Lesson 43: Adversatives with が けど けれど しかし ても and でも
Unrelated to the subject marker が, the conjunction が states that, while the former statement is true, the latter statement is also true. With が, both statements are independent clauses.
そうですが、もう終わりだ That's true, but it's already over.
が attaches to what comes before it like a particle or suffix. が does not attach to the sentence that comes after it like the english "but".
が is sometimes not used as a strict adversity between the two statements, but to connect two related sentences smoothly. Like how I just used "but". Spoken english does the same thing with "but", but sometimes to a confusing degree.
けど is similar to が except the first statement is a subordinate clause. This primarily affects how the syntax works. For example, with が, the two clauses usually have similar levels of formality, but with けど, this is not the case.
高いですけど買おう The price is high but let's buy it.
けど is more weakly bounded than が, so it can be used in confusing ways.
いいけど "It's good, but..." or> "It's good, though."
けど is the most informal version of けれども. There's also けども and けれど.
しかし is an interjection. It sounds formal.
しかし知らなかった However, I didn't know.
ても is a combination of the て particle/form of a verb and も. It works as a conjunction stating that the statement after it is true despite the statement before it. This is like an adversative, but it's not always one.
死んでも死なない I don't die even if I die.
Reality check: you might see い-adjectives take the ても form like なかっても instead of なくても, especially on the internet, but it's abnormal grammar and I can't tell you anything about what the difference implies.
でも is an adversative interjection, or a conjunction that attaches to nouns. This overlaps with a different use of でも that we'll cover soon, so be careful.
でも、そんなことないです But it's not like that.
無理でも大空に羽ばたけ！ Fly into the sky, even if it's impossible!
だが, だけど, それでも etc are similar interjections made by compounding stuff.