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help with example question

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先輩
11 Sep 2013
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Hi Guys,
I'm having some trouble with a fill in the blanks sentence. It is a two part conversation.
山田「田中さん、これから食事でもどうですか。」
田中「すみません。ちょうど___ ____ ____ ___ です。」
There are four words to get in order.
なん
ところ
食べた
いま
But I'm having trouble understanding the conversation. What is the purpose of this でも in the first sentence?
Is it saying......
Tanakasan, after this however how about a meal?
Sorry. I just.......
What am I missing?
よろしくお願いします
 
I guess it's the particles で + も rather than the word でも. So the first sentence is simply: "How about a meal afterwards?"
Since 田中 is declining the offer it should be easy to construct the rest of their answer (the reason for not joining 山田).
 
I guess it's the particles で + も rather than the word でも. So the first sentence is simply: "How about a meal afterwards?"
Since 田中 is declining the offer it should be easy to construct the rest of their answer (the reason for not joining 山田).

Ah thanks so its

田中さん、これから食事でもどうですか。 Tanaka after this for a meal also how about?

すみません。ちょうどいま食べたところなんです And tanaka says sorry I have just eaten.

Why do we need to still use ところ even though we have already used ちょうどいま食べた?
 
Not sure whether the も is used as "also" in this case; I think it's closer to the -<て-form>も pattern ("How about going as far as a meal?"). Maybe a more experienced forum member can confirm.

For the redundancy of ちょうどいま and -た ところ: no one said it's required, technically you might just as well say 食べたところです without all the extra "fluff". But redundancy helps with emphasis and politeness, just like in English: I *really only just* ate, so I sadly cannot join you. (If it had been a bit longer ago I totally would though)

Not to mention, if you only had to fill in two words in the blanks instead of four, it wouldn't be much of a challenge. :)
 
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The でも is the functional equivalent of "or something" when making a suggestion/invitation in English.

Would you like to have lunch?

Would you like to have lunch or something?
 
Thank you guys, That makes more sense now when you say it emphasises.
Mikesan thanks for the tip. I looked into some examples sentences and found a couple similar to what you said. This one stood out. for the double something.
なにか飲み物でも?
Would you care for something to drink (or something)?
 
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