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What you need to know
You can use "obwohl" and "trotz" to express something that contradicts the message of the main sentence (see examples below). In grammar terms, "obwohl"-sentences are so called "Konzessive (=admitting) Nebensätze". "Trotz" can be used instead but does not conclude a Nebensatz as it doesn't fiddle with the verb.
While similar in their core message, obwohl and trotz can and should be clearly distinguished. There are a couple of ways to do so:
- "obwohl" means "although" while "trotz" means "despite"
- "obwohl" is a pusher (like "weil" it pushes the verb to the end) while "trotz" is a preposition that is rather sooner than later followed by a noun. One example each to illustrate this:
- Obwohl es (stark) regnet, gehe ich spazieren. = "regnet" is at the end
- Trotz des (starken) Regens gehe ich spazieren. = Regen is a noun (in genitive).
In colloquial German, trotz can be used with the dative:
- Trotz dem (starken) Regen gehe ich spazieren.
You can use whatever comes easiest to you. Genitiv sounds nice and a bit more educated in this case without being over the top.
You might stumble across "obschon" and "obgleich". Those are outdated synonymes to "obwohl" and are not used anymore other than in (older) literature.
This topic is covered in: B1-L30