How to parse this sentence? 年寄りはいくら元気だと頑張っても体力の衰えには勝てない。


If 元気だと is removed, then sentence becomes

> 年寄りはいくら頑張っても体力の衰えには勝てない。
>
> For old people, no matter how hard they try, they cannot overcome the
> decline of their physical strength.

Here we have a matching pair of いくら and ても. But in the original sentence, the
元気だと conditional clause seems to sever いくら and ても into separate clauses. How
should one parse the original sentence?

The sentence is take from a [reading comprehension
exercise](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=yaa6iORLcZ4C&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=%E5%B9%B4%E5%AF%84%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AF%E3%81%84%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89%E5%85%83%E6%B0%97%E3%81%A0%E3%81%A8%E9%A0%91%E5%BC%B5%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%82%82%E4%BD%93%E5%8A%9B%E3%81%AE%E8%A1%B0%E3%81%88%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AF%E5%8B%9D%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84&source=bl&ots=Z_3rNZfStS&sig=ACfU3U0NWCcmmiiEvKEOdedGERas8r5Ocg&hl=zh-
CN&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhybbZseL6AhVQY94KHXo4DDAQ6AF6BAgdEAM#v=onepage&q=%E5%B9%B4%E5%AF%84%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AF%E3%81%84%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89%E5%85%83%E6%B0%97%E3%81%A0%E3%81%A8%E9%A0%91%E5%BC%B5%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%82%82%E4%BD%93%E5%8A%9B%E3%81%AE%E8%A1%B0%E3%81%88%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AF%E5%8B%9D%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84&f=false).




Here 元気だと is not a conditional clause. The と is quotative. You can think it is
a shortened version of 元気だと言って/主張して.

So it means _no matter how much they try, (claiming) **that they are fine**_.




Here 元気だと is not a conditional clause. The と is quotative. You can think it is
a shortened version of 元気だと言って/主張して.

So it means _no matter how much they try, (claiming) **that they are fine**_.

