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I was looking up the meaning of the phrase "変な気を起こすなよ" when I came by this site https://nic-english.com/phrase/dont-get-any-ideas/ One of the example sentences is:

「I don’t want him getting any ideas.（彼が変な気を起こしても困る）」など。

Why is ても being used here? What is the nuance ても contains here? Wouldn't a conditional like と or たら be better?

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First off, the following two are grammatically fine as you guessed.

  • 彼が変な気を起こすと困る
  • 彼が変な気を起こしたら困る

In dictionary terms, the usage of ても should be the following:

多く「にしても」「としても」の形で）ある事柄を仮定条件として認めて、下の文の叙述を起こす意を表す。「自信があるにし―、試験を受けるのはいやな気分だ」

The difference from と/たら is subtle, but ても makes it explicit that it is a hypothesis while と/たら sentences above sounds plain if... that is neutral to the possibility of his getting ideas.

Of the と/たら sentences, と still sounds close enough to ても, but using たら sounds (a bit) like the speaker really worried.

In English, the ても sentence may be closer to "Suppose he got an idea. Then I wouldn't like it".

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  • In the sense of ても creating a strictly hypothetical situation, it would be a good interpretation to think of this ても as a とする perhaps? Like, 彼が変な気を起こすとしたら困る.. Which makes it sound much more hypothetical? Also, does the more hypothetical nuance soften the statement, like compared to と and たら, ても could sound less worried, and a less straightforward concept like with そうでもない instead of そうではない, where the denial in the former is much less straightforward and isn’t as strict?
    – Mernn1
    Commented Nov 19, 2022 at 13:25
  • @Mernn1 Generally you understanding should be fine. Re ても/とする, both are hypothetical, but ても sounds kind of indirect (possibly by も) and less straightforward as in そうでもない.
    – sundowner
    Commented Nov 19, 2022 at 23:07
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彼が変な気を起こしても困る。
彼が変な気を起こすと困る。
彼が変な気を起こしたら困る。

These are all fine in that context. One difference is that the last two also directly answer the question 何が困る？ or どうなったら困る？ while the first doesn’t. It’s more about a possible reason why something should not be done. Him getting “any ideas” is an unintended, though easily anticipated, effect of her action. Since there is that possibility, she should refrain from acting in a certain way towards him. も kind of implies it’s one of the things that may happen as a result of the action.

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  • Would I be right in assuming that も is the core that causes the nuance difference between the sentences? Is this the kind of も that makes something less concrete, like the も in そうでもない... where if は would be used, it would sound like a much stricter negation? So basically, も adds that “If he gets any weird ideas that would be bad(but there could be other bad results)?
    – Mernn1
    Commented Nov 19, 2022 at 13:18
  • @Mernn1 - I think your understanding is correct. しては困る sounds like you are directly warning someone not to do something, as in してはいけない, and therefore it doesn’t go too well with a third person like 彼. In contrast, しても困る sounds like you have no direct control over what would trouble you. This difference could be an effect of the "less concrete" or “less direct” nuance of も. したら困る and すると困る are neutral in this respect.
    – aguijonazo
    Commented Nov 19, 2022 at 16:13

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