Вопреки тому что отпечаток большой, багет оказался узким.

Вопреки means contrary to, despite, or against.

It often introduces the idea that something happened in opposition to what you would expect. In this sentence, it signals a contrast:

• Вопреки тому что... = despite the fact that... / although...

It is a little more formal or literary than very common everyday options like хотя.

Because вопреки normally takes the dative case.

Here, тому is the dative singular form of то:

• то → тому

So the structure is basically:

• вопреки
  • тому
    • что-clause

Literally, it is something like:

• contrary to that that...

But in natural English, you should understand it as:

• despite the fact that...

No.

Even though both contain тому что, they are completely different expressions.

• потому что = because
• вопреки тому что = despite the fact that / although

In your sentence, тому что is part of the larger expression вопреки тому что. You should learn it as one unit here.

It is grammatical, but it sounds more bookish or formal than the most common everyday choices.

A Russian speaker might more often say:

• Хотя отпечаток большой, багет оказался узким.
• Несмотря на то что отпечаток большой, багет оказался узким.

So вопреки тому что is understandable, but it is not the most conversational option.

Because Russian usually omits the verb to be in the present tense.

So:

• отпечаток большой literally looks like print big
• but it means the print is big

This is completely normal in Russian.

Compare:

• Он дома. = He is at home.
• Отпечаток большой. = The print is big.

They are used in two different grammatical patterns.

1. отпечаток большой

Here, большой is part of a present-tense description with no written is, so Russian uses the nominative form:

• отпечаток — nominative
• большой — nominative masculine singular

2. багет оказался узким

After оказаться (to turn out to be), the descriptive complement is usually in the instrumental:

• узким = instrumental masculine singular

So:

• большой = nominative
• узким = instrumental

That difference is very normal in Russian.

Оказался means turned out to be or proved to be.

So it adds the idea of a result or discovery, often something a little unexpected.

• багет был узким = the frame was narrow
• багет оказался узким = the frame turned out to be narrow

So оказался is not just a neutral statement of fact; it suggests that the speaker learned this or that it was contrary to expectation.

Because the dictionary form is оказаться.

Here, -ся is part of the verb itself. It is not helpful to think of it as literally reflexive in English. In modern Russian, many -ся verbs are best learned as separate vocabulary items.

So:

• оказаться = to turn out to be
• past masculine singular: оказался

In this sentence, it agrees with багет, which is masculine singular.

Because the first part is a subordinate clause:

• Вопреки тому что отпечаток большой = subordinate clause
• багет оказался узким = main clause

Russian separates them with a comma.

Since the subordinate clause comes first, the comma appears right before the main clause begins.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, especially for emphasis.

For example:

• Багет оказался узким, вопреки тому что отпечаток большой.

This would still be grammatical.

The original order puts the contrast first:

• Despite the fact that the print is big, ...

So the sentence begins by setting up an expectation and then overturning it.

A useful breakdown is:

• вопреки — preposition-like word meaning contrary to / despite
• тому — dative singular of то
• что — introduces the subordinate clause
• отпечаток — masculine singular nominative
• большой — masculine singular nominative, agreeing with отпечаток
• багет — masculine singular nominative
• оказался — past tense masculine singular of оказаться
• узким — masculine singular instrumental, agreeing with багет as the complement after оказался

So one important thing to notice is that both отпечаток and багет are masculine singular, and that is why you see:

• большой
• оказался
• узким