どこでも vs. どこにでも vs. どこも


What is the the difference between どこでも vs. どこにでも vs. どこも? I thought どこでも was
anywhere, どこにでも was everywhere, and どこも was also everywhere... but then I
didn't know what the difference would be between the latter two.




To clear up the situation:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/H7nQo.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/H7nQo.png)

  1. In the first place, **どこ** is grammatically a noun "what place" in Japanese, thus is always accompanied by particles when it appears in a sentence. This applies to all question words except どんな (adjective) and どう (adverb).

  2. There are three series of 取り立て助詞 ("focus particle") that are involved in this question. 取り立て助詞 usually attach to another particle from behind, except when が or を comes before, then they'll eat it.

    * ～ **も (with negative verb)**  
It works like English "not ... any X", "no X" if attaches to a question word.
Combined with どこ, "not [preposition] any place" or "[preposition] nowhere".
The accent pattern of phrase always be **accentless** (no pitch downstep
within the phrase).

    * ～ **も (without negative verb)**  
Works like "every X" with a question word. Combined with どこ, "[preposition]
every place" or "[preposition] everywhere". The accent pattern is that of the
base noun (i.e. follows どこ{HL}).

    * ～ **でも**  
Works like "any X" with a question word. Combined with どこ, "[preposition] any
place" or "anywhere". The accent pattern is usually accentless, but when you
put emphasis on this phrase, the accent of the base noun is restored. Note
that since this particle is originated from だ + も, therefore you can't attach
it after だ once again.

    * **～も vs ～でも**  
We disproportionately prefer "どこ + particle + でも" to "どこ + particle + も"
(positive). I've only heard this positive も series used in "every X ... each
Y" construction. The same seems to apply to all question words.

> どこにも{HLLL}住んでみなければわからない苦労がある。  
>  _Every place has its own troubles of life you'll never know until you live
> there._

  3. As you can see, the form どこも appears in two slots, and どこでも confusingly enough takes up six slots(!). Let's summarize them.

    * **どこも**
      * _(not) any place_ (subject/object): どこが/を + も(neg.) [どこも{LHH}]
      * _every place_ (subject/object): どこが/を + も(pos.) [どこも{HLL}]
    * **どこでも**
      * _any place_ (subject/object): どこが/を + でも [どこでも{LHHH}, どこでも{HLLL}]
      * _(not) at/in any place_ : どこ + で + も(neg.) [どこでも{LHHH}]
      * _at/in every place_ : どこ + で + も(pos.) [どこでも{HLLL}] (infrequent)
      * _at/in any place_ : どこ + で + でも [どこでも{LHHH}, どこでも{HLLL}]
      * _be (not) any place_ , _be (not) anywhere_ : どこ + だ + も(neg.) [どこでも{LHHH}]
      * _be every/any place_ , _be every/any-where_ : どこ + だ + も(pos.) [どこでも{LHHH}, どこでも{HLLL}]
    * **どこにでも**
      * _to/at any place_ : どこ + に + でも [どこにでも{LHHHH}, どこにでも{HLLLL}]

* * *

For the usage of に vs で, please refer to the following questions:

  * [Particles: に vs. で](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/60/7810)
  * [に and で revisited](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2197/7810)
  * [In this location context how are に, で and にて different?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1290/7810)

