Hoewel het regent, is het café vlak bij.

Hoewel means although or even though.

It introduces a contrast:

• Hoewel het regent, is het café vlak bij.
• Although it is raining, the café is very close by.

You use hoewel when the first part of the sentence gives information that might make the second part seem surprising or contrasting.

A few similar words are:

• alhoewel = also although, slightly more formal or literary in some contexts
• maar = but, used differently because it joins main clauses rather than introducing a subordinate clause in the same way

The comma separates the subordinate clause from the main clause.

• Hoewel het regent = subordinate clause
• is het café vlak bij = main clause

In Dutch, it is normal to place a comma after an introductory subordinate clause, especially in clear written Dutch like this.

So the structure is:

• Although it is raining, the café is nearby.

This is very similar to English punctuation.

This is because Dutch main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule.

When the sentence begins with something other than the subject, the finite verb comes before the subject.

Here, the whole subordinate clause Hoewel het regent comes first. That takes the first position in the sentence, so the main clause must begin with the verb:

• Hoewel het regent, is het café vlak bij.

Not:

• Hoewel het regent, het café is vlak bij.

That second version sounds wrong in standard Dutch.

A simpler comparison:

• Het café is vlak bij. = normal order
• Vandaag is het café vlak bij. = after another first element, verb comes before subject
• Hoewel het regent, is het café vlak bij. = same idea

Good question. Dutch subordinate clauses do usually place the finite verb toward the end.

But in Hoewel het regent, the clause is so short that regent is already effectively at the end:

• het = subject
• regent = verb

There is nothing after the verb, so it already appears in final position.

You can see the pattern more clearly in a longer sentence:

• Hoewel het vandaag hard regent...
• Although it is raining hard today...

Or with more verbs:

• Hoewel het de hele dag heeft geregend...
• Although it has rained all day...

In that kind of clause, Dutch shows the subordinate-clause verb placement more clearly.

The two het words do different jobs.

1. het in Hoewel het regent

   • This is a dummy subject, like it in English it is raining.
   • Weather expressions in Dutch often use het:
     • Het regent. = It is raining.
     • Het sneeuwt. = It is snowing.

2. het in is het café vlak bij

   • This is the definite article the before café.
   • café is a het-word, so it takes het, not de.

So even though both are written het, they have different grammatical roles.

Because café is a neuter noun in Dutch, so it takes het in the singular:

• het café = the café

Dutch nouns are divided into:

• de-words
• het-words

Unfortunately, there is no perfect rule that lets you guess all of them, so learners often have to memorize the article with the noun.

Useful forms:

• het café = the café
• een café = a café
• het café is open = the café is open

Plural:

• de cafés = the cafés

Vlak bij means very near, close by, or right nearby.

• bij on its own means near or by
• vlak adds the sense of very or right

So:

• vlak bij = very close / close by

Examples:

• Het station is vlak bij. = The station is very close.
• Ik woon vlak bij school. = I live very near school.

It is a very common expression in Dutch.

Here it is written as two words: vlak bij.

That is the normal spelling in this expression:

• Het café is vlak bij.

Learners sometimes confuse it with dichtbij, which is often written as one word:

• Het café is dichtbij.

Both can mean nearby, although usage can vary a little by context and style.

So in this sentence, vlak bij is the correct spelling.

Yes. In many situations, dichtbij works well too.

For example:

• Hoewel het regent, is het café dichtbij.

That is natural Dutch.

The difference is roughly:

• vlak bij often feels a bit more emphatic: really close, right nearby
• dichtbij simply means nearby

In everyday speech, both are common and often interchangeable.

Regent is the present tense of regenen:

• ik regen ❌ not used
• het regent = it rains / it is raining

In Dutch, the simple present often covers what English expresses with both:

• it rains
• it is raining

So:

• Het regent can mean It is raining in this context.

That is very normal in Dutch. Dutch does have ways to be more explicit about ongoing action, but the simple present is usually enough here.

Yes, you can put the main clause first:

• Het café is vlak bij, hoewel het regent.

That is grammatically correct.

However, the original sentence:

• Hoewel het regent, is het café vlak bij.

puts more emphasis on the contrast first, a bit like:

• Even though it’s raining, the café is nearby.

So both are possible, but the original order highlights the although idea more strongly.

Café is pronounced roughly like kah-FAY.

The accent on é helps show that the stress is on the last syllable and that the vowel is pronounced clearly:

• ca-FÉ

Without the accent, the spelling would look odd in Dutch and might be harder to interpret correctly.

This word is borrowed from French, which is why it keeps that accent mark.

Yes, it is natural and correct Dutch.

A Dutch speaker could also say similar things in slightly different ways, for example:

• Hoewel het regent, is het café dichtbij.
• Ook al regent het, het café is vlakbij.
• Het regent, maar het café is vlak bij.

But your sentence is perfectly idiomatic:

• Hoewel het regent, is het café vlak bij.

It sounds like clear, standard written Dutch.