यूनिवर्सिटीज़ ऑफ़ मिशिगन ऐण्ड विर्जिनिया Notes on X  तो X . . . and the elaboration of  भी 'even'
     The inclusive particle  भी at times corresponds to too or also; at other times, to even. It is in this second sense of  भी that Hindi-Urdu has an idiomatic construction that features the particle  तो and reduplication of a noun, pronoun, or adverb:
1.  स्कूल तो स्कूल,  दफ़्तर भी बंद हैं।
     'Forget about schools, even offices are closed.'
     (from  हरदेव बाहरी 's  शिक्षार्थी हिन्दी- अँग्रेज़ी शब्दकोश. See p 292,  तो, subentry 4.)
     Instead of (1) a speaker could simply say:
2.  सब कुछ बंद है,  दफ़्तर भी बंद हैं।
      'Everything is closed, even offices are closed.'
The implication of (1) is that schools are more likely to close than offices. By choosing (1) instead of (2) the speaker can subtly suggest that society puts more value on making money than on education.
     In (3) death outranks Holi in fearsomeness:
3.  होली तो होली,  मैं मौत से भी नहीं डरता !    (thanks to Terry Varma)
      'Holi? I am not afraid of death itself!'    (from  प्रेमलता दीप 's  घनचक्कर )
      Another example found by Terry Varma (in the same story) makes a tongue-in-cheek comparison of men and money on a scale of their ability to disappear in the big city:
4.  पाण्डे भइया यह अपना गाँव नहीं।  मुंबई है मुंबई जहाँ पैसे तो पैसे इन्सान भी खो जाते हैं।
     'Brother Pande, this is not our village. This is Bombay. Bombay! Forget about money, even human beings disappear here!'
      (from  प्रेमलता दीप 's  घनचक्कर )
       In (5) a cop is presumed more likely to be unscrupulous than a lawyer is:
5.  वकील तो वकील,  पुलिसिये भी शरीफ़ निकले।   (sent by Terry Varma, 18 Nov 1999)
     'What to say of the lawyers, even the police turned out to be gentlemen!'
      (from  नवभारत टाइम्ज़ )
      The construction in (1) and (3-5) can be defined as in (6):
6.  X_i  तो  X_i,  Y_j  भी  R       (where R is the remainder of the sentence)
The X_i in this formula indicates that any noun, pronoun or adverb, occurring twice and separated by  तो, can be used in the first part of the construction, followed in the second part by a different noun, pronoun or adverb (Y_j) followed in turn by  भी and finally by the predicate.  What the formula in (6) does not show is that there must be a hierarchical relationship between X_i and Y_j.  If the two noun phrases cannot be seen as related and as occupying two successive points on some kind of scale in a way that is natural and relevant to the speaker's intent, the use of the construction in (6) is meaningless.  Compare (7) with (8):
7.   साँप तो साँप,  केंचली से भी डरता है ।
     'What to say of a snake, he's even afraid of a snake's skin!'
     (Omkar N. Koul, 10 July 1996)
In (7) a snake outranks a snakeskin on a natural scale of dangerousness, a ranking that (in the world we inhabit with snakes and their skins) is more plausible than the opposite ranking:
8. *?  केंचली तो केंचली,  साँप से भी डरता है ।
   *? 'What to say of a snakeskin, he's even afraid of a snake!'
For normal individuals during their waking moments, it is easier to think of snakes as more fearsome than their skins. The ranking implied by (8) suggests a dreamworld or the reaction of someone suffering from an emotional disorder.
      This construction can be subtly manipulated to express irony or faint ridicule. Consider the construction in (9), from a headline in a newspaper (सान्ध्य टाइम्ज़, 9 July 1996):
9.  बाप तो बाप,  दोस्त भी मदद देने नहीं आये।
     'What to say of his father, even his friends did not come to his aid!'
By using (9) the headline writer suggests that in the world of the man being reported on (a minor movie star from Mumbai) friends are more likely to show loyalty than even a father would.
