しかも / それに: How to Say "On Top of That" and "What's More" in Japanese (Compounding Additives)

To say "on top of that" in Japanese when you want to pile one point onto another, use the two everyday connectors それに and しかも. それに adds a further point neutrally; しかも adds it with emphasis, presenting the new item as notable.¹²

Overview

Both それに and しかも are 接続詞 (conjunctions). Both belong to the 添加・累加 (addition / accumulation) category of connectives: words that take a preceding matter and add a further matter to it.³ The category 累加の接続詞 is defined as connectives that join sentences or clauses by adding a later matter onto an earlier one (前のことがらに後のことがらをつけくわえる), with そのうえ・しかも・それに・さらに・そして all listed as members.³

For learners, the key difference is emphasis. それに reads as a neutral, conversational addition;⁴ しかも reads as 予想以上の追加 ("addition beyond expectation") with a tone described as やや強い ("somewhat emphatic").⁵

Where N3 places this pair

The J-Compass content plan groups these two as a single N3-tier study unit. In learner references, you will more often see それに tagged around N4 and しかも around N2. Treat the levels as bands rather than hard cutoffs: それに is the earlier-met, more neutral member, and しかも is the heavier, more emphatic one. No official body publishes a grammar list for the modern JLPT, so no level here is government-certified.⁶⁷

The two at a glance

The dictionary definitions give the core sense of each word and set up the rest of the article.

Word	Core sense (sourced)	Typical English	Emphasis	Register
それに	そのうえ。それに加えて2	"besides," "in addition," "and also"	neutral / low4	spoken, 話しことば4
しかも	さらに別の事柄を加える。その上1	"moreover," "what's more," "and on top of that"	emphatic / "beyond expectation"5	both spoken and written, やや硬い・やや強い5

The core sense of しかも (接続詞, sense 1) is 「前述の事柄を受けて、さらに別の事柄を加えるときに用いる。その上。」 ("Used to add yet another, separate matter onto the preceding matter; 'on top of that.'").¹ The core sense of それに (接続詞, sense 1) is 「そのうえ。それに加えて。」 ("On top of that; in addition to that.").²

Where these sit among connectives

Both words sit in the 添加・累加 group alongside また・さらに・そのうえ・そして.³ The boundary section below sorts the members apart. A sibling article treats the また / さらに / その上 trio; this article focuses on the しかも / それに pair.

Form and placement

それに: sentence-initial neutral addition

それに stands at the head of the added clause or sentence. It takes the preceding statement and adds a same-direction further point.² It pairs naturally in stacked evaluations of the "A。それに B。" shape, where B is another point of the same kind as A.

運動うんどうは楽たのしいです。それに体からだにいいです。⁷
"Exercise is fun. In addition, it's good for you."

この旅館りょかんの料理りょうりが美味おいしい。それに周まわりの景色けしきも美うつくしい。⁷
"This Japanese-style inn's food is delicious. Moreover, the surrounding scenery is beautiful."

日本にほんは住すみやすい。それに病院代びょういんだいが安やすい。⁷
"Japan is easy to live in. Moreover, medical expenses are reasonable."

In every cited example, それに opens the second sentence after a clause-final predicate in the first. This is the typical placement for the additive 接続詞 use.⁷

しかも: sentence-initial emphatic addition

しかも also stands at the head of the added matter, but it can pile a clause onto a single statement while presenting the added item as notable.¹ It works both at the start of a new sentence and mid-sentence after a て-form or continuative break.

あのスーパーの肉にくは安やすい。しかも、脂あぶらがのっている。⁶
"That supermarket's meat is cheap. Moreover, it is well-marbled."

プレーは一流いちりゅう。しかも、ファンに優やさしい。⁶
"Their play is first-rate. Moreover, they are fan-friendly."

私わたしの鼻はなはとても大おおきく、しかも曲まがっている。⁶
"My nose is very big, and what's more, it is crooked."

