Question Word + か / も / でも (Some-, No-, Any-) | Japanese Grammar

English has a jumble of words for indefinite reference: somebody, nobody, anybody; something, nothing, anything; somewhere, nowhere, anywhere. Each one has to be memorized separately, and the "any-" words behave unpredictably (anybody can come / I didn't see anybody). Japanese does the same work with one formula: take a question word — 誰 (who), 何 (what), どこ (where), いつ (when) — and glue on a single particle. か turns it into "some-," も (with a negative verb) into "no-," and でも into "any- at all." Learn the pattern once and the entire grid falls out for free. This is one of the highest-leverage things you can learn at N4.

The whole system in one table

Question word	か → "some-"	も + 〜ない → "no-"	でも → "any- at all"
誰 (who)	誰か — someone	誰も…ない — no one	誰でも — anyone
何 (what)	何か — something	何も…ない — nothing	何でも — anything
どこ (where)	どこか — somewhere	どこにも…ない — nowhere	どこでも — anywhere
いつ (when)	いつか — sometime	(no clean "no-" form)*	いつでも — anytime
どれ (which)	どれか — one of them	どれも…ない — none of them	どれでも — any one of them
どちら (which of two)	どちらか — one or the other	どちらも…ない — neither	どちらでも — either is fine

*いつ is the odd one out: いつも on its own means "always," not "never," so it does not slot into the "no-" column. English "never" is normally 全然〜ない, めったに〜ない, or 一度も〜ない — see the honest wrinkle below.

The readings are worth fixing early because 何 changes shape across the row: 何か = nanika, 何も = nanimo, but 何でも = nandemo (see 何: なに or なん).

The か series — "some-"

Adding か makes a question word indefinite: the speaker knows that there is a someone / something / somewhere, but not which. This is exactly English "some-."

誰かがドアをノックした。

dareka ga doa o nokku shita

Someone knocked on the door.

何か飲みますか。

nanika nomimasu ka

Would you like something to drink?

週末、どこか行った？

shūmatsu, dokoka itta?

Did you go somewhere this weekend? (casual)

いつか一緒に旅行しようね。

itsuka issho ni ryokō shiyō ne

Let's travel together someday.

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With 誰か and 何か as subject or object, the case particles が and を are usually dropped: 誰か来た (someone came), 何か食べよう (let's eat something). But other particles stay put — 誰かに聞く (ask someone), どこかで会う (meet somewhere), 何かについて話す (talk about something).

The も series — "no-" (and the mandatory negative)

Adding も to a question word builds the "no-" meaning — but only in a negative sentence. The も-word and a negative verb work as a matched pair: neither is optional. This is the number-one error for English speakers, because our "nobody came" packs the negation into the pronoun, so the verb looks positive ("came"). Japanese does the opposite: the pronoun is 誰も and the verb must be negative (来なかった).

誰も来なかった。

daremo konakatta

No one came. (lit. 'anyone did-not-come')

冷蔵庫に何もない。

reizōko ni nanimo nai

There's nothing in the fridge.

鍵がどこにも見つからない。

kagi ga doko ni mo mitsukaranai

I can't find my keys anywhere.

Notice どこ takes に before も: どこにも…ない (nowhere), not ×どこも…ない for the "nowhere" sense. The に is the location particle surfacing; likewise 誰にも言わない (I won't tell anyone) and 何にも (nannimo, emphatic "nothing at all").

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Think of 誰も / 何も / どこにも as half a bracket that must be closed by a negative verb. If you write 誰も and then reach for an affirmative verb, something has gone wrong. 誰も知っている is not "everyone knows" — it is simply ungrammatical for that meaning (use みんな知っている instead).

The でも series — "any- at all" (free choice)

Adding でも gives the free-choice "any": it does not matter which one — pick whichever. 誰でも = "anyone (it makes no difference who)," 何でも = "anything," どこでも = "anywhere," いつでも = "anytime."

この仕事は誰でもできます。

kono shigoto wa daredemo dekimasu

Anyone can do this job.

