How to Use Trotzdem and Obwohl in German with Examples

Trotzdem and obwohl both express a contrast — “although” or “nevertheless” — but they follow completely different sentence structures. Here is how they work.

TL;DR: Trotzdem und obwohl bedeuten beide “although/nevertheless”. Obwohl leitet einen Nebensatz ein (Verb am Ende). Trotzdem steht in einem Hauptsatz (Verb auf Position 2).

The reason trotzdem and obwohl are studied together is that their meaning is almost identical. On the contrary, the use within a sentence is different between the two, which initially confuses students.

In both cases, trotzdem and obwohl, we speak of Konzessivsätze (concessive clauses).

What does it mean?

Suppose we have two unconnected sentences. The two sentences are the primary sentence, which describes an action, and a secondary sentence, which illustrates an unexpected continuation of the action in the first sentence.

In both cases they are two complete sentences, and also two main sentences (Hauptsätze).

How do you use “trotzdem” in a sentence?

Let’s suppose we have these two sentences.

To join the two sentences, in English I would say:

Nevertheless, it is the connector between the two sentences.

This is called a concessive connector (Konzessivsatz), as the second sentence describes an unexpected continuation of the action in the first sentence.

Bei der konzessiven Satzverbindung werden zwei Sätze verbunden, bei denen der zweite Satz die “unerwartete Folge” einer “Handlung” (“Aktion”) beschreibt.

[Deutschegrammatik 2.0]

These are the two sentences.

This is the resulting sentence:

How does “obwohl” change word order?

Obwohl has the same meaning, but the construction of the phrase is different.

This is because Obwohl is a conjunction and introduces a secondary sentence (Nebensatz).

Recall that in the Nebensatz the verb always goes in the last position (Verbletztstellung).

The reference scheme is as follows:

The sentence introduced by obwohl can also go to the end. In this case, the inversion does not go into the main sentence (Hauptsatz).

This is the reference scheme:

A common mistake among beginners is putting obwohl in the wrong clause. This completely changes the meaning, often producing an absurd result.

For example, the following would be wrong, not grammatically but logically:

Obwohl ich einen Spaziergang gemacht habe, hat es heute geregnet.

The equivalent in English is:

Despite taking a walk, it rained.

As if I expected that, as a consequence of taking a walk, it shouldn’t have rained.

But …

In the most correct form of German (Hochdeutsch), the use of trotzdem and obwohl is that described above, but in practice there are also deviations.

In fact, in speech, especially in the southern part of Germany, trotzdem is sometimes used instead of obwohl, using the same construction as for obwohl.

For example,

The Duden itself lists this use of trotzdem as colloquial (umgangssprachlich).

Other examples

A classic exercise on the topic is to build joint sentences using trotzdem first and obwohl after.

Let’s not miss this classic.

If you would like to practise trotzdem and obwohl in real conversation, you can book a trial lesson for one-on-one feedback or join a group class to use them with other learners. These connectors are part of the A2 and B1 syllabus — check the A1 group course page for details.

References

1. Duden: trotzdem
2. Duden: obwohl
3. Nebensatz: obwohl