# それだけでも



## Shatin

Hi All,

I believe the above phrase comes from a song:

あなたがいる　それだけでも　世界が変わってしまう

The English translation is given as:

Just you being here changed my world.

Now それ means this, だけ only. What is the meaning or function of でも? My understanding is that でも means "but, although". However this doesn't seem to make much sense here.

Any help is appreciated!


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## Derselbe

I think is has the same function as in

なんでもいい
でれでも出来れ

It's not the でも usually written at the beginning of a sentence. *でも*、別に何*でも*いいです

My dictionary translates だけでも as "only by" "even only"

E.g.:
見ただけでも分かる　       
understand it only by nothing more than locking at it

考えただけでもぞっとする


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## Wishfull

Shatin said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I believe the above phrase comes from a song:
> 
> あなたがいる　それだけでも　世界が変わってしまう
> 
> The English translation is given as:
> 
> Just you being here changed my world.
> 
> Now それ means this, だけ only. What is the meaning or function of でも? My understanding is that でも means "but, although". However this doesn't seem to make much sense here.
> 
> Any help is appreciated!


 
Hi. I think your analysis is correct. It is true that でも means "but, although", but it is not the case with this context.

In this context, でも　means "even".
それだけでも＝even only this

For example;
これは子供*でも*できる。　This can be done by *even* a child.


Hope this helps. Wishfull


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## Ocham

Yes, Derselbe is right. だけでも here means "only by" "even only".
それ in それだけでも literally means "it", which represents "your being
there".


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## Shatin

Many thanks for your explanations!


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## Daisy(yhz)

わがりました
Thank you very much. It's really a nice site. I'm a new member.


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## Derselbe

Daisy(yhz) said:


> わがりました



わ*か*りました　分*か*りました

ようこそ！\m/(-.-)\m/


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## Flaminius

Derselbe said:


> でれでも出来れ


Perhaps you might want to tell us what you meant?  This sentence does not strike me as correct.



Daisy(yhz) said:


> わがりました
> Thank you very much. It's really a nice site. I'm a new member.


Welcome to the forums, *Daisy(yhz)*!
What we say (or at least write) for 明白了 is わ*か*りました.

The phrase in question, それだけでも, can be understood as それだけで + も.  Analysis like this is useful understanding the respective roles of the two components.  The former component, それだけで, is a more-or-less objective description of what is necessary to change the world.  An English translation which is not necessarily literal is "your presence by itself."  It can appear in a sentence on its own:
それだけで世界が変わってしまう。
In other words, the world may change by a lot of single factors and your presence is one of them.

What is も doing here then?  It expresses excitement or surprise for それだけで as a whole.  The speaker of the sentence is excited to tell that a small thing such as a person's presence can change a big thing such as the world (for an outside observer, the world he refers to is strictly his own...).  In conclusion, I won't be so different from others who have translated the phrase with _even_ into English.  It's a curious thing, however, that Japanese uses two words だけ and も to express the same thing here.


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## Derselbe

Flaminius said:


> Perhaps you might want to tell us what you meant?  This sentence does not strike me as correct.



Typo. Sorry fot that. Was meant to be 誰でも出来る。


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## Derselbe

Flaminius said:


> それだけで世界が変わってしまう。
> In other words, the world may change by a lot of single factors and your presence is one of them.



I was just wondering what one would have to say to express "The world will only change by a certain thing." And nothing else will work.
Could you say
世界はそれしかで変わらない。


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## Flaminius

Hi,

しか has the same position as も when combined with whole noun phrases.  It follows what it modifies:
世界はそれでしか変わらない。


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