Concessive Clauses: bien que, quoique, malgré
Concessive Clauses: bien que, quoique, malgré
French marks 'although' with a subjonctif-triggering conjunction, and 'despite' with a plain preposition — the same clause-vs-noun split English makes with 'although' and 'despite', but with an extra mood-shift English doesn't require.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
bien que / quoique + subjonctif
Bien qu'il pleuve, je sors. (Although it's raining, I'm going out)
Although it's raining, I'm going out.
bien que and quoique are near-synonyms meaning 'although', and both require the subjonctif in the clause that follows (pleuve, not pleut) — one of the most-tested subjonctif triggers at this level, straight from Lesson 40. English 'although'/'though' introduce an ordinary clause with no mood change at all ('although it's raining' — plain indicative, just like a statement of fact), so the real new burden here isn't the concept of concession, which English already has, but remembering that French forces a verb-form change where English doesn't. Watch the spelling too: quoique (one word, 'although') is easy to confuse with quoi que (two words, 'whatever'/'no matter what') — they sound identical but mean different things.
malgré + noun: no subjonctif needed
Malgré la pluie, je suis sorti. (Despite the rain, I went out)
Despite the rain, I went out.
malgré is a preposition, not a conjunction — it's followed directly by a noun or pronoun, never by a que-clause, so the subjonctif question doesn't even arise here. This matches English 'despite'/'in spite of' exactly: both are strictly noun-taking prepositions in standard usage ('despite the rain', never 'despite it rains'). When English needs a full clause after this idea, it reaches for the workaround 'despite the fact that' — the same structural problem French solves by switching over to bien que/quoique the moment a full clause, rather than just a noun, is what follows.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| bien que | byahn kuh | although |
| quoique | kwah-kuh | although (more literary) |
| malgré | mahl-GRAY | despite |
| Bien qu'il soit riche, il est simple. | byahn keel swah reesh, eel eh sanpl | Although he's rich, he's simple. |
| malgré tout | mahl-GRAY too | despite everything |
| malgré cela | mahl-GRAY suh-lah | despite that |