Meaning of 何かに挟まっても


Referring to babies falling out of bed:

> 頭が重くて **何かに挟まっても** 自分の力で出ることができないためです。  
>  It's because their heads are heavy and, **no matter what it gets caught
> in** , they can't get out with their own strength.

At first I translated 何かに挟まっても to "Even if it gets caught in something" but
that doesn't fit the rest of the sentence.

Then I thought about phrases like: question word + verb + ても e.g. 何をしても, "no
matter what he does", だれに話しても, "no matter who he talks to" etc. But 何かに挟まっても
doesn't seem to fit this pattern because 何か ('something') is a noun, not a
question word. I would have guessed at 何に挟まって (without the か), if this was the
intended meaning.

So, how should I translate this phrase, and why would 何に挟まって be incorrect?




> 「頭{あたま}が重{おも}くて何{なに}かに挟{はさ}まっても自分{じぶん}の力{ちから}で出{で}ることができないためです。」

Your translation is:

> 「It's because their heads are heavy and, **_no matter what it gets caught
> in_** , they can't get out with their own strength. 」

The only mistake, of course, is the "no matter what" part. If that were what
the author had wanted to say, s/he would have said:

> 「何に挟まっても」 without a 「か」

just as you yourself stated.

In this sentence using 「何か」 would be considerably better and more natural than
using 「何」. My own TL would be:

> "It's because their heads are heavy and in case they (= babies) get caught
> in something, they can't get out with their own strength. "

There is no "even if" feeling in the original, which is why I just used "in
case". It only means "when" here.




> 「頭{あたま}が重{おも}くて何{なに}かに挟{はさ}まっても自分{じぶん}の力{ちから}で出{で}ることができないためです。」

Your translation is:

> 「It's because their heads are heavy and, **_no matter what it gets caught
> in_** , they can't get out with their own strength. 」

The only mistake, of course, is the "no matter what" part. If that were what
the author had wanted to say, s/he would have said:

> 「何に挟まっても」 without a 「か」

just as you yourself stated.

In this sentence using 「何か」 would be considerably better and more natural than
using 「何」. My own TL would be:

> "It's because their heads are heavy and in case they (= babies) get caught
> in something, they can't get out with their own strength. "

There is no "even if" feeling in the original, which is why I just used "in
case". It only means "when" here.

