～といっても
although I say / even so
～といっても takes a statement you have just made and immediately scales it down, so the listener does not get the wrong impression. It comes from と言っても (even if I say...) and attaches to the plain form of a verb or adjective, or directly to a noun.
In English it maps to “although I say...” or “...but really, that just means...”. Unlike ～にもかかわらず, which reports an outcome that defies a fact, ～といっても corrects the impression created by your own words.
1. Scaling down a claim
The clause before といっても sounds impressive on its own. The clause after it reveals the modest reality.
料理ができるといっても卵焼きだけです。
“Although I say I can cook, it's only fried eggs.”
- 料理（りょうり）= cooking
- が = subject marker
- できるといっても = although I say I can
- 卵焼き（たまごやき）= rolled omelet / fried eggs
- だけです = is only
2. Qualifying a label or title
After a noun, といっても warns that the label is technically true but the reality is much smaller than the word suggests.
社長といっても、社員は私一人です。
“Although I say 'president', the only employee is me.”
- 社長（しゃちょう）= company president
- といっても = although I say
- 社員（しゃいん）= employee
- は = topic marker
- 私（わたし）= I, me
- 一人（ひとり）= one person
- です = polite “to be”
How to form it
Plain form / Noun + といっても
- できる = can do → できるといっても = although I say I can
- 高い（たかい）= expensive → 高いといっても（たかいといっても）= although I say it's expensive
- 社長（しゃちょう）= president → 社長といっても（しゃちょうといっても）= although I say 'president'
Key idea
～といっても is a built-in disclaimer: “What I just said is true, but don't expect too much”. The clause that follows always shrinks the first statement down to its real size.
Built on the same stem
Updated .