どんなに～ても (Donna ni ... te mo) Meaning Japanese Grammar - No Matter How

The expression どんなに～ても (Donna ni ... te mo) means no matter how, no matter how much.

It is a structure that is used with the て form of the verb and the form becomes どんなに～ても or どんなに～でも depending on the verb used.

In this post we learn more about the meaning of どんなに～ても and でも, how it is formed and when どんなに～ても is used through commonly used sentences and material from the Internet.

How どんなに～ても is formed

The structure どんなに～ても is used with verbs, adjectives and nouns.

• どんな belongs to the Kosoado series of the Demonstratives and means What kind of?, What? and in some cases How?
• どんなに combined with the ても form is translated as no matter how (much)

Some examples of verbs in the form ても / でも:

• 食(た)べる eat ⇨ どんなに食(た)べても: No matter how much you eat ...
• 頑(がん)張(ば)る do my best, work hard ⇨ どんなに頑(がん)張(ば)っても: No matter how hard you try ...
• 読(よ)む read ⇨ どんなに読(よ)んでも: No matter how much you read ...
• 勉(べん)強(きょう)する study ⇨ どんなに勉(べん)強(きょう)しても: No matter how hard you study...

どんなに～ても followed by a negative sentence

The structure using どんなに+ても is usually followed by a sentence in the negative form. It is used in situations expressing lackingness, insufficiency.

No matter how hard one tries or perseveres to do a certain thing (phrase 1 with どんなにても), it will never be enough to achieve the desired goal (phrase 2 in the negative form).

In sentence 2 we can also find the affirmative form, but it still refers to a situation that expresses a sense of insufficiency to something that is not enough.

どんなに is replaced by いくら in colloquial context

選(せん) is a numeric suffix to count choices, options, selections in this case of food.

A Japanese explanation of the use of the structure どんなに～ても:

どんなに～ても with Adjectives

The structure is also commonly used with the Adjectives in い and in な.

Example with the adjective 早(はや)い soon, early.

The Adjectives in い lose the vowel い and add the adverbial suffix く + ても.

The Adjectives in な behave like nouns, they lose the な syllable and are joined to でも. With Nouns and Adjectives in な we can find であっても from the copula be である used in the middle of the sentence, while だ / です are placed at the end.

• 親(しん)切(せつ)な: kind, gentle ⇨ どんなに親(しん)切(せつ)でも no matter how kind ...
• 平(へい)凡(ぼん)な ordinary ⇨ どんなに平(へい)凡(ぼん)であっても no matter how ordinary ...

どんなに～でも with Nouns

In the case of nouns as well as the adjectives in な, the form becomes:

どんなに + noun + でも or であっても.

自(じ)分(ぶん) jibun means myself, yourself, oneself

Other examples of どんなに～ても