N2 とも vs たって "Even If, No Matter" memory conflict

Are these two grammar points completely exclusive?

They both have the meanings of “Even If” and “No Matter”(“No Matter How”)

I’m having a memory conflict where I’m failing these two points interchangeably over and over when I’m filling answers for “Even If”

Example sentence:
真剣に告白(Even If), 彼女は冗談だと思うかもしれない。(する)

I tried to fill
真剣に告白しようとも, 彼女は冗談だと思うかもしれない。
However the system doesn’t even give a second chance to ‘look for another grammar point’ or similar for this one, so is it just completely wrong? I’m definitely missing the nuance here, for anyone more experienced how should I go about understanding these?

EDIT:
I’ve just done another example sentence:
生徒が授業に出席(Even If Not)、教師はきちんと授業を進めていくべきだ (する)

And Filled:
生徒が授業に出席しなくとも、教師はきちんと授業を進めていくべきだ
And it was correct and accepted.
So I’m completely not understanding the nuance between these two "Even If"s

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Hello, updating again as I’m still not understanding the grammar point.

調味料が(Even If)、彼女はあるもので美味しい料理が作れる。(限られる)
Even if the spices are limited , she can make delicious food with what she has.

I ran into this sentence in my reviews today, and tried
調味料が限られたって、彼女はあるもので美味しい料理が作れる。(限られる)
Which was rejected without a second chance at using the other grammar point.

Filling
調味料が限られようとも、彼女はあるもので美味しい料理が作れる。(限られる)
Was accepted and was correct.

How am I supposed to know which one to use here? The two grammar points aren’t even listed as synonyms despite having 2 identical overlapping English meanings. How can I get these grammar points down?

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Don’t really want to ping @EdBunpro @veritas_nz as it’s not directly related to a bunpro feature or a bug or something, but is there a reason these two are not Synonyms? Perhaps there’s been a thread in the past which explains the nuance for why these points are completely exclusive despite the overlap in meaning? Its the first time I’ve ran into two grammar points like this where they both completely reject entering the other in for an answer even when their English meanings are so similar.

Both of these grammar points we’re also taught towards the very end of N2 which makes the overlap even more noticeable.

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Hello. Do you have hints turned on? I just did a quick cram session with these two points, and the hints are extremely helpful. One makes it clear that the grammar being asked for is super casual (たって) as opposed to the other one which is of standard register, the other hint mentions that the statement is being quoted, which points to the explicit presence of と in とも. This I think would be enough to distinguish them, so I recommend turning the hints to the max.

Otherwise I think the biggest difference between them is the register. Personally, ようとも gives me more of a “no matter how” vibe due to the presence of (I think this is) volitional and も, and たって more of a “even if” vibe because it originates from a phrase utilizing ても, but I see that is not helpful here because of how the questions are formulated.

I agree that a comment from the staff as to the synonym question would be helpful. Maybe it’s an overlook - it’s always good to report this stuff just in case.

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I do not have them showing to full by default, but I went ahead and just cram checked like you did and knowing whether to use the Casual / Standard speak helps a lot with this as that alone is enough to indicate たって should be used.

As for the

Personally, ようとも gives me more of a “no matter how” vibe due to the presence of (I think this is) volitional and も, and たって more of a “even if” vibe because it originates from a phrase utilizing ても

The two grammar points actually have that part backwards in their bunpro definitions so that makes it a little more confusing :sweat_smile:

I haven’t studied this grammar yet but I did find an entry in my Dictionary of Intermediate Grammar that might help:


V vol tomo, (karö / ku) tomo, Adj(na)stem de aro tomo can be replaced by te mo or tatte without changing the meaning.
A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar page 510

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This helps a lot, hopefully the Bunpro team see this as I’m sure others who are approaching the end of N2 will come into this memory conflict.

Bumping this as I’ve had the same thing happen again, in that the reviews were completely exclusive and I’ve made an ‘error’ even though it wanted the same meaning again. Really believe there should be a second chance for this grammar point if you enter the other.

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yeah I struggle with the various flavours of ‘even if’ too. I think the problem for me is that the hints are too similar. So that’s probably my fault for relying on hints to know the answer to reviews but :man_shrugging:

Same with all the ‘it’s a thing’ ones, という、こと、もの and all the combinations, it’s a thing that is a thing … :roll_eyes:

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This is the same challenge i am having too! Just finished the N2 lessons and moving onto N1, but these two points are hard-stuck on Beginner :stuck_out_tongue:

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I just try to stagger synonymous grammar so I don’t get all the "even if"s or what have you at the same time, and cut myself some slack if I answer with the “wrong” one but am confident I know the one they wanted as well. If not, I’m fine marking it wrong since I’d rather see it more often than master it too soon.

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Just to throw in my two cents; when I see something that appears near-interchangable but that Bunpro gives an auto-fail on (no orange hints), I’ll often leave a suggestion to the team to consider making it a “hintable” mistake. At least several times, they’ve agreed with me and made the updates. So you can try asking them by submitting a ticket on the given grammar point when it comes up in your reviews.

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