでなくバスまで止まってしまいました。
taifuu de, densha dake de naku basu made tomatte shimaimashita.
Because of the typhoon, not just the trains but even the buses stopped. neutral
あの日は、いつも来ない部長まで顔を出した。
ano hi wa, itsumo konai buchou made kao o dashita.
That day even the manager, who never comes, showed his face. neutral
今回の件では、お客様にまでご迷惑をおかけしました。
konkai no ken de wa, okyakusama ni made go meiwaku o o kake shimashita.
In this matter we caused trouble even for our customers. formal
あの人は、後輩に対してまで丁寧な言葉を崩さない。
ano hito wa, kouhai ni taishite made teinei na kotoba o kuzusanai.
He keeps his language polite even when he is talking to juniors. neutral
Formation
{N}までattaches to noun格助詞＋まで（友だちにまで・家でまで・親しい人に対してまで）attaches to noun phrase (schematic)
Variant notes
- までも — も piled on top for extra force — 頼んでもいないのに、先生までも心配してくれた; the も adds nothing to the meaning, only to the weight.
Notes
not its job — that goes to さえ or も. Under a negative it takes は and denies
the extension itself (そこまでは言っていない).
Related patterns
Similar
さえ picks its item as an ARGUMENT — if even this one holds, the rest follow — and is at home in front of a negative (時間さえない); まで draws no such inference and only reports one more member of what did happen, so the "even X doesn't…" job is さえ's, not its.
てまで is this same scalar まで standing on a て-form, and the shift to an action brings a verdict with it — the cost is judged excessive (借金してまで買う); the noun まで judges nothing, it only registers that the speaker did not see this one coming.
〜だけでなく names both members explicitly and stays even-handed about them; まで names only the second one and marks it as the surprising end of the run, which is why the two so often appear together (電車だけでなくバスまで).
Opposite
- くらいplain-antonym
The two mark opposite ends of one scale in the same slot — 卵焼きぐらい作れる concedes the least the speaker can manage, 豆腐まで作る reports the most, so swapping them turns a modest claim into a boast.
Lookalikes
One particle, and the noun in front decides the job — after a time or a place まで names where a stretch stops (金曜日まで待つ), after a noun that names no endpoint it measures nothing at all and simply reports that this one belongs too (子供まで知っている).
までも here is まで plus emphatic も on a noun (先生までも笑った); までもない is a dictionary-form verb plus a fixed tail saying the act is not worth performing (言うまでもない) — the shared kana hide two frames with no meaning in common.