Difference between にしても and ても

Question

しかし、万万が一ポッターたちが関わっていたにせよ、あの連中が自分たちの近くにやってくるはずがない。
However, if by some chance the Potters had been connected (with the events), there was no reason for that lot to show up in their neighbourhood.

This is my first time looking at にせよ. As far as I can tell this is just a written version of にしても: a phrase I'm also not so familiar with.

I've been unable to determine if/what the difference is between にしても and plain old ても. I suppose one difference I can see is that you lose any sense of tense in the subordinate clause with ても, since 関わっていたにせよ would become 関わっていても (or would it just be 関わっても?). Does this really matter? How would it affect the feel/grammar of the example sentence?

Are there any other differences I should be aware of?

Answer 1

にせよ/にしても

にせよ is the same as にしろ, which means in this case

［連語］《格助詞「に」＋サ変動詞「する」の命令形「しろ」》 １ 仮定または確定の事柄を示し、あとにそれに逆らう事柄を判断的に述べる意を表す。…にしても。

So にせよ and にしても are roughly the same, as you understand.

にしても/ても

ても entry has the following (bold added):

［接助］《接続助詞「て」＋係助詞「も」から》動詞・形容詞と一部の助動詞の連用形に付く。ガ・ナ・バ・マ行の五段活用動詞に付く場合は「でも」となる。 １ 未成立の事柄を仮定条件として述べ、その条件から考えられる順当な結果と対立する内容の文へ結びつける意を表す。たとえ…したとしても。「失敗し―あきらめはしない」「煮―焼い―食えない」

２ 既定的な事柄を述べ、その条件から考えられる順当な結果と対立する内容の文へ結びつける意を表す。…たにもかかわらず。「知ってい―知らぬ顔をする」

３ （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」

Using にしても clarifies it is #3 rather than #1 or #2. Also, あの連中が・・・ is probably not an 'unexpected consequence'. That said, にしても could be ても. For this particular case, 関わっていても won't change the meaning.

関わっていても/関わっても

ていて adds perfect aspect.

関わっても would sound like if the Potters got involved (now) which is different form if the Potters had been involved (for some time), which I guess fits the context better.

As an aside, I think 関わっても/関わっていても can't differentiate tense. That is,

• 関わっているにしても If the Potters were involved
• 関わっていたにしても If the Potters had been involved

Simply using ても would reduce both to 関わっていても (関わる/関わったにしても would correspond to 関わっても).