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I've been thinking of the ても pattern as "even though" or "even if". But this sentence from steins;gate uses it in a way that surprised me...

ちょっと待ってくれ。そんなに急かされて【せかされて】も、転んでしまうよ

Is this being used in the common way (if so, I may have been thinking of it wrong)? Or is this a different way of using it, with a different meaning?

EDIT: If I took my normal approach here, I'd end up with something like, "even if you rush me, I will fall", which, I think people will agree, doesn't really make sense in english (it implies that the person speaking will fall whether or not they're rushed, and that the person rushing him is doing so with the intention of preventing him from falling). Maybe the interpretation should be something like, "even if you rush me, (I won't get there any faster, and) I (may even) fall."

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    That is a VERY common way of using ても in informal conversation; That is for sure. I am thinking of a good way to explain it.
    – user4032
    Nov 14, 2013 at 0:52
  • I'd say that も is more an "as much as" rather than an "also". I think of the も in the "even though" pattern as the latter も. The も here really pairs with こんなに・そんなに・あんなに (e.g. あんなに頑張ってても、全然できてないよね。"He's working that hard, but he really doesn't get it.").
    – Earthliŋ
    Nov 14, 2013 at 1:07
  • I prefer "regardless of". Nov 14, 2013 at 5:49
  • The reading 急かす【せかす】 isn't included in the Jōyō kanji chart, so I added furigana.
    – user1478
    Nov 14, 2013 at 8:58

1 Answer 1

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This ても means "though/although" if I have to translate it by itself. It is used when you want to say that a negative result will follow if you obeyed/agreed to/took seriously what the other person is saying.

ちょっと待ってくれ。そんなに急かされても、転んでしまうよ means:

"Wait a sec! Though you want me to go faster, I'll only fall down (if I did)."

Obviously, I did not employ direct TL. The original is in the passive voice 急かされても = "if I am forced to go faster".

With this in mind, you may watch this and actually laugh at the very first exchange between the two men in this comedy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUp-1gAhWGw

Guy A:「おじゃましますか。」

Guy B:「いや聞かれても。」

This is the ても we are discussing. The negative result is unmentioned here but it would be something like こまってしまう. I will not try to make it sound more natural since the comedy is in Osaka dialect.

Point is the usual greeting is おじゃまします without a か as you probably know, but Guy A says it with か as if it were a question. This puts Guy B in a situation where he would not know what to say, so he goes 「いや聞かれても I wouldn't know how to respond/react.」

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    「ちょっと待ってくれ。そんなに急かされても、転んでしまうよ」 is a direct quote from Steins;Gate, so correcting it is a bit strange -- especially since 急かす is indeed a word. Provided the original post doesn't include a typo, 急かされても seems perfectly acceptable. Nov 14, 2013 at 1:40

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