Breakdown of Mimo że się staraliśmy, oni wygrali ten mecz.
ten
this (m)
oni
they (masculine personal)
mecz
match
wygrać
to win
Questions & Answers about Mimo że się staraliśmy, oni wygrali ten mecz.
Does mimo że mean the exact same thing as chociaż?
Yes! Both mean 'although' or 'even though'. You can easily swap them, so Chociaż się staraliśmy... would mean the exact same thing. Note that mimo że is always written as two separate words.
Why is się placed before the verb here (się staraliśmy) instead of after?
In Polish, the word się likes to be in the second position of a sentence or clause, and it strongly avoids being the very last word. Because the first part of this sentence is a short clause, putting się before the verb sounds much more natural than leaving it at the end.
Why is the pronoun oni (they) included? I thought Polish usually drops subject pronouns.
You are exactly right! However, pronouns are often kept for emphasis or contrast. Here, the speaker is highlighting the contrast between two different groups: 'we' tried, but 'they' won.
What does the -liśmy ending on staraliśmy tell us about the group that tried?
The -liśmy ending is the masculine personal (or 'virile') form for 'we' in the past tense. This means the group included at least one male. If a group of only women was speaking, the verb would be starałyśmy. The same rule applies to the second verb: wygrali means a group with at least one male won.