The third example shows しかも mid-sentence after a continuative form (大きく、), joining two traits of a single subject. The first two show it sentence-initial after a full predicate.⁶

Nuance and usage contexts

それに adds; しかも adds with emphasis

それに is a neutral, logical "in addition" that fits conversational register.⁴ しかも carries 予想以上の追加 ("addition beyond expectation") with a やや強い ("somewhat emphatic") tone.⁵

The two also differ from neighbouring additives in a useful way. しかも emphasizes something unexpected within the same evaluative frame, while さらに instead marks step-by-step escalation.⁵ One contrast resource frames しかも as adding "different but related aspects" with emphasis on something notable. In that view, しかも fits when the two pieces are separate informational layers rather than overlapping cumulative matters.⁸

The diagram shows the single decision a learner makes: both connectives branch off the same preceding statement, but それに continues quietly while しかも leans in.

Same-polarity piling: positive onto positive, negative onto negative

A pile built with these connectives tends to keep one evaluative direction. しかも is described as 「良い/悪い点の強調」 ("emphasizing good points or bad points"). In other words, it stacks within one direction, not across it.⁵

In a positive pile, each item is favourable.

あのスーパーの肉にくは安やすい。しかも、脂あぶらがのっている。⁶
"That supermarket's meat is cheap. Moreover, it is well-marbled."

Here "cheap" is good and "well-marbled" is good: positive onto positive. A negative pile keeps the same logic in the other direction.

あの人ひとは常識じょうしきを知しらない。しかも、厚あつかましい。⁶
"That person has no common sense. Moreover, he is brazen."

"No common sense" is bad, and "brazen" is bad: negative onto negative. それに behaves the same way, adding a matter of the same direction.

山やまの上うえからの景色けしきが綺麗きれい。それに空気くうきも綺麗きれい。⁷
"The view from atop the mountain is beautiful. In addition, the air is clean too."

それに is characterized as adding 「似たようなこと」 ("a similar kind of matter"), that is, a same-direction addition, in spoken register.⁴

The polarity match is a tendency, not a hard rule

No located source supplies a star-marked ungrammatical example such as "good。しかも bad." The single-direction behaviour is inferred from the 「良い/悪い点の強調」 characterization and the uniform polarity of the sourced examples. Treat it as a strong tendency: mixing praise and complaint across these connectives reads wrong, rather than being provably impossible.⁶⁷⁵

Register: casual それに, heavier しかも

それに leans 話しことば (spoken, conversational).⁴ しかも works in both speech and writing, with a やや強い (somewhat emphatic, firm) tone and the heavier "and what's more" delivery.⁵ These register descriptions come from pedagogy resources and example distribution, not from corpus frequency data. They describe tendencies rather than measured fact.

Boundary: しかも / それに vs. また / さらに / その上

All five connectives are 添加・累加 additives,³ but the sources divide them this way:

• それに is 話しことば and adds 似たようなこと (similar, same-direction matters); neutral.⁴
• さらに is 書きことば / 固い表現 (written, formal); it adds similar matters, often in sequential ordering, with an overlapping or escalating cumulative feel.⁴⁸
• その上 adds 特別なこと (exceptional, noteworthy content). It also carries a constraint: it cannot be followed by volitional, request, or command expressions (意志・依頼・命令等の表現は来ません).⁴
• しかも marks 予想以上の追加 (addition beyond expectation), emphasizing a notable point within one evaluative direction, with a やや強い tone, in speech and writing alike.⁵

The その上 example shows the "separate but stacked, noteworthy" feel that distinguishes it from the neutral それに.

昨日きのう、山田やまださんにご飯はんをご馳走ちそうしてもらった。その上うえ、お土産みやげまでいただいてしまった。⁴
"Yesterday Yamada treated me to a meal. On top of that, I even received a souvenir."

This article focuses on the しかも / それに pair. The また / さらに / その上 trio is handled in its own sibling article.

Good to know

しかも is not the contrastive しかも reading

The additive しかも in this article means "moreover / on top of that": 「さらに別の事柄を加えるときに用いる。その上。」¹ A separate dictionary sense of しかも is adversative, meaning it marks contrast: 「前述の事柄を受けて、それに反する帰結を付け加えるときに用いる。それなのに。それでも。」 ("used to add a consequence that runs counter to the preceding matter; 'and yet,' 'even so'"), as in 「あれだけ練習して、しかも勝てなかった」.¹

The additive use never means "but." Context separates the two senses: a same-direction addition signals the additive reading, while a result that runs counter to expectation signals the adversative one. For this article, anchor on the additive "what's more" sense and do not import a "but" reading into it.¹

Why それに wants consistent polarity

The added item tends to be the same kind of thing as what came before. それに adds 似たようなこと (a similar matter),⁴ and しかも stacks 良い点 onto 良い点 or 悪い点 onto 悪い点.⁵

Piling a complaint onto a compliment with these connectives reads wrong, because the connective itself signals "more of the same direction." No source supplies a star-marked ungrammatical example, so treat this as a strong tendency rather than an absolute rule.

それに = quiet "and also"; しかも = "and get this" energy

それに is the low-key, conversational add: 似たようなこと in 話しことば.⁴ しかも is the 予想以上の ("beyond expectation"), やや強い emphatic add.⁵ As a memory hook, それに hums "...and also," while しかも leans in with "...and what's more."

しかも = しか + も, with a kanbun origin

しかも is formed from the adverb しか plus the binding particle も (副詞「しか」＋係助詞「も」).¹ Its conjunction use is noted to derive from kanbun-kundoku, the Japanese reading tradition for Classical Chinese texts, where 「然」「而」「爾」 were read as しかも.⁹ This literary origin helps explain why しかも feels at home in firmer, written contexts as well as in speech.⁹

See also

• また / さらに / その上: How to Say "Furthermore" and "On Top of That" in Japanese
• そして / それで / それから: Narrative, Result, and Sequence in Japanese
• つまり / すなわち / 要するに: How to Say "In Other Words" in Japanese (Restatement and Summary)
• でも / しかし: Sentence-Initial "But" and "However" in Japanese
• ただし / もっとも: How to Add a Proviso or Qualification in Japanese
• Japanese Conjunctions Overview: Clause-Linkers (接続助詞) vs. Sentence-Connectors (接続詞)

References

Footnotes

1. 小学館『デジタル大辞泉』「然も(しかも)」項. Kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%B6%E3%82%82-512065 (reference-grade, 国語辞典). Conjunction senses, 副詞 sense, etymology, classical example sentences. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. 小学館『デジタル大辞泉』「それに」項. Weblio辞書. https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AB (reference-grade, 国語辞典). Three conjunction senses with example sentences. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. 学研キッズネット『辞典』「累加の接続詞」項. https://kids.gakken.co.jp/jiten/dictionary09300002/ (reference, publisher dictionary). Definition and membership of the 累加(添加) conjunction category. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. 旅する応用言語学 (Applied Linguistics Blog). 「『それに』『さらに』『その上』の違いについて」(2019). https://www.nihongo-appliedlinguistics.net/wp/archives/5318 (applied-linguistics resource). Register and usage contrast across the 添加 trio. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. 日本語教師のネタ帳 (nantong-japanese.com). 「接続詞―並列・追加の表現（しかも、さらに、おまけに……）」. https://nantong-japanese.com/2026/04/21/接続詞―並列・追加の表現（しかも、さらに、お/ (Japanese-teacher pedagogy resource, limitation). しかも = 予想以上の追加, tone やや強い; same-evaluative-direction examples. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

6. Bunpro. "しかも (JLPT N2)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%97%E3%81%8B%E3%82%82 (learner grammar site, limitation). JLPT tag and modern example sentences (positive- and negative-piling). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

7. Bunpro. "それに (JLPT N4)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AB (learner grammar site, limitation). JLPT tag and modern example sentences. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. Enuncia. "Difference between さらに and しかも" (2024). https://enuncia.online/en/2024/12/24/blog147/ (learner site, limitation). さらに (overlapping/escalating) vs しかも (notable, separate-but-related, emphatic) contrast. ↩ ↩²

9. 小学館『精選版 日本国語大辞典』「然も(しかも)」項. Kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%B6%E3%82%82-512065 (reference-grade, 大型国語辞典). Conjunction definition and classical attestations; kanbun-kundoku origin note. ↩ ↩²