Concession means granting a point while pressing on regardless: "although it's raining, we're going." Beginners get this far with obwohl. But German has a whole toolkit of more elegant and more emphatic concessives — wenn auch, the beautifully split so ... auch, the -auch immer free relatives, and the genitive prepositions trotz and ungeachtet. Each has its own word order, and some take the Konjunktiv. This page covers them as a system, with the syntax laid out explicitly because that is exactly where English speakers stumble.
The baseline: obwohl, obgleich, obschon
obwohl is the everyday concessive subordinator: it sends the verb to the end of its clause, like all subordinating conjunctions. Its more (formal) / (literary) cousins obgleich, obschon, and the (archaic) wiewohl mean the same but raise the register.
Obwohl es in Strömen regnete, machten wir die Wanderung.
Although it was pouring with rain, we did the hike. (obwohl + verb-final 'regnete')
Er nahm die Stelle an, obgleich das Gehalt bescheiden war.
He took the position, although the salary was modest. (obgleich — formal/literary variant of obwohl)
wenn auch vs. auch wenn: a real meaning split
These two look like word-order variants of each other but they are not interchangeable, and the difference trips up nearly every learner.
- auch wenn = "even if" — it concedes a hypothetical or emphasizes that the condition makes no difference. It points forward to a possibility.
- wenn auch = "even though / albeit" — it concedes an actual fact, often almost in passing.
Auch wenn es regnet, gehen wir spazieren.
Even if it rains, we'll go for a walk. (auch wenn = hypothetical condition that won't stop us)
Sie hat bestanden, wenn auch nur knapp.
She passed, albeit only barely. (wenn auch = conceding an actual, if minor, fact)
The near-synonym selbst wenn ("even if," with extra emphasis) behaves like auch wenn:
Selbst wenn du mich darum bittest, ich mache es nicht.
Even if you beg me, I won't do it. (selbst wenn = emphatic 'even if')
so ... auch: the elegant split concessive
This is the construction the brief flags as distinctive, and it is genuinely one of German's most graceful structures. To say "however + adjective/adverb" or "however much," German splits the phrase: so + adjective/adverb + Subjekt + auch + (rest) + verb. Word order is the key — and it is not verb-final like ordinary subordinate clauses.
The pattern: So + [gradable word] + [subject] + auch + ... with the verb in the position you'd expect for a fronted element (the so-phrase occupies first position, so the finite verb of the main clause that follows takes its V2 slot).
So reich er auch ist, glücklich ist er nicht.
However rich he may be, he is not happy. (so + 'reich' + 'er' + auch + 'ist'; the main clause 'glücklich ist er nicht' follows with V2)
So sehr ich mich auch bemühe, es klappt einfach nicht.
However hard I try, it just doesn't work. (so sehr ... auch — 'however much I try')
So müde ich auch bin, ich arbeite weiter.
However tired I am, I keep working. (so + 'müde' + 'ich' + auch + 'bin')
Note that the verb in the so ... auch clause itself comes at the end of that clause (ist, bemühe, bin) — it is the following main clause that obeys V2. A frequent register choice here is the Konjunktiv for a hypothetical, "may be" flavour:
So groß die Schwierigkeiten auch sein mögen, wir geben nicht auf.
However great the difficulties may be, we will not give up. (Konjunktiv-flavoured 'sein mögen' adds a 'may be' nuance; formal/literary)
A close relative replaces so with wie: wie sehr ich mich auch bemühe means the same as so sehr ich mich auch bemühe.
was / wie / wer auch immer: the -immer free relatives
For "whatever / however / whoever / wherever," German adds auch immer to a w-word, creating a free relative concessive clause. The clause is verb-final (it is a subordinate clause), and auch and immer can appear together or immer can be dropped.
| German | English |
|---|---|
| was auch immer | whatever |
| wer auch immer | whoever |
| wie auch immer | however / no matter how |
| wo auch immer | wherever |
| wann auch immer | whenever |
Was auch immer passiert, ich stehe zu dir.
Whatever happens, I'll stand by you. (was auch immer + verb-final 'passiert')
Wer auch immer das gesagt hat, er irrt sich.
Whoever said that is mistaken. (wer auch immer + verb-final 'gesagt hat')
Wie auch immer du dich entscheidest, ich akzeptiere es.
However you decide, I'll accept it. (wie auch immer = no matter how)
Used alone as a discourse marker, wie auch immer also means "anyway / be that as it may," a handy connector for moving past a side issue.
trotz and ungeachtet: concession in a single preposition
When you want concession without a full clause, German compresses it into a genitive preposition: trotz ("despite") and the (formal) / (literary) ungeachtet ("notwithstanding"). Both govern the genitive, packaging the conceded fact into a noun phrase — a natural partner to the nominal style of formal writing.