      Note on form: The reduplicated noun or pronoun in this construction (that is, the X_i) must appear in direct (=non-oblique) form, shorn of any postposition.  For example, the X_i in 10 is in the direct form  तू even though  मुझसे (the corresponding Y in the  भी-clause) must appear in the oblique case together with the postposition  से :
10.  तू तो तू,  वह मुझसे भी जलती है !
       'You? Why she is even jealous of me!'
Reduplication of the entire postpositional phrase is distinctly infelicitous:
11. *^? तुझसे तो तुझसे,  वह मुझसे भी जलती है !
Notice in (10) that the reference of X and Y is fully contextual. ( तू and  मैं are"shifter" pronouns.) Consequently their relative placement on a scale (in this case, a scale of "enviability") cannot be determined by the application of common sense or ones general cultural knowledge.
       For ordinary situations or for speakers uninterested in subtle effects or  व्यंजना, there is a plain vanilla, unadorned version of the construction in which the X_i- तो-X_i part is replaced by  औरर तो औरर:
12.  अरे,  औरर तो औरर,  हमारे चचेरे,  फुफेरे,  ममेरे,  मौसेरे भाई जो इसी रियासत की बदौलत मौज उड़ा रहे हैं,  कविता कर रहे हैं औरर जुए खेल रहे हैं,  शराबें पी रहे हैं औरर ऐयाशी कर रहे हैं,  वह भी मुझसे जलते हैं,  औरर आज मर जाऊँ तो घी के चिराग़ जलायें।
      'Listen, forget about the others! My paternal cousins and my maternal cousins who are enjoying their lives of leisure at the expense of my princely state, who are writing poetry and gambling and drinking and living in luxury, even they are jealous of me and, if I were to die today, would light lamps of ghee in thanksgiving!'
     (from Chapter Two of  गोदान. See context.)
13.  ईंटें जल रही थीं,  लोहे के गर्डर जल रहे थे औरर पिघली हुई शक्कर के परनाले चारों तरफ़ बह रहे थे।  औरर तो औरर,  ज़मीन से भी ज्वाला निकल रही थी।
       'Bricks were burning. Iron girders were burning. Rivers of molten sugar were flowing in every direction. Aside from everywhere else, flames were even coming out of the ground.'
       (from Chapter Twenty-eight of   गोदान. See context.)
Further observations, from Terry Varma (11 Mar 2001):
A. The particle  तक can be used in place of  भी. Notice that, unlike  भी, the particle  तक comes between the postposition and its noun:
14.  मोटर- तो- मोटर,  साइकिल तक का नाम सुनकर घर से बाहर निकल आता था औरर . . .
       'Forget about cars, even when he heard there was a cycle (going by) he would come out of the house and . . .'
      (from  श्रीलाल शुक्ल 's  सूनी घाटी का सूरज )
B. We must add adjectives to the list of items that may occur reduplicated in the X_i तो X_i part of this construction:
15.  आज तक किसीने मुझको काला- तो- काला,  साँवला तक न कहा था।
       'To this day no-one has even called me swarthy, let alone dark!'
      (from  कोलतार  by  श्री मिर्ज़ा आज़िम बेग चाग़ताई )
C. Note the use of hyphens.
D. The second X_i in the X_i तो X_i part of the construction can be replaced by  क्या or  दूर. It is worth noting that taking the first of these two options renders the inclusion of the postposition with the remaining X_i perfectly normal:
16.  किसी दूसरो को तो क्या,  अपने को भी नहीं समझा सकती।
       'I can't explain it to myself, let alone to anybody else.'
       (from  आधे अधूरे  by  मोहन राकेश , p. 27 )
Compare (17) with (11):
17.  तुझसे तो क्या,  वह मुझसे भी जलती है !
E. Related reading: See the 1988 Language article by Fillmore et al. on 'Let alone'.
F. Related notes: For another construction, whose use creates a scale of desirability, see notes on  सही.
To exercise.
To notes on verb +  भी to indicate concession.
To index of grammatical notes.
Drafted (with input from Terry Varma) 2000-2001.
Posted 18 Feb 2001 & 26 Feb 2001. Augmented 7, 9, 12 & 13 Mar 2001, and 25 Apr 2001. Reformatted 26 Nov 2001.