日本語道場

Nihongo Dojo — N3 → N2

Grammar

N2

～てもともと

~te motomoto

nothing to lose by trying

When to use it

Use ～てもともと to frame an action as risk-free: if it fails, you are simply back where you started, so there is no reason not to try. It typically appears when urging a long-shot request, an aggressive negotiating position, or a proposal likely to be rejected. Common in spoken business Japanese and internal email; too casual for formal proposals or external reporting.

Formation

  • Verb: て-form + もともと ／ 断られてもともと、失敗してもともと
  • Negative verb: ～なくて + もともと ／ 通らなくてもともと
  • い-adjective: ～くて + もともと (rare) ／ 安くてもともと
  • な-adjective・Noun: ～で + もともと ／ ダメでもともと、無理でもともと、白紙でもともと
  • Note the て is the plain て-form, not ても — もともと means "the original state," i.e. "we're back to square one."
  • Usually closes with だ／です, or continues as ～もともとだから／～もともとだと思えば + volitional or ～てみる.

Examples

  • Worst case they turn us down and we're no worse off. Let's sound them out.

  • We've nothing to lose, so let's ask Company A for a quote too.

  • If the price talks fail we're back where we started — no reason not to try.

  • If the proposal doesn't pass, so be it. I'll raise it at the meeting.

  • If we accept that it may all fall through, we can push harder on terms.