彼は私たちを二人とも知っているわけではない。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

He doesn’t know both of us.

Wouldn’t a better English translation be “He doesn’t know either of us?”

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#2
English Translation

He doesn’t know both of us.

I checked DeepL and GT and they gave opposite answers.

I think if it was ‘both’, I’d say ‘the both’, but it’s the Japanese meaning that I’d like to understand.

#3

My interpretation is that the 二人とも strongly emphasises the both of us. Like the English equivalent would be something like “He doesn’t know both of us”, with the stress on both. In fact, based on the way it’s phrased, I get the impression that the speaker is implying that he knows only one of us (like only me or only you).

EDIT: To be clear, let me give a bunch more examples:

  • 新作のボードゲームを両方とも買ったわけではない。I didn’t buy both of the new board games (implying I bought one)
  • 本を三冊とも読んだわけではない。I didn’t read all there of these books (implying that I read one or two)
  • 両方とも話せるわけではない。ドイツ語だけです。I don’t actually speak both languages. Only German.

It is possible that it implies neither, but hmm. That would not be my first instinct.

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