どこにも〜ない details
nowhere + go + not
doko ni mo ikanai
nowhere; not anywhere — どこ plus its particle plus も under a negative predicate
meaning: not go anywhere
連休はどこにも行かないで、家でごろごろしてた。
renkyuu wa doko ni mo ikanaide, ie de gorogoro shiteta.
I didn't go anywhere over the long weekend — I just lazed around at home. casual
近くの書店をまわりましたが、どこにも売っていませんでした。
chikaku no shoten o mawarimashita ga, doko ni mo utte imasen deshita.
I went round the bookshops nearby, but nowhere had it. neutral
- alternant
Examples
nowhere; not anywhere — どこにも under a negative predicate rules out every place at once
連休はどこにも行かないで、家でごろごろしてた。
renkyuu wa doko ni mo ikanaide, ie de gorogoro shiteta.
I didn't go anywhere over the long weekend — I just lazed around at home. casual
近くの書店をまわりましたが、どこにも売っていませんでした。
chikaku no shoten o mawarimashita ga, doko ni mo utte imasen deshita.
I went round the bookshops nearby, but nowhere had it. neutral
開いている店がどこにもなくて、結局コンビニで済ませた。
aite iru mise ga doko ni mo nakute, kekkyoku konbini de sumaseta.
There wasn't a single shop open anywhere, so in the end I made do with a convenience store. neutral
会場の周辺には、駐車できる場所がどこにもございません。
kaijou no shuuhen ni wa, chuusha dekiru basho ga doko ni mo gozaimasen.
There is nowhere to park in the vicinity of the venue. formal
Formation
どこにも{V-nai}attaches to ない-form
Variant notes
- どこへも — へ is available in place of に with a destination — どこへも行かなかった.
Notes
が-or-を shape: どこも空いていなかった, どこも触っていない.
Related patterns
Similar
何も denies the things a verb acts on, どこにも the places it happens in, and the two stack in one clause (どこにも何も置いていない); where 何も needs the verb to have a thing to empty, どこにも needs it to have a location.
Same frame, different question word — 誰も empties a set of people and どこにも a set of places; both drop が and を before も (誰も来ない, どこも空いていない), but どこ is usually locative, and there に survives も — which is why the headword is どこにも and not bare どこも.
Lookalikes
Two kana in, they diverge, and どころか holds no question word at all — its ど is the rendaku'd と of 所 — so it is free in polarity, heightening a contrast onto a positive or a negative alike (安いどころか高い, 漢字どころかひらがなも読めない), where どこにも〜ない cannot appear without its negative.