いつ〜ても・何を〜ても・誰が〜ても・どこで〜ても details
write + (and…) + no matter when / what / who / where — a question word inside the ても clause makes the concession cover every case at once
itsu kaite mo
no matter when / what / who / where — a question word inside the ても clause makes the concession cover every case at once
meaning: no matter when you may write
あの公園は、いつ行っても子どもの声がする。
ano kouen wa, itsu itte mo kodomo no koe ga suru.
You hear children's voices at that park, no matter when you may go. neutral
この店は、何を食べてもおいしいよ。
kono mise wa, nani o tabete mo oishii yo.
Everything at this place is good, no matter what you eat. casual
- colloquial
- alternant
- alternant
- alternant
- alternant
Examples
no matter when / what / who / where — every member of the set is conceded in turn, and the outcome refuses to change
あの公園は、いつ行っても子どもの声がする。
ano kouen wa, itsu itte mo kodomo no koe ga suru.
You hear children's voices at that park, no matter when you may go. neutral
この店は、何を食べてもおいしいよ。
kono mise wa, nani o tabete mo oishii yo.
Everything at this place is good, no matter what you eat. casual
誰が来ても、この部屋には入れません。
dare ga kite mo, kono heya ni wa hairemasen.
No matter who comes, nobody can get into this room. neutral
どこで買っても値段は同じだと思うよ。
doko de katte mo nedan wa onaji da to omou yo.
I reckon the price is the same wherever you buy it. casual
何度説明しても、彼は納得してくれなかった。
nando setsumei shite mo, kare wa nattoku shite kurenakatta.
No matter how many times I explained, he would not accept it. neutral
何をお選びになっても、料金は変わりません。
nani o o erabi ni natte mo, ryoukin wa kawarimasen.
Whatever you choose, the charge stays the same. formal
Formation
いつ{V-te}もattaches to て-form何を{V-te}もattaches to て-form誰が{V-te}もattaches to て-formどこで{V-te}もattaches to て-form
Variant notes
- たって — casual speech swaps ても for たって — the た-form plus って (誰が来たって、何を言ったって), voicing with it (何を飲んだって).
- どこへ／どこに〜ても — へ or に where the place is a destination rather than the site of the act — どこへ行っても同じ看板を見かける.
- 何度〜ても — counts discrete tries instead of ranging over a set — 何度数えても合わない.
- 何が〜ても — the subject slot filled by an event rather than a person — 何があっても、約束は守る.
- どう〜ても — ranges over the manner rather than over members of a set — どう考えても計算が合わない.
Notes
is "I simply cannot work it out", not a concession about how you go about it.
Plain どう〜ても stays productive beside it — どう考えても、どうやっても.
Related patterns
Similar
Both force the universal reading onto ても, and what each quantifies differs — いくら scales one act up by an unbounded amount and so needs a predicate admitting degrees (いくら押しても), where 誰が／何を range over the members of a set instead (誰が押しても), which is why a single-shot event keeps 誰が／何を and refuses いくら; 何度〜ても sits between them, counting discrete tries.
Lookalikes
The same て＋も, and the question word is the whole difference — bare 食べても concedes one supposition ("even if you eat it"), 何を食べても concedes every member of the set at once ("no matter what you eat"), so ても on its own never carries the "no matter" reading a learner reads into it.
One dakuten apart and syntactically unrelated — 誰でも fills the main clause's own argument slot (誰でも入れる, everyone may), while 誰が〜ても is a subordinate clause conceded in full (誰が入っても同じだ), so でも feeds the main verb and ても hands it to a second clause.