Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 4: 3/21

いくら～でもNo matter how (much)

Structure

いくら + Verb［ても］
いくら + ［い］Adjective［ても］
いくら + Noun + でも
いくら + ［な］Adjective + でも

Details

  • Register

    Standard

  • Rare Kanji

    幾ら

About いくら〜でも

In a similar way to どんなに～ても, いくら～でも is regularly translated to 'no matter how (A), (B)'. However, unlike どんな (which is an abbreviation of どのような), いくら is a noun that comes from the kanji 幾(いく)ら, meaning 'how much'. When partnered with ても (with verbs and い-Adjectives), or でも (with nouns and な-Adjectives), the literal meaning means 'however much (A), (B)'.

With いくら～でも, the (B) part of the phrase will usually highlight something that is being negated, giving the phrase it's 'no matter how much' nuance.

Despite this trend of being used in sentences that contain ない or ありません, いくら～でも may also be seen in positive sentences. In these cases, despite not being negative, the (B) phrase will still be something that is surprising/unexpected in some way (due to its extent or amount).

Fun Fact

幾(いく)ら places more emphasis on the 'amount' of something, while どんなに places more emphasis on the 'type', or 'style'. Due to this, いくら will be a better choice when the 'volume' of something is being highlighted, while どんなに will sound more natural when the 'state' is being discussed.

Despite this small difference, いくら and どんなに are used fairly interchangeably in most situations.

Related

Examples

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    いくら急(いそ)いでも土曜日(どようび)までには終(お)わらない。

    No matter how quickly I do it, I won't finish before Saturday.

    いくら泣(な)いても、泣(な)き止(や)まない。

    No matter how much they cry, they won't cry themselves out.

    いくらお金(かね)があっても、愛(あい)は買(か)えない。

    No matter how much money you have, you can't buy love.

    いくら頑張(がんば)っても、彼(かれ)にはかなわない。

    No matter how hard I try, I can't compete with him.

    いくら稼(かせ)いでも、妻(つま)がすぐに使(つか)ってしまうから困(こま)っている。

    I am having trouble because no matter how much I earn, my wife spends it all.

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いくら〜でも – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (5 in total)

  • conan

    conan

    I’d be curious to see this expanded on too. Integrated Approach gives more examples:
    いつ見ても no matter when (I/we/you) look
    何を食べても no matter what (I/we/you) eat
    どこへ行っても no matter where (I/we/you) go
    etc.

  • Evilkitten3

    Evilkitten3

    So for the structure “いくら + Noun + でも”, is the translation of いくら dependent on whatever the noun implies? For example, in a fictional setting, if the noun is a special power or something that doesn’t exist in the real world, would いくら be something like “how strong” or “how capable” even if the full sentence fragment is “いくら [power] でも” and doesn’t have a verb or adjective being modified by the structure? Sorry if this is a confusing question…

  • Asher

    Asher

    No matter what the noun is, いくら just converts it to/treats it as something that is quantifiable. This just implies that whatever the (A) in いくら (A) でも is, is something that is expected to be sufficient for (B), but in reality isn’t.

    For example:
    相手がいくら騎士でも、槍の腕さえあれば勝てるだろう。

    ‘Regardless of whether your opponent is a knight or not, so long as you have skill with a spear, you can probably win.’

    Or if you want to make it quantifiable ‘No matter how much of a knight your opponent is ~’

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