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I encounter “いくら” in combination with “とはいえ” so often that I'm fairly certain
these have some kind of fixed meaning together but I can find very little
about it on the internet and all I can find is in Japanese which explains the
literal grammatical but since it's intended for Japanese people it doesn't
really explain the nuance well.

At least, I personally would interpret segment as such as “いくら友人だとはいえ” as
“Though you may very well be my friend, ” or “No matter how much you are my
friend,” or something similar but I'm not sure how correct my understanding
is.
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2023-02-03T00:37:50.713
98431
2023-02-03T07:53:56.023
35937
question
grammar idioms collocations
Explain the meaning of “いくら...とはいえ”
Your understanding is correct.

From
[大辞泉](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89/#jn-10683):

> ［副］（あとに「ても」「でも」を伴うことが多い）量や程度のはなはだしいさま。どれほど。どんなに。「―捜しても見つからない」「―子供でもわかるだろう」

So _No matter how much you are my friend_ should be a literal enough
translation.

For the particular case, いくら友人だとはいえ is essentially synonymous with 友人だとはいえ,
possibly with more emphasis.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-03T07:53:56.023
98436
2023-02-03T07:53:56.023
45489
98431
answer