Trotz des schlechten Wetters fand das Fest statt.
Despite the bad weather, the festival took place. (trotz + genitive 'des schlechten Wetters')
Ungeachtet aller Warnungen fuhr sie weiter.
Notwithstanding all warnings, she drove on. (ungeachtet + genitive; formal/literary register)
The English contrast
The headline difference is the split syntax of so ... auch. English renders "however hard I try" with a single front-loaded "however ... I" frame; German pulls the pieces apart — so up front, auch buried in the middle, verb at the end — and the result is more compact and, to a trained ear, more elegant. Learners almost always try to keep the English word order ("✗ Wie hart ich versuche") or forget the auch entirely. The second classic transfer error is translating "even if" and "even though" both as obwohl, missing the auch wenn / wenn auch distinction, since English uses "even" for both. Finally, "whatever/however" tempts learners into was immer without the auch, or into non-verb-final order copied from English.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wie hart ich versuche, es klappt nicht.
Incorrect — calque of English 'however hard I try'; German needs the split 'so ... auch' frame with 'auch'.
✅ So sehr ich mich auch bemühe, es klappt nicht.
However hard I try, it doesn't work. (so + sehr + ich ... auch + verb-final)
❌ Obwohl du mich bittest, ich mache es nicht.
Wrong word order and wrong conjunction for a hypothetical — 'obwohl' concedes a fact and is verb-final, but here you mean 'even if'.
✅ Auch wenn du mich bittest, mache ich es nicht.
Even if you ask me, I won't do it. (auch wenn for the hypothetical; main clause keeps V2 → 'mache ich')
❌ Was immer passiert, ich bleibe.
Understandable but incomplete in standard German; the idiomatic free relative includes 'auch'.
✅ Was auch immer passiert, ich bleibe.
Whatever happens, I'll stay. (was auch immer + verb-final 'passiert')
❌ Trotz das schlechte Wetter blieben wir.
Incorrect — 'trotz' governs the genitive, not the nominative/accusative.
✅ Trotz des schlechten Wetters blieben wir.
Despite the bad weather, we stayed. (genitive 'des schlechten Wetters')
❌ So reich er ist auch, glücklich ist er nicht.
Incorrect order — 'auch' must follow the subject, not the verb: 'So reich er auch ist'.
✅ So reich er auch ist, glücklich ist er nicht.
However rich he may be, he is not happy. (so + adjective + subject + auch + verb-final)
Key Takeaways
- obwohl (verb-final) is the everyday concessive; obgleich / obschon are (formal/literary), wiewohl (archaic).
- auch wenn = "even if" (hypothetical); wenn auch = "even though / albeit" (factual). They are not interchangeable.
- The split so + [adjective/adverb] + subject + auch + ... verb-final clause = "however much ..."; the following main clause keeps V2. Konjunktiv (sein mögen) adds a "may be" nuance.
- w-word + auch immer (was/wer/wie/wo auch immer) makes verb-final free relatives meaning "whatever/whoever/however."
- trotz and (formal) ungeachtet take the genitive, compressing concession into a noun phrase.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Concessive and Conditional ConjunctionsB1 — How German says 'although' and 'if' — obwohl sends the verb to the end, trotzdem inverts it, and German can drop wenn entirely by putting the verb first.
- Free Relatives and Universal Concessives (wer, was, wo + auch immer)C1 — How German builds headless relative clauses with wer, was, and wo, the case conflicts they create, and the universal concessives formed with auch immer.
- Verb-Final Order in Subordinate ClausesB1 — Why a subordinating conjunction sends the finite verb to the very end of the clause — and why in compound tenses the auxiliary lands dead last.
- Genitive Prepositions in UseB2 — The genitive prepositions — wegen, trotz, während, statt and the formal set — their meanings, and the genitive-vs-dative register signal.
- Two-Part (Correlative) ConjunctionsB2 — The paired connectors — entweder...oder, weder...noch, sowohl...als auch, nicht nur...sondern auch, je...desto — and their word-order surprises, including the unique verb-final je-clause.
- Conceding and Contrasting (zwar, allerdings, dennoch)B2 — How German concedes a point and then counters it — the zwar…aber frame, the qualifying allerdings ('mind you'), the concessive adverbs dennoch and trotzdem, formal jedoch and gleichwohl, and subordinating obwohl — with the V2 word order that trips up English speakers.