In short

This lesson lets you say “even though” and “whereas” — to admit an obstacle and act anyway (a concession), or to set two things against each other (a contrast). Modern Hebrew has a tidy kit for each, and the single decision that governs the whole lesson is exactly the one you already met in the causal lesson: does the connector take a bare noun, or a whole clause? A noun after a preposition, a subject-plus-verb after a subordinator with ש־ (she-).

The everyday split is clean. For concession, attach a noun with למרות (lamrot, “despite”) and a clause with למרות ש־ (lamrot she-) or אף על פי ש־ (af al pi she-), both “although / even though”. For contrast, attach a noun with לעומת (le’umat, “as opposed to”) and a clause with בעוד ש־ (be’od she-, “whereas”). Then, because the concessive clause has already done the “although” work, you resume the main clause not with אבל but with a connector like בכל זאת (bechol zot, “still, nevertheless”).

The rule

• Concession as a noun: למרות, על אף, חרף. When what you’re conceding is just a noun phrase, use a preposition. The everyday one is למרות (lamrot, “despite / in spite of”): למרות הגשם יצאנו (lamrot ha-geshem yatzanu, “despite the rain we went out”). על אף (al af, “notwithstanding”) is a touch more formal and interchangeable: על אף הקושי המשכנו (al af ha-koshi hemshachnu, “despite the difficulty we carried on”). In literary prose you will also meet חרף (cheref, same meaning): חרף הקשיים (cheref ha-kshayim, “despite the hardships”). All three take a noun — never a finite clause.

• Concession as a clause: למרות ש־ and אף על פי ש־. When the concession is a whole sentence (its own subject and verb), tie it on with ש־. למרות ש־ (lamrot she-) is the everyday “although”: למרות שהיה קר הלכנו לים (lamrot she-haya kar halachnu la-yam, “although it was cold we went to the sea”). אף על פי ש־ (af al pi she-, literally “even upon the mouth that”) means “even though” and reads a little more careful: אף על פי שהוא עייף הוא ממשיך לעבוד (af al pi she-hu ayef hu mamshich la’avod, “even though he’s tired he keeps working”). The ש fuses onto the next word, exactly as with מפני ש / כדי ש.

• Literary clause-conceders: הגם ש־ and אף כי. In writing you will meet הגם ש־ (hagam she-, “although”) and אף כי (af ki, “albeit / although”). הגם ש takes ש like the others; אף כי is itself the whole connector and takes the clause directly, with no ש: אף כי ניסה, לא הצליח (af ki nisa, lo hitzliach, “although he tried, he did not succeed”). Recognise both in text; in speech say למרות ש or אף על פי ש.

• Contrast as a noun: לעומת. To set one noun against another — “compared with / as opposed to / unlike” — use לעומת (le’umat) + noun: לעומת אחי, אני מעדיף ספרים (le’umat achi, ani ma’adif sfarim, “unlike my brother, I prefer books”). לעומת governs a noun only; it can never take ש.

• Contrast as a clause: בעוד ש־ (and literary ואילו). To contrast two whole clauses — “whereas / while” — use בעוד ש־ (be’od she-): בעוד שהצפון גשום, הדרום יבש (be’od she-ha-tzafon gashum, ha-darom yavesh, “whereas the north is rainy, the south is dry”). In more literary register the same job is done by ואילו (ve’ilu, “whereas”), which opens the second, contrasting clause: הצפון גשום, ואילו הדרום יבש (ha-tzafon gashum, ve’ilu ha-darom yavesh). Note that בעוד also has a temporal “while / as” use — see Temporal clauses; context tells the two apart, and bare בