～なくもない vs ～なくはない

Asked Jan 13 '21 at 11:37

Active Jan 13 '21 at 12:03

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自信がなくもない

自信がなくはない

What's the difference here? I understand that both constructions are basically double negatives that cancel themselves into positives, with は sandwitched there to emphasize the negative. But the question is, what is も's purpose here, and what's the difference in meaning between the two constructions?

asked Jan 13 '21 at 11:37

LonelyDriver

Also related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56449/5010 – naruto Jan 13 '21 at 11:51
Both sentences means the speaker is pretty confident, but with も, the sentence sounds more reserved ("I would say...", "well, ...", etc) – naruto Jan 13 '21 at 12:09
1

Found a good explanation here, if anyone's interested too: double negative – LonelyDriver Jan 13 '21 at 14:35

～なくもない vs ～なくはない

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