Learn Hardcore German: Das Turnier ist kostenlos, aber trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer. - The tournament is free, but many female and male spectators still come.

Turnier (tournament) is always neuter, so it takes das in the nominative singular. There’s no logical reason here; it’s just part of the word’s dictionary form. When you learn new nouns, it’s best to learn them like this:

das Turnier – tournament
so you always remember the article as well.

What’s the difference between kostenlos, frei, and umsonst?

All three can show up in contexts about not paying, but they’re not fully interchangeable.

kostenlos
- literally: cost-less
- means: free of charge, no money required
- neutral, very common in everyday speech and writing
- e.g. Der Eintritt ist kostenlos. – Admission is free.
frei
- has many meanings: free (not occupied), free (not imprisoned), and sometimes free of charge
- Der Eintritt ist frei. also means Admission is free, but this sounds a bit more like a formal announcement or a sign.
umsonst
- two main meanings:
  1. free of charge: Ich habe das Buch umsonst bekommen. – I got the book for free.
  2. in vain / for nothing (no result): Ich bin umsonst hingegangen. – I went there for nothing.
- Because of this second meaning, kostenlos is usually clearer and safer when you specifically mean free of charge.

In your sentence, ist kostenlos means specifically doesn’t cost money and avoids the potential ambiguity of umsonst.

Why do we have both aber and trotzdem? Isn’t that redundant?

Aber and trotzdem do slightly different jobs:

aber is a coordinating conjunction: but
trotzdem is an adverb: nevertheless, nonetheless, even so

Together they make the contrast very clear and a bit stronger, like:

Das Turnier ist kostenlos, aber trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer.
→ The tournament is free, but even so many spectators come.

You have several options with slightly different flavors:

Das Turnier ist kostenlos, aber viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer kommen.
– Just aber, contrast is there but more neutral.
Das Turnier ist kostenlos; trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer.
– Just trotzdem, with a clearer break between the sentences.
Das Turnier ist kostenlos, aber trotzdem kommen …
– Feels a bit more emphatic: but still / but even so…

So it’s not wrong or really redundant; it’s emphasis and style.

Why is the verb kommen before the subject viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer?

German main clauses normally follow the verb-second (V2) rule:

The finite verb is always in position 2.
Position 1 can be many things: the subject, a time expression, an adverb, etc.

After aber, which doesn’t count as a position for V2, the sentence starts with trotzdem:

aber trotzdem (position 0 – aber as conjunction)
trotzdem (position 1 – adverb)
kommen (position 2 – finite verb)
viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer (the rest of the clause, including subject)

So the structure is:

[aber] [trotzdem] [kommen] [viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer]

This word order is normal and very common in German when something other than the subject (like trotzdem, gestern, heute) comes first.

Could I say … aber trotzdem viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer kommen with the subject right after trotzdem?

No, not in a normal main clause, because that would violate the V2 rule.

❌ … aber trotzdem viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer kommen.
Here the finite verb kommen is in position 3, which is not allowed in standard German main clauses.

You must keep the finite verb in second position (after the first real element), so you need:

✅ … aber trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer.

If you want the subject first, then you can’t start with trotzdem:

✅ … aber viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer kommen trotzdem.
(Here viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer is position 1, kommen position 2, trotzdem later.)

Why does the sentence say Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer instead of just Zuschauer?

This is about gender-inclusive language in German.

der Zuschauer – male spectator
die Zuschauerin – female spectator
die Zuschauer – traditionally: plural, often generic for a mixed group
die Zuschauerinnen – plural only for women

In more inclusive or formal modern German, writers often explicitly name both grammatical genders:

Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer – female and male spectators

This is similar to English phrases like “ladies and gentlemen” or “actors and actresses”, but with a specific focus on inclusion.

You will also see shorter inclusive forms in writing, e.g.:

Zuschauer*innen, Zuschauer:innen, Zuschauer:innen, depending on style.

In your sentence, Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer is the fully written, explicitly inclusive form.

How are Zuschauerin and Zuschauer formed and what are their plurals?

The words are built from the verb schauen (to look/watch):

der Zuschauer – (male) spectator
- plural: die Zuschauer (no ending change in the noun, only the article)
die Zuschauerin – (female) spectator
- plural: die Zuschauerinnen (-in → -innen)

Pattern:

masculine -er nouns often have the same form in plural:
- der Lehrer → die Lehrer
- der Zuschauer → die Zuschauer
feminine -in nouns form plural with -innen:
- die Lehrerin → die Lehrerinnen
- die Zuschauerin → die Zuschauerinnen

So in the sentence, Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer are both in the plural.

Why is there no article before viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer?

The word viele already functions like a determiner here, so you don’t add another article:

viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer – many spectators
wenige Leute – few people
einige Freunde – some friends

If you added an article, it would sound wrong or change the meaning:

❌ die viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer in this context doesn’t work.
✅ die vielen Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer is possible, but it refers to a specific, known group: the many spectators (that we already talked about).

In your sentence, we’re talking about many spectators in general, not a specific group already identified, so viele on its own is correct.

Why is there a comma before aber in this sentence?

Aber is a coordinating conjunction that connects two main clauses:

Das Turnier ist kostenlos
trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer

In German, when you join two full main clauses with aber, you normally use a comma:

Er wollte kommen, aber er hatte keine Zeit.
Das Turnier ist kostenlos, aber trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer.

This is similar to English, where you could write:

The tournament is free, but still many spectators come.

Could I also say Obwohl das Turnier kostenlos ist, kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer? What’s the difference to trotzdem?

Yes, that’s a correct and natural alternative, but the structure changes:

obwohl is a subordinating conjunction (like because, although), so it introduces a subordinate clause with the verb at the end:
- Obwohl das Turnier kostenlos ist, kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer.

Here you express the contrast with obwohl (although).

With trotzdem, you keep two main clauses and use an adverb to express the contrast:

Das Turnier ist kostenlos, aber trotzdem kommen viele Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer.

Nuance:

obwohl … focuses on the unexpectedness or surprise:
Although it’s free, many people still come (which is perhaps not what you’d assume in the context).
trotzdem is more like nevertheless / even so; it often comments on the previous statement from a slightly “outside” perspective.

Both are very common; choosing one or the other is mostly a matter of style and what you want to emphasize (the relationship between the two facts, or a comment on the second fact).