でも

でも covers two distinct jobs that happen to share a shape: a sentence-initial conjunction (sense 1) and a particle attached to a noun (sense 2). Learners meet the conjunction first, but the particle is the more productive of the two.

AS A CONJUNCTION (sense 1):

でも starts a new sentence and pushes back against what was just said. It is the everyday spoken choice — softer and far more conversational than しかし.

• Position: sentence-initial only. Never use it to join two clauses inside one sentence; that job belongs to けど or が, which attach to the end of the first clause.
• 高(たか)いですけど、おいしいです and 高(たか)いです。でも、おいしいです say the same thing; only the packaging differs.

AS A PARTICLE (sense 2):

Attached directly to a noun, 〜でも picks out something as an extreme or unremarkable case, and lets the rest of the set follow by implication.

• "Even": 子供(こども)でも分(わ)かる — if even a child understands, so does everyone else.
• "Or something": お茶(ちゃ)でも飲(の)みませんか softens an invitation by presenting tea as one casual option rather than a fixed demand. This is the standard polite way to propose an activity.

WITH QUESTION WORDS:

Attached to an interrogative, 〜でも produces a free-choice "any-" word. These are common enough to have their own entries:

• 何(なに) → 何(なん)でも (anything)
• 誰(だれ) → 誰(だれ)でも (anyone)
• いつ → いつでも (anytime)
• どこ → どこでも (anywhere)

Note the reading shift: 何(なに) becomes 何(なん) before でも.

REGISTER:
でも is informal. In writing, presentations, and business email, use しかし or ところが instead. The particle 〜でも carries no such restriction and is at home at any level of politeness.