お腹すいた。何でもいいから食べたい。

onaka suita. nan demo ii kara tabetai

I'm hungry — I'll eat anything.

スマホがあればどこでも仕事ができる。

sumaho ga areba dokodemo shigoto ga dekiru

With a smartphone you can work anywhere.

いつでも連絡してください。

itsudemo renraku shite kudasai

Contact me anytime.

The phrase 何でもいい ("anything is fine / whatever works") — and its siblings どこでもいい, いつでもいい, 誰でもいい — is worth memorizing whole. It is the everyday way to wave off a choice: どこがいい？ (where's good?) → どこでもいいよ (anywhere's fine).

The three series side by side

Put 誰 through all three columns and the logic snaps into focus:

誰かがドアをノックした。

dareka ga doa o nokku shita

Someone knocked on the door. (か — indefinite)

家には誰もいなかった。

ie ni wa daremo inakatta

There was no one at home. (も + negative)

このイベントには誰でも参加できます。

kono ibento ni wa daredemo sanka dekimasu

Anyone can take part in this event. (でも — free choice)

An honest wrinkle: も is not always negative

The clean grid above is what you should learn first, but も has a broader life you will meet in the wild, and it is better to hear it here than to be blindsided:

いつも on its own means "always," not "never." It is a fixed positive adverb. "Never" is normally 全然〜ない or めったに〜ない.
With どれ, どこ, どちら, も can be universally positive = "every / all," not just negative: どれもおいしい (they're all delicious), どこも人でいっぱいだった (everywhere was packed). Here も means "every one, no exception."
誰も and 何も are the strict ones: for the "nobody / nothing" meaning, they essentially always require a negative.

So the safe rule for a learner is: 誰も and 何も demand a negative; the place/choice words (どこ, どれ, どちら) can go either way. Let context and the verb's polarity guide you.

How this differs from English

The payoff is enormous once you see it. English makes you memorize some/no/any × body/thing/where/time as a dozen-plus separate words, and then layer on the rule that "any-" flips meaning between questions, negatives, and free-choice statements. Japanese replaces all of that with one predictable operation: question word + particle. You never learn "nowhere" as a new vocabulary item — you build it, どこ + に + も, and close it with a negative. Master the three particles and you have generated the entire indefinite/negative/universal system yourself. For the pronoun forms in isolation, see Indefinite pronouns; for the negation machinery the も-series relies on, see How Japanese says 'not' and 疑問詞 + も〜ない.

Common mistakes

❌ 冷蔵庫に何かない。

Incorrect — the negative 'nothing' needs 何も, not 何か.

✅ 冷蔵庫に何もない。

reizōko ni nanimo nai

There's nothing in the fridge.

❌ 誰も来た。

Incorrect — 誰も requires a negative verb; with a positive verb it is ungrammatical.

✅ 誰も来なかった。

daremo konakatta

No one came.

❌ どこも鍵が見つからない。

Incorrect for 'nowhere' — the location sense needs the particle に: どこにも.

✅ どこにも鍵が見つからない。

doko ni mo kagi ga mitsukaranai

I can't find my keys anywhere.

❌ この仕事は誰かできます。

Incorrect — 'anyone can' is free choice, so it needs でも, not か.

✅ この仕事は誰でもできます。

kono shigoto wa daredemo dekimasu

Anyone can do this job.

❌ 何かいいです。（「何でもいい」のつもりで）

Incorrect — 'anything is fine' is free choice: 何でもいい, not 何かいい.

✅ 何でもいいです。

nan demo ii desu

Anything is fine.

The single habit that fixes most of these: whenever you mean "no- / not any-," write the も-word and make the verb negative — they are a package deal.

Key takeaways

か
= "some-" (誰か, 何か, どこか, いつか).
も + negative verb
= "no-" (誰も…ない, 何も…ない, どこにも…ない). The negative is mandatory.
でも
= "any- at all," free choice (誰でも, 何でも, どこでも, いつでも).
One formula replaces a dozen English words — the highest-value pattern at this level.

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