From "Obwohl" to "Trotz"
To express doing something in spite of an obstacle, you can use the conjunction obwohl (although) to introduce a subordinate clause. In professional contexts, it is common to condense these clauses into prepositional phrases using trotz (despite).
To transform an obwohl clause into a prepositional phrase, turn the core idea of the clause into a noun. The preposition trotz requires the Genitive case.
| Gender / Plural | Genitive Article | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | des (+ -s / -es) | trotz des Zinses |
| Neuter | des (+ -s / -es) | trotz des Kapitals |
| Feminine | der | trotz der Inflation |
| Plural | der | trotz der Startups |
For feminine nouns, the article changes to der:
| Although there is a recession, she is founding a startup. | Obwohl es eine Rezession gibt, gründet sie ein Startup. |
| Despite the recession, she is founding a startup. | Trotz der Rezession gründet sie ein Startup. |
| Although the competition is strong, our business model works. | Obwohl die Konkurrenz stark ist, funktioniert unser Geschäftsmodell. |
| Our business model works despite the strong competition. | Unser Geschäftsmodell funktioniert trotz der starken Konkurrenz. |
For masculine and neuter nouns, the article changes to des, and the noun takes an -s or -es ending:
| Although we had a setback, we got the financing. | Obwohl wir einen Rückschlag hatten, haben wir die Finanzierung bekommen. |
| We got the financing despite the setback. | Wir haben die Finanzierung trotz des Rückschlags bekommen. |
Any adjectives between the Genitive article and the noun take the ending -en:
| The company is profitable despite the bad business model. | Das Unternehmen ist trotz des schlechten Geschäftsmodells profitabel. |
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