Sometimes Bunpro gives me a hint like “Nice guess! たとえ is a contrastive conjunction. Looking for the resultative.” I realized that I have no idea what those terms really mean. A quick web search didn’t really clear it up to me, so could someone please briefly explain?
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Can you post which sentence it was? Either way I did some googling too since I wasnt sure as well. If I would try to summarise resultative conjunctions, it is a modifier which describes the extent or what the end result of the action is. For example, painted white, shot dead, broken to pieces etc.
Contrastive (See point 5)
For resultative, the first link with underlined examples might help the most, lots of reading:
More of the same, see near the bottom of the page:
I believe that たとえ is a contrastive conjunction and もしも is a resultative conjunction.
As far as I understand, たとえ means “even if such 大変な event happens, it’s not a big deal / it doesn’t change anything”, while もしも means “if it happens, it will have such and such consequences”, that’s the difference.
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“Contrastive” is the adjective form of the noun, “contrast.” A conjunction is a word that links phrases together. “And” and “or” are a couple of very common ones. So a contrastive conjunction is a word that links phrases together but also expresses contrast between the two. For example, “I went to the store but found it was closed.” In this case, “but” is contrastive because it expresses contrast with expectations. You likely would have expected me to buy something if I went to the store, but it was closed, so I couldn’t.
“Resultative” is the adjective form of “result.” In this case, the conjunction is expressing that the preceding phrase (the one before it) lead to the result expressed by the second phrase. For example, “I didn’t eat my vegetables, so Mom said I couldn’t have any dessert.” In this case, “so” is resultative because it expresses the result of the preceding phrase.
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Thank you for the explanations, very helpful!
I guess then I’m confused why this sentence is using resultative instead of contrastive:
It could be that the highlighted ても is the contrastive, and the blank is something else. I’m way behind you on level and grammar, so can you tell me what the right answer was? It wasn’t たとえ like in your original question, right?
I think the confusion is that this sentence could be written with either たとえ or もしも and it would still be grammatically correct and coherent, but the implied meaning would be different. The content of the sentence doesn’t imply one answer or the other.
たとえ子供がいなくても、僕はたぶん幸せだよ。
Even if I didn’t have children, I would probably be happy.
implying → I have a pretty full life with my job, my house, and my wife, and I’d like to have children, but even if I didn’t have children, I’d be happy.
もしも子供がいなくても、僕はたぶん幸せだよ。
Even if I didn’t have children, I would probably be happy.
implying → I could be happy without anything – without money, without a house, without a wife, and even if I didn’t have children, I’d be happy.
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Right, Bunpro wanted もしも.
But how is that not contrastive though? When we say “even if” instead of just “if”, that implies that the listener would expect a different result, wouldn’t it? I feel like while「もしも・なら」is obviously resultative, 「もしも・ても」is actually contrastive, so it’s actually based on the なら vs ても part. Here’s another example:
Is this not contrastive? If I was Doraemon, you’d expect that I’d be able to help, but I wouldn’t.
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You’re focusing on the wrong part. Bring your attention to the implied material.
– The stuff after たとえ・もしも is a contrast/result to the implied examples before たとえ・もしも.
– たとえ・もしも are conjunctions to whatever material comes before, just like それから、だから、なにしろ、etc. They appear at the beginning of a sentence but they need something before it to make sense.
– The stuff after ても is just a consequence – usually surprising, but just a consequence. If it helps, insert a “then”.
→ (examples) but/and even if (extreme example) then (consequence).
– Both たとえ and もしも have a surprising consequence.
子供がいなくても
たとえ → I have A, I have B, I have C that make me happy and children could make me happy but even if I didn’t have children, I’d be happy. (contrasting to the stuff before たとえ, not have something in contrast to having something)
もしも → I don’t have A, I don’t have B, I don’t have C, and I’m happy and even if there’s another extreme example of the same type, like if I didn’t have children, I’d be happy. (adding an extreme example of the previous stuff, one more example of “not having”)
Doraemon example
(this one was hard to think about because of the additional negative in “can’t help”)
たとえ → But even if I were Doraemon, I’d be unable to help. → implying normally I can’t help – because I’m too clumsy, too slow, too short – but even if all those normal things were replaced by something extraordinary, I still couldn’t help – maybe because there’s a wall, or because the teacher says I can’t help you on your test – something out of my control. (contrast normally unhelpful with helpful)
もしも → And even if I were Doraemon, I’d still be unable to help. → implying that I can’t help no matter what; even if I were a bunch of other helpful things, I still couldn’t help. Other normally helpful things still can’t help. (additional extreme example of helpful things)
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Thank you @FredKore, that was super helpful! I was indeed focusing on the wrong part. Although I’d be lying if I said I totally get it now, I do feel a lot closer to it.
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