～さえ: The big "even"

Introduction

Welcome to the ～さえ lesson, where we'll be making emphatic "even" statements, among other things. Let's get started!

～さえ: The most exさえting grammar point, of all time!

構成こうせい

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  Noun(で・に)さえ

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  Verb stemさえ + する

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  て form verbさえ + いる

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  Verb(か・こと・の)さえ

  Example:
  → 彼かれは納豆なっとうさえ食たべれる！
  "He can eat even natto!”

さえ can be a bit of a tricky point to get down but to simplify things, さえ essentially has two main meanings: ① "even" (as in, "Even Mike is being respectful") and ② "only" (as in "If only we had some of that delicious chocolate chip banana bread!"). Luckily, we'll only focus on "even" statements for this lesson, so... that's basically half the work, right?!