I’m pretty sure what’s happening here is the verb for the first を is being omitted because it’s the same as the next verb. Japanese frequently omit verbs that are expected to be understood because they’re obvious or repeated, instead of stating them over and over. This creates the somewhat common situation where a verb seemingly has two direct objects, or a direct object is left floating with no verb to go with it.
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Thanks, that makes a lot of sense!
Thanks @Syphus. Reading the English summary and stumbling through the original Japanese answers were both very helpful.
@Cherrykisu Maybe the reason you felt weird is because Japanese people, at least around 関東, frequently drop the particle in context. ソイありますか would have you sounding more like a native.
@tel003a no no, i didn’t mean i felt weird speaking. I felt confident using ga, the worry i was expressing in that post was in reflection worrying if i used the right particle. tbh, I know particles are dropped but at this level of my japanese i’m not trying to sound native, just understandable lol
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Are ても/でも and のに related or interchangeable?
Genki 2 says A のに B means “B despite the fact A.” A ても B means “B, even if A.”
雨が降っても、ピクニックに行きます。
I will go on a picnic even if it rains.
Can I substitute のに for ても? i.e.
雨が降るのに、ピクニックに行きます。
My guess for this particular sentence is no, because Genki says のに is only used to connect two facts, and “will go on a picnic” seems more like a determination rather than a fact, because the picnic hasn’t happened yet. If that’s the case, what about the past tense?
雨が降ったのに、ピクニックに行きました。
In spite of the fact that it rained, I went on a picnic.
VS
雨が降っても、ピクニックに行きました。
Even though it rained, I went on a picnic.
Here “I went on a picnic” is a verifiable fact. So does that mean ても and のに are interchangeable in this case? Is one more natural sounding than the other?
Thanks in advance!
I agree. 雨が降るのに、ピクニックに行きます。is bad
I believe 雨が降っても、ピクニックに行きました。is poor usage as well. Even if it rains, I went on a picnic? There is no reason to speculate on the possibility of rain if you already went on the picnic. You know whether it rained or not. 雨が降っても is forward looking, not a statement of fact that it rained. Thoughts?
It says in Genki that the ても clause at the end has no tense. So I assume that its “tense” is determined by the tense of the second clause. It made more sense in my head until typing it out now lol, it would translate as “Even if it rained, I went on a picnic,” which still sounds weird (I was cheating and translating it as even “though,” not “if”). The past tense examples they give seem to be slightly different in usage.
I guess I’m not sure how exactly to explain the difference between のに and ても even if I can see that their usages are different.
Interesting. Just based on the first genki sentence, I could be proved wrong. But I see a difference in usage between 雨が降っても、ピクニックに行きました and the Genki examples.
The first Genki example is not saying it rained. It’s says even when it rains.
The second Genki example is not saying the class was difficult. It says even if it were difficult.
In 雨が降っても、ピクニックに行きました, you are trying to say that it actually rained, which eliminates the need for ても in my mind and requires のに. 雨が降っていても、毎日ピクニクに行きました would sound perfectly normal to me.
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I found a brief explanation on this site (scroll down to the “Difference between ～のに and ～が/～ても” section)
So for your first question, I don’t think のに would be appropriate, as you mentioned, since you’re talking about a possibility
As far as your question for the past tense, I don’t think ても would be appropriate in that specific sentence because you’re stating “even though it rained” as a fact. However, if you were to say “I went on picnics, even if it rained”, then ても is would still be indicating a possibility, not a fact, and would thus be more appropriate
So I think のに would be better for the past tense of your example sentence and gives it a negative nuance about the fact that you still went on a picnic (i.e. sound like you grudgingly did so/dissatisfaction about it), or it might sound like you’re surprised at the fact that you still went on a picnic in spite of the rain
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Nice. We agree completely,
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@tel003a, @MissMisc, thanks for your answers! Very helpful.
Edit to say the practice quiz on が, ても, and のに below the section you mentioned is fantastic. Thanks again
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Would 「雨が降っていたのに、ピクニックに行きました」 (past tense both in main- and sub-clauses) work?
It seems fine to me — “Even though it was raining, I went on a picnic” (with a nuance of dissatisfaction or surprise)
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I normally translate のに as despite and ても as even if and it seems to work pretty well. I avoid translating のに as even though to avoid confusion.
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A quick google shows this: 疲れたのに行きます(even though I'm tired I will go) この表現は自然ですか？ | HiNative
意味も通じるので、ほとんどよいのですが、
“疲れていたのに行きました”
の方が自然ですね。
“疲れた(疲れていた)” は過去なので、"行きます"も過去にしないと不自然です
This implies that if both tenses (both the one before のに and the one at the main clause) are the same, this is okay.
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Yeah that might help — to me, “even though” and “despite” are incredibly similar with the nuance of something be unexpected/unusual, and “even though” and “even if” sound completely different to me so it doesn’t really confuse me
I mean, “despite” doesn’t work with hypothetical situations while “even though” does, right? Like “Even though it might rain…” vs “Despite raining…” 
“Even if” shows that there’s 2 possibilities but chooses to focus on one.
Hmm not really, despite has the same nuance as even though, in the sense that something is being purported to be true/a fact
You could use despite in your example too, “Despite the fact it might rain…”
Your example of “Even though it might rain” is stating “it might rain” as a fact as well, not as a hypothetical condition
“Even if” introduces a hypothetical condition/something not yet true, not a fact
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Isn’t that kinda the goal of ても though? 
I agree with the rest of your comment. I had a brain fart, sorry xD