A concessive says this happened even though that should have stopped it. Which word you reach for is vocabulary, answered on concessive conjunctions; contrast without concession is אבל and אלא. This page is the syntax: what each connective is allowed to have after it, which is where nearly every learner error lives.
One rule, and it fixes most of it
English gives one idea two words — although takes a clause, despite takes a noun — so the structure never costs you a thought. Hebrew makes you choose, because the same stem does both jobs and the ש is the only thing marking which:
- למרות
- a noun phrase
- למרות ש־
- a clause with a verb in it
למרות שהזמנו מקום מראש, חיכינו עשרים דקות בחוץ.
lamrót shehizmánu makóm merósh, khikínu esrím dakót bakhúts
Even though we'd booked a table in advance, we waited twenty minutes outside.
למרות הגשם הם המשיכו לשחק עד שהחשיך.
lamrót hagéshem hem himshíkhu lesakhék ad shehekhshíkh
Despite the rain they carried on playing until it got dark.
There is no third option, and in particular an infinitive cannot go there — which matters, because English despite waiting an hour puts nothing but an ‑ing form after the preposition. In he.wikipedia, insource:/למרות ה[א-ת]/ returns 11,025 — a floor, on a string that common — while insource:/למרות להיות/ and insource:/למרות לעבוד/ both return 0 (regex form, 17 August 2026).
The connectives, and what each may take
| Connective | Reading | What follows it |
|---|---|---|
| למרות ש־ | lamrót she- | a clause |
| למרות | lamrót | a noun phrase |
| אף על פי ש־ | af al pi she- | a clause |
| אף ש־ | af she- | a clause |
| על אף | al af | a noun phrase |
| על אף ש־ | al af she- | a clause — but see the section below |
| אם כי | im ki | a clause |
| הגם ש־ | hagám she- | a clause |
| אפילו אם / גם אם | afílu im / gam im | a clause |
| אף על פי כן | af al pi ken | nothing — it resumes in the main clause |
אף על פי שהמחירים עלו, המסעדה עדיין מלאה כל ערב.
af al pi shehamekhirím alú, hamis'adá adáyin mele'á kol érev
Even though the prices have gone up, the restaurant is still full every evening.
אף שידעתי שזה יסתבך, הסכמתי לעזור להם.
af sheyadáti shezé yistabékh, hiskámti la'azór lahém
Although I knew it would get complicated, I agreed to help them.
הניתוח עבר בהצלחה, אם כי ההחלמה תיקח כמה שבועות.
hanitúakh avár behatslakhá, im ki hahakhlamá tikákh káma shavu'ót
The operation went well, though the recovery will take a few weeks.
אם כי is thoroughly at home in edited prose; no dictionary consulted here attaches a register label to it, so none is printed.
על אף ש: the row you should not fill by analogy
Every other row above is a plain fact; this one is a live normative dispute, and a table that presents it as an equal partner teaches you something an editor will change.
על אף and אף על פי look like variants of one another and are not. The Academy of the Hebrew Language gives them separate histories — in אף על פי the אף means also, even; in על אף it is the noun anger, wrath, as in חרון אף, and the rest of that story is on concessive conjunctions. The two converged, and speakers began welding the relative ש onto the wrong one. Note who the Academy says does the correcting — it is the language editors, not the Academy itself:
עוד נראה כי משנתקרבו הביטויים רבים משתבשים ומצרפים את ש׳ הזיקה ל“על אף” (“על אף ש־”), ואחריהם עורכי הלשון מזדרזים לתקן: בתחילת פסוקית ויתור (במשפט מורכב) “אף ש־” או “אף על פי ש־” בלבד; כביטוי ויתור (במשפט פשוט) “על אף (ה־)”.
It further appears that once the expressions converged, many go wrong and attach the relative ש to על אף; the language editors then hurry to correct it: at the head of a concessive clause, only אף ש־ or אף על פי ש־; as a concessive phrase in a simple sentence, על אף (ה־).
— האקדמיה ללשון העברית, על אף ואף על פי, published 19 Feb 2025 (raw Wayback capture 24 Apr 2025)
And yet it is everywhere. Measured with one probe shape down the column — insource:/X שה[א-ת]/, he.wikipedia, regex form, 17 August 2026, with the one exception noted under the table — the large figures are floors rather than counts, and the point is the ratio:
| Connective | Hits |
|---|---|
| אף על פי ש־ | 9,851 |
| למרות ש־ | 5,221 |
| על אף ש־ | 4,195 |
| אף ש־ | 3,499 |
| הגם ש־ | 380 |
One row needed a different probe: insource: has no word boundary, so /אף שה[א-ת]/ counts every על אף שה too and returns 7,322 — about double. The figure above is the discriminating insource:/[^ל] אף שה[א-ת]/, first eight hits all genuine. Which leaves the corrected form more frequent than the form editors correct it to.
