Saturday, June 15, 2019

grammar - A question concerning どなたかにでも


In a story I was reading, the protagonist was given a reward he didn't want or have use for and the person giving the reward said "では、どなたかにでもあげて下さい。" What does どなたかにでも mean? Is the speaker saying "give it to someone or something"? Or is there a different meaning?



Answer




  • どなた is an honorific version of だれ ("who"), and どなたか is an honorific version of だれか ("someone").


  • でも is a particle that implies the preceding phrase is not the only option. You can translate it as "something like", "or so" etc. You can also use a softener word such as "maybe":




    でも[係助]
    3 物事をはっきりと言わず、一例として挙げる意を表す。「けが―したら大変だ」「兄に―相談するか」



    See: Meaning of "でも" in "食事でもどうですか?"




So the sentence means "Then, maybe you can give it to someone (else, after receiving it. So please accept this reward for now)."


In this context, どなたかにあげでもしてください means the same thing.


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