What is the difference between the sentences below:

> ビショップ **さえ** 取ればいいよ。
>
> ビショップを取り **さえ** すればいいよ。

I also saw on a site that でさえ is the same as さえ in a sentence like 子供さえわかる.
But isn't で the 連用形 of だ? I would translate the sentence as below:

> これは子供 **でさえ** わかるだろう : Even if you are a kid you should be able to
> understand this.
>
> これは子供 **さえ** わかるだろう : Even a kid should be able to understand this.

And my last question: I saw a translation for 「日本語 **さえ** 話せない」 which is "you
can't even speak Japanese", can I express the same thing by saying 「日本語 **も**
話せない」? Or does this sentence only mean "you cannot speak Japanese either"?
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2016-04-06T22:41:47.337
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particle-も particle-さえ
さえ: How to use it?
The first pair is easily understood if you take notice where さえ attaches to.

When you don't know _**what piece**_ you should capture, I can only say
**ビショップさえ** 取ればいいよ; if you don't know _**what action**_ you should do to the
Bishop (e.g. if you take it, your piece would be eaten too, so which is more
favorable?), I can only say ビショップを **取りさえ** すればいいよ.

If your question is only "What should I do in this position?", then both will
do.

* * *

> _I also saw on a site that でさえ is the same as さえ in a sentence like
> 子供さえわかる._

Really? They're very different. Since さえ is a 取り立て助詞 "focus particle(?)" that
isn't a primary particle, it generally can only come after another case
particle (格助詞). What you see as if さえ comes right after a noun is actually
either **が** さえ or **を** さえ, but the two (and only they) are usually eaten by
取り立て助詞.

> 子供 **さえ** わかる ← 子供 **が** わかる "understand children" (or _could be_ "children
> understand")
>
> 子供 **にさえ** わかる ← 子供 **に** わかる "children can understand" ( _lit._ "be
> understandable to children")

So, the stumbling block here is, in fact, で.

> 子供 **でさえ** わかる ← 子供 **で** わかる "understand within children / as much as a
> child can"

This is a case particle, and not a paradigm of copula だ. It's rarely used
alone in this sense, though it does exist:

> 子供 **で** わからなければ、大人に聞くといい。

But instead it typically appears with 取り立て助詞, such as では, でも, ですら or でさえ.

* * *

日本語さえ話せない and 日本語も話せない can describe the same situation in most of times, but
there is a clear distinction; も comes from "also" thus means it's a deviation
from criterion, while さえ implies that itself is a criterion. That is:

> 日本語（○さえ／×も）話せなければ、聞かれても問題ない。  
>  _It doesn't matter if we're heard, as long as (=if only it's met that) they
> don't speak Japanese._
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answer