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What’s the difference between [v] たとしても and just the plain ても? Example:

> (1) 説明書を読んでも分かりにくい
>
> (2) 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい
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2011-06-12T15:40:07.400
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grammar nuances
What’s the difference between [v] たとしても and just the plain ても
1. 説明書を読んでも分かりにくい

It's hard to understand although I read instructions.

  2. 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい

It's hard to understand even if I read the instructions.

〜ても also has some sense like としても, if you use like

> 読んでも分からないと思う (I don't think I will understand it even if I read it)
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2011-06-12T15:56:52.527
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2011-06-12T16:27:57.593
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The difference between these two hinges on whether or not the action has been
completed at the time the statement was made:

**説明書を読んでも分かりにくい**

This could be taken in one of two ways:

  1. Even if you (I) read the instructions, it **will [still] be** hard to understand.

  2. Even after reading the instructions, it **is [still]** hard to understand.

So with the ～ても form in this sentence, the action (読む) may have already taken
place, or it may be a hypothetical action to take place in the future.

**説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい**

By contrast, the ～としても pattern always refers to a hypothetical situation which
may or may not take place in the future. As such, the translation "even
supposing you were to [action]" often works well for ～たとしても:

  1. Even supposing you (I) were to read the instructions, it **would [still] be** hard to understand.

Note that while both ～ても and ～たとしても can both express hypothetical cases, ～ても
better matches a "even if … will" pattern, while ～たとしても better matches a "even
supposing … would" pattern in English.
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2011-06-12T18:59:37.550
992
2011-06-12T18:59:37.550
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I may be wrong about that, but I think `(た-Form)としても` has an extra sense of
supposition, while `～ても` has a much more 'real' feeling (in the sense of
[realis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realis)).

I'll take YOU's examples, which I understand (and would translate) quite
differently. In the most literal sense, they spell to me as:

>   1. 説明書を読んでも分かりにくい  
>  Reading the instructions, this is still hard to understand.
>   2. 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい  
>  Supposing one reads the instructions - this is still hard to understand.
>

There's actually no focal (emphasizing) "even" in either of the sentences in
Japanese. If you want to emphasize that that reading the instructions was
supposed to help but didn't really help you, you can use たとえ:

>   1. たとえ説明書を読んでも分かりにくい  
>  Even though I read the instructions... Even if one reads the
> instructions...
>
>   2. たとえ説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい  
>  Even if I - let's say - read the instructions...
>
>

Since I've moved to a less literal translation here you can notice something
else: (1) easily translates to both a simple concessive statement (although X
happens, Y happens too) and a concessive condition (even if X happens, Y will
also happen). When we get to (2) on the other hand, it can only be a condition
- that's is because `～たとしても` is a supposition so it can only be used to
describe hypothetical situations, not something that actually happens now or
has happened before.
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2011-06-12T18:59:55.740
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> 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい

There is an implicit premise in としても expression. Here, the premise is that the
instruction is supposed to help the reader/user.  
(But, this equipment is way too hard to operate); even a (helpful) instruction
(if any) cannot be of help.
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2019-01-25T04:34:21.823
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My teacher explained to me that たとしても should be translated as: “had verb”. So
in this case from what I learned, would be:

> 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい
>
> Even if I had read the instructions, it would (still) be hard to understand
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2021-03-27T01:27:20.007
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