Can ぐらい/くらい be combined with particles?


  1. Can you say ぐらいも？ (the emphatic も)

like

> ５２００円くらいも払ったのに ～

  2. Or even を? or is it omitted?

> 山の大きさぐらいを食べ過ぎておなかが痛い




~~Both of your examples are not grammatical.~~ [Edit] The first is not very
acceptable and the second is ungrammatical.

くらい+particles is possible.

  1. 5000円くらいはする : It costs around 5000 yen.
  2. 子犬くらいの大きさはある : Its size is at least more than that of a puppy.

These くらい is for indicating approximate quantity, which you probably have in
mind.

くらいも / くらいを are possible in the following, but くらい here means a bit different
(apparently called
[軽視](http://www.edewakaru.com/archives/21957775.html#:%7E:text=%E3%80%8C%E3%80%9C%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89%E3%81%84%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AF%EF%BC%BB%E8%BB%BD%E8%A6%96,%E4%BD%BF%EF%BC%88%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8B%EF%BC%89%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%80%82)
in foreigners' grammar).

  3. 一万円くらいも払えないならこんなとこ来るな : You are not supposed to come to a place like this if you can't pay even (such a small amount as) 10000 yen.
  4. これくらいを暑いというようじゃ東京に住めない : One cannot live in Tokyo if one calls (such a low temperature as) this hot.

So my tentative conclusion is くらい for approximate quantity cannot be used with
も/を.

===

[Edit]

Of the sentence in goldbrick's comments, I think 往復で4000円くらいもかかる is the only
one with 'approximate' くらい. (`3cmくらい` may be on the border). To me, this is
acceptable, but sounds still a little unnatural.

Perhaps using approximate くらい + も/を is not completely impossible. But one
thing could be that, if you want to emphasize something,
rounding/approximating the quantity might be contradictory. At the same time,
in emphatic も, people will understand if the number is rounded without くらい:

  * 一日1000人も感染者がいるのにオリンピックやるんですか？ : Is Olympic games taking place when we have 1000 cases of infection per day?

Nobody thinks the number is exactly 1000 when hearing this sentence.

The other くらいs in the comment look like use of 例示 (which is listed in
dictionary 学研現代新国語辞典 at hand; I don't see this use is specifically mentioned
in foreigners' grammar).

I suppose further subtle subcategorization of くらい's use is required for
precise analysis.

===

Comments on your samples:

  1. sounds unnatural (while the one in goldbrick's comment is ok) possibly because 5200 is too precise a number to be postfixed by くらい (an extreme case would be `5289円くらい`, which makes no sense.)

  2. as commented by goldbrick, is not acceptable simply because 'eating too much' cannot be really combined with 'an amount as large as a mountain'.

Also, possibly you are right in that を in くらいを can be dropped in most cases.
10万円くらい払った. = I paid around \100000.




~~Both of your examples are not grammatical.~~ [Edit] The first is not very
acceptable and the second is ungrammatical.

くらい+particles is possible.

  1. 5000円くらいはする : It costs around 5000 yen.
  2. 子犬くらいの大きさはある : Its size is at least more than that of a puppy.

These くらい is for indicating approximate quantity, which you probably have in
mind.

くらいも / くらいを are possible in the following, but くらい here means a bit different
(apparently called
[軽視](http://www.edewakaru.com/archives/21957775.html#:%7E:text=%E3%80%8C%E3%80%9C%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89%E3%81%84%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AF%EF%BC%BB%E8%BB%BD%E8%A6%96,%E4%BD%BF%EF%BC%88%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8B%EF%BC%89%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%80%82)
in foreigners' grammar).

  3. 一万円くらいも払えないならこんなとこ来るな : You are not supposed to come to a place like this if you can't pay even (such a small amount as) 10000 yen.
  4. これくらいを暑いというようじゃ東京に住めない : One cannot live in Tokyo if one calls (such a low temperature as) this hot.

So my tentative conclusion is くらい for approximate quantity cannot be used with
も/を.

===

[Edit]

Of the sentence in goldbrick's comments, I think 往復で4000円くらいもかかる is the only
one with 'approximate' くらい. (`3cmくらい` may be on the border). To me, this is
acceptable, but sounds still a little unnatural.

Perhaps using approximate くらい + も/を is not completely impossible. But one
thing could be that, if you want to emphasize something,
rounding/approximating the quantity might be contradictory. At the same time,
in emphatic も, people will understand if the number is rounded without くらい:

  * 一日1000人も感染者がいるのにオリンピックやるんですか？ : Is Olympic games taking place when we have 1000 cases of infection per day?

Nobody thinks the number is exactly 1000 when hearing this sentence.

The other くらいs in the comment look like use of 例示 (which is listed in
dictionary 学研現代新国語辞典 at hand; I don't see this use is specifically mentioned
in foreigners' grammar).

I suppose further subtle subcategorization of くらい's use is required for
precise analysis.

===

Comments on your samples:

  1. sounds unnatural (while the one in goldbrick's comment is ok) possibly because 5200 is too precise a number to be postfixed by くらい (an extreme case would be `5289円くらい`, which makes no sense.)

  2. as commented by goldbrick, is not acceptable simply because 'eating too much' cannot be really combined with 'an amount as large as a mountain'.

Also, possibly you are right in that を in くらいを can be dropped in most cases.
10万円くらい払った. = I paid around \100000.