So both of these are good Hebrew to write, and they are not the same kind of good:
על אף שהוועדה אישרה את התוכנית, העבודות עוד לא התחילו.
al af shehava'adá ishrá et hatokhnít, ha'avodót od lo hitkhílu
Although the committee approved the plan, the work still hasn't started. (widespread and perfectly comprehensible — and the form an editor is likeliest to change)
על אף ההתנגדות של השכנים, הבנייה בשכונה נמשכת.
al af hahitnagdút shel hashkhením, habniyá bashkhuná nimshékhet
Despite the neighbours' objections, the building work in the neighbourhood is going on. (על אף before a noun — the use nobody corrects)
Even if: אפילו אם and גם אם
These are the hypothetical branch — the event has not happened, and you are saying it would make no difference if it did.
אפילו אם תצא עכשיו, לא תספיק להגיע לפני הסגירה.
afílu im tetsé akhsháv, lo taspík lehagía lifnéi hasgirá
Even if you leave now you won't make it before closing time. (to a man)
גם אם הוא יתנצל, אני לא חוזרת לעבוד שם.
gam im hu yitnatsél, aní lo khozéret la'avód sham
Even if he apologises, I'm not going back to work there. (f. speaker)
Do the two differ? Milog glosses גם אם with two words — אפילו, אף אם — and adds no distinguishing note; its אפילו entry glosses אפילו in the same even if terms. No source consulted for this guide separates them, so this page does not invent a separation. Only frequency is measurable: insource:/ גם אם / returns 4,771 against 785 for insource:/ אפילו אם /, and the first eight hits of each are clean concessive‑conditionals (17 August 2026).
אם is not compulsory. Milog's אפילו entry leads with a bare אפילו in front of a future verb, and that shape is live:
אפילו ירד גשם, המופע יתקיים כרגיל.
afílu yeréd géshem, hamofá yitkayém karagíl
Even if it rains, the show will go ahead as usual.
Where אפילו is a focus particle rather than a clause head — אפילו המנהל הגיע — it is a different job, worked out on גם or אפילו?.
The doubling English bans
English has a hard rule you have never had to notice: although and but cannot both appear. Hebrew has no such ban, and a concessive clause is very often answered in the main clause by בכל זאת, ובכל זאת or אף על פי כן.
למרות שהזהירו אותנו מהפקקים, בכל זאת יצאנו רק בשמונה.
lamrót shehizhíru otánu mehapkakím, bekhól zot yatsánu rak bishmóne
Even though they warned us about the traffic, we still only left at eight.
הוא ידע שאין סיכוי, ואף על פי כן הגיש מועמדות.
hu yadá she'éin sikúy, ve'áf al pi ken higísh mu'amadút
He knew he had no chance, and he applied anyway.
Nor is this a colloquialism: of the eleven hits of insource:/למרות ש.{5,25} בכל זאת/, ten are the doubling, and the same shape on אף על פי ש־ returns fourteen. English speakers strip the second half out because their own grammar forbids it — not wrong, just thinner than what a native writer produces.
Five to work through
| English | Hebrew | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Although it was raining, we walked. | למרות שירד גשם, הלכנו ברגל | A clause follows, so ש is compulsory. |
| Despite the rain, we walked. | למרות הגשם הלכנו ברגל | A noun phrase follows, so there is no ש. |
| Although the flight was delayed, we made our connection. | למרות העיכוב בטיסה הספקנו את הטיסה המקשרת | The conversion item: bare למרות needs the flight was delayed turned into a noun phrase, העיכוב בטיסה. למרות שהטיסה התעכבה is equally good. |
| Even if you call now, nobody will answer. | אפילו אם תתקשר עכשיו, אף אחד לא יענה | Hypothetical, so the אפילו אם / גם אם branch, and the verb goes into the future. |
| Although the committee approved it, the work hasn't started. | אף שהוועדה אישרה, העבודות לא התחילו | על אף ש־ would be understood; אף ש־ is what survives an editor's pen. |
Common Mistakes
1. A clause after bare למרות. The commonest error, straight from English's two undifferentiated words. Hebrew hears a preposition with a whole sentence bolted on.
