Structure behind 気になってはいても


> 気になってはいても、誰もそのことには触れていない。

I guess its something along the lines of

(we) were concerned but no one touched on the subject.

How does 気になってはいても work and how does it differ from 気になっても?

thanks




There are two differences between 気になってはいても and 気になっても:

  * The use of は, which is a contrast maker here. Here the contrast is made between 気になる and 触れない. 気になって **は** いても is interchangeable with 気に **は** なっていても. This は is grammatically optional, but dropping it would make this sentence sound unnatural.
  * The use of ている, which indicates this phrase refers to something actually ongoing.

ても is translated as "if" or "though/although" depending on the context (see
[this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/13409/5010)), but it's
"though" in this case. (i.e., the phrase means roughly the same thing as
気にはなっているが.)

So the sentence is translated as:

> Even though we were concerned, no one has touched on the subject.




There are two differences between 気になってはいても and 気になっても:

  * The use of は, which is a contrast maker here. Here the contrast is made between 気になる and 触れない. 気になって **は** いても is interchangeable with 気に **は** なっていても. This は is grammatically optional, but dropping it would make this sentence sound unnatural.
  * The use of ている, which indicates this phrase refers to something actually ongoing.

ても is translated as "if" or "though/although" depending on the context (see
[this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/13409/5010)), but it's
"though" in this case. (i.e., the phrase means roughly the same thing as
気にはなっているが.)

So the sentence is translated as:

> Even though we were concerned, no one has touched on the subject.

