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Good afternoon all,

I understand that "X倍の" means "X times of", however sometimes I see the phrase "X倍もの" and I was wondering what it means.

For example, in the sentence:

人間の脳には、約140億の神経細胞と、その10倍もの、神経細胞を支持する細胞があります。

I was wondering what's the function of the "も" in "10倍もの" ?

Or rather, what's the difference between the above sentence and this sentence (same sentence but omitting the "も"):

人間の脳には、約140億の神経細胞と、その10倍の、神経細胞を支持する細胞があります。

Flaw
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Pacerier
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1 Answers1

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Try looking at the sentence without that その10倍もの part, first:

人間の脳には、約140億の神経細胞と神経細胞を支持する細胞があります。

The sentence seems to be focusing on the following types of cells in the human brain:
神経細胞 and 神経細胞を支持する細胞

But the first type of cell has a numerical amount given: 約140億の.

When the その10倍もの part is added before 神経細胞を支持する細胞, it seems to be building off of the numerical amount of the first type of cell (the 140億,) and using も as a way to say:

"as much as 10 times the amount (of the previously-written 140億 amount)"

Basically, without も, the sentence might not have the same emphasis (regarding the massive amount of "support nerve cells" in the human brain.)

summea
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  • Btw just a side question, I was wondering is the "の" in "140億の" necessary? Is it ok to remove it? – Pacerier Mar 26 '12 at 04:23
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    @Pacerier Removing the の doesn't seem right, since it would turn 神経細胞 into a counter word. But you're right, there's no counter word in the first place, so you could argue that it really should be 40億個の神経細胞. Omitting the counter feels acceptable in this case where the number is so big, though. – dainichi Mar 26 '12 at 04:43
  • @dainichi Btw when you use "個", were you referring to the "こ" counter or the general "つ" counter? – Pacerier Mar 26 '12 at 13:09
  • @Pacerier こ. つ only goes up to 9. – dainichi Mar 26 '12 at 22:14
  • @dainichi Ic, thanks for the clarification =) – Pacerier Mar 26 '12 at 23:37
  • @dainichi Btw I was wondering regarding the general counter being used only for 1-9 items, is this a "habit" or is it considered un-grammatical to use "個" for more than 10 items? – Pacerier Mar 27 '12 at 04:27
  • @Pacerier 個{こ} can be used for any number of items. つ-numbers, which are native Japanese, only exist up to 9, ひとつ　ふたつ　みっつ　よっつ　いつつ　むっつ　ななつ　やっつ　ここのつ. There are also native Japanese words for numbers bigger than 9, とお　もも etc, but they're not used much, and I'm not sure they have つ versions and/or can be used as counters. – dainichi Mar 27 '12 at 05:07