No matter how: どんなに〜ても・何を〜ても
どんなに / いくら / 何を / だれが + ても
どんなに / いくら / 何を / だれが… + ても: “no matter how, whatever, whoever”: the result doesn't change, whatever the possibility.
In short
A question word + 〜ても says the result doesn't change, whatever the degree, the thing or the person: どんなに練習しても, “no matter how much I practise”; 何を言っても, “whatever I say”.
- どんなに急いでも、もう間に合わない。どんなにいそいでも、もうまにあわない。However much we hurry, we won't make it in time now.
- いくら考えても、答えが分からない。いくらかんがえても、こたえがわからない。No matter how hard I think, I can't work out the answer.
- 京都は、いつ行っても新しい発見がある。きょうとは、いついってもあたらしいはっけんがある。In Kyoto, whenever you go, there's always something new to discover.
The basics
By combining a question word and 〜ても, you sweep through every possibility: whatever the degree (どんなに, いくら), the thing (何を), the person (だれが), the place (どこへ), the time (いつ)… the result stays the same.
It's the equivalent of English “no matter how”, “whatever”, “whoever”, “wherever”, “however much”.
No matter how much I practise, I can't beat that player.
- other
- grammatical form
- noun
- verb
- どんなにつらくても、笑顔を忘れない。どんなにつらくても、えがおをわすれない。However hard it gets, I keep smiling.
How to form it
どんなに and いくら are about degree: they combine with a verb or an adjective. The other question words keep their particle (何を, だれが, どこへ, いつ), then the verb goes into the ても-form.
| Question word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| どんなに + Adj/V ても | however… | どんなに高くても |
| いくら + V ても | no matter how much (repeating, insisting) | いくら言っても |
| 何を + V ても | whatever | 何を食べても |
| だれが + V ても | whoever | だれがやっても |
| どこへ / どこで + V ても | wherever | どこへ行っても |
| いつ + V ても | whenever | いつ来ても |
- この料理は、だれが作ってもおいしくできる。このりょうりは、だれがつくってもおいしくできる。This dish turns out well, whoever makes it.
- 何を食べても、味がしない。なにをたべても、あじがしない。Whatever I eat, I can't taste anything.
どんなに〜ても or たとえ〜ても?
たとえ〜ても sets a specific hypothesis (“even if it rains”). どんなに〜ても sweeps through every possible degree (“even if it pours, however hard it rains”). いくら is very close to どんなに, but is used mostly for a repeated or insistent action (いくら説明しても, “no matter how many times I explain”).
- いくら説明しても、分かってもらえない。いくらせつめいしても、わかってもらえない。I've explained it over and over, but they just don't get it.
- たとえ雨でも、どんなに寒くても、毎朝走る。たとえあめでも、どんなにさむくても、まいあさはしる。Even if it's raining, and however cold it is, I run every morning.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting ても: “どんなに練習したら” or “どんなに練習した” don't mean “no matter how much I practise”.
- Mixing up どんなに (to what extent) and どんな (what kind of): どんな人でも = “any kind of person”.
- Mixing up だれが〜ても (whoever) and だれも〜ない (nobody).
7 exercises on this point
Particles to choose, sentences to put back in order, translations: marked straight away, then reviewed at the right time. This JLPT N3 point is on the Kintetsu Kyōto Line (Competition and danger) of the Kyoto lines.