❌ למרות הוא הגיע בזמן, הישיבה התחילה באיחור
Incorrect — a clause needs the ש: למרות שהוא הגיע בזמן, הישיבה התחילה באיחור.
✅ למרות שהוא הגיע בזמן, הישיבה התחילה באיחור של חצי שעה.
lamrót shehú higía bazmán, hayeshivá hitkhíla be'ikhúr shel khatsí sha'á
Even though he got there on time, the meeting started half an hour late.
2. A bare noun phrase after למרות ש. The mirror image, produced by learners who have decided למרות ש is simply the concessive word. With no verb after the ש, there is nothing for it to introduce.
❌ למרות שהעייפות המשכנו לנהוג עוד שעתיים
Incorrect — a noun phrase takes the bare preposition: למרות העייפות המשכנו לנהוג עוד שעתיים.
✅ למרות העייפות המשכנו לנהוג עוד שעתיים עד המלון.
lamrót ha'ayefút himshákhnu linhóg od she'atáyim ad hamalón
Despite the tiredness we drove on for another two hours to the hotel.
3. An infinitive after למרות. English despite waiting an hour puts an ‑ing form after the preposition, and the nearest Hebrew equivalent of an ‑ing form is the infinitive, so the calque writes itself.
❌ למרות לחכות שעה שלמה, לא קיבלנו תשובה
Incorrect — either a clause, למרות שחיכינו שעה שלמה, or a noun phrase, למרות ההמתנה הארוכה.
✅ למרות שחיכינו שעה שלמה, לא קיבלנו שום תשובה.
lamrót shekhikínu sha'á shlemá, lo kibálnu shum tshuvá
Even though we waited a whole hour, we got no answer at all.
4. למרות standing alone as however. English opens a sentence with However, and learners who know למרות as despite reach for it in that slot — but למרות is a preposition and cannot stand without a complement.
❌ הוא היה עייף מאוד. למרות, הוא בא לחזרה
Incorrect — למרות needs something after it. As a sentence opener the form is למרות זאת: הוא היה עייף מאוד. למרות זאת, הוא בא לחזרה.
✅ הוא היה עייף מאוד. למרות זאת, הוא בא לחזרה ונשאר עד הסוף.
hu hayá ayéf me'ód. lamrót zot, hu ba lakhazará venish'ár ad hasóf
He was exhausted. Even so, he came to the rehearsal and stayed to the end.
Key Takeaways
- The whole page is one distinction: למרות + noun phrase, למרות ש־ + clause. Nothing else fits — an infinitive after למרות is 0 hits against 11,025 for למרות + a definite noun.
- על אף behaves the same way, and its clause form is the one row not to fill by analogy: the Academy reports that language editors correct על אף ש־ to אף ש־ or אף על פי ש־, keeping על אף for a noun. It is everywhere all the same — 4,195, which is more than the 3,499 for the bare אף ש־ they correct it to.
- אף על פי ש־, אף ש־, אם כי, הגם ש־ all head clauses; אף על פי כן heads nothing and resumes in the main clause.
- אפילו אם and גם אם are the even if branch, and no source consulted here distinguishes them — Milog glosses גם אם as אפילו, אף אם. אם is optional after אפילו: אפילו ירד גשם.
- Hebrew lets a concessive clause be answered in the main clause — למרות שהזהירו אותנו, בכל זאת יצאנו — where English bans although … but.
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- למרות ש־, אף על פי ש־, אם כיB2 — אף על פי and על אף look like variants of each other and are two unrelated words: one אף means also, the other is the noun anger. That history is what produces the blend על אף ש־ that editors correct, and it explains why the noun-takers — על אף, חרף, למרות — behave as they do. Also: what the Academy's dictionary actually says about למרות, and why אם כי is glossed two different ways.
- למרות and אף על פי: DespiteB1 — Use למרות, על אף and חרף before noun phrases, then choose the fixed concessive connector that matches the register you need.
- אבל and אלא: Two Kinds of 'But'A2 — English has one but and Hebrew has two, and the split is not a matter of style: אבל adds a contrasting clause, אלא swaps a correct item in for one you have just rejected. English speakers do not notice the second slot exists, which is why the calque with אבל is the most reliable tell there is.
- גם or אפילו?A2 — גם adds an item to a list; אפילו adds one and tells you it is the last item you would have expected. Both are grammatical wherever the other is, so nothing warns you — and the two directions of the mistake have opposite costs: גם for אפילו loses your point, while אפילו for גם insults the person you are talking to.