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I noticed that 「もう」 can mean both "already" and "additional", such as the
following sentence:

> もう二本飲みましたよ。

Can mean either one of:

  1. I already drank two glasses.
  2. I drank additional two glasses.

How can I differentiate between the two meanings?
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2011-06-04T00:55:08.013
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2022-04-27T02:05:20.753
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words nuances
How can I differentiate between 「もう」 that means "already" and 「もう」 that means "more/additional"?
I guess that the most reliable way is decide from the context. But at least in
the Tokyo dialect and other dialects with the same accent pattern, they have
different accents.

  * _I think_ that もう meaning “already” is pronounced as HL (where H is high and L is low). Therefore もうにほん becomes HLHLL.
  * もう meaning “additional” is pronounced as LH. Therefore もうにほん becomes LHHLL. This can be confirmed by the Daijirin dictionary. This meaning is shown as 1-[3], and the small “0” at the beginning of this meaning means that the “standard” accent is LH.
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2011-06-04T03:52:37.743
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I can see what you're thinking, but the second English meaning does not arise
from the Japanese sentence provided.

もう二本飲みましたよ。 Yep, this means "I already drank two glasses"

もう二本飲みますよ。 In present/future tense it means "I will drink two additional
glasses"

But by saying もう二本飲みました, it does not become "I drank two additional glasses".
To say that you might say 追加として二本飲みました.

Regarding pronunciation guides, from experience this can be less reliable than
context, since even native speakers regularly mix them up.
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2011-06-04T05:34:18.907
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2011-06-04T05:34:18.907
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If you really want to distinguish them, you can emphasize the "already" one
with すでに （既に）.

もう既に２本飲みました。
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2011-06-05T02:29:21.027
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answer