ても Phrases

I am considering combining this with the ても page. This page covers more “expression-like” usages of ても. To me, I don’t really see a difference, but other sources list this separately and ても is already quite long, so I’m going to list it separately for now. Let me know in the comments if you think it should be combined.

Question Word + でも

Any X
Question word + でも

(Review) Question words may be used with でも,  as discussed on the ても page.
This means any place, anything, or any time, etc. 

Examples

• 何でもいい。- Anything is ok.
• どこでも行かない – I won’t go anywhere
• いつでも助ける – I’ll save you anytime.
  
  

Question Word + ても

No matter what/where
なに/どこ + Verb ても (Negative sentence).

Question words can also be used with Verb ても to express “no matter what/where” etc.
It indicates that no action, place, time, etc. has any affect on the result. 

Examples

• 何を言っても無駄だ – No matter what you say, it’s useless.
• どこに行っても逃げられない  – No matter where you go, you can’t escape.
• 何をしてもできない  – No matter what (I) do, I can’t do it. 
• 何があっても僕はあなたの味方だ – No matter what happens, I’ll be on your side.
• どこで勉強しても、大事なのは集中 – No matter where you study, the important thing is focus.
• いつ寝ても大丈夫だ – It doesn’t matter when you sleep.
• 何時に食べても自由だ – No matter the time, you’re free to eat.
  
  

Amount Word + ても

Even X amount
Amount word + Verb ても

Amount word + ても unsurprisingly means that an amount makes no difference.

Examples

• 100回やってもできない – Even if try it a hundred times you can’t do it.
• $1,000,000ドールを払っても入手できない – You can’t obtain it even if you pay a million dollars. 
• 何回やっても負ける – No matter how many times I try, I loose.
  
  

どんなに/いくら + ても

No matter how much/hard
どんなに・いくら + Verb ても

どんなに and いくら are question words that can be used with ても. They mean “No matter how much”
However they are a bit of a special case, because they may refer to amount or effort.
どんなに should not be confused with どんな

Examples

• どんなに食べてもお腹がいっぱいにならない – No matter how much I eat, I don’t get full.
• いくら勉強しても覚えられない – No matter how much (How hard) I study, I can’t remember it.
• どんなに頑張っても失敗する – No matter how much (How hard) I try I fail.
• いくら優秀と言ってもまだ子供だ – No matter how skilled you say he is, he’s still a child.
• どんなにバカにされても諦めない – No matter how much (They) are made fun of they don’t give up. 

Others

Please see the respective pages for といっても、にしても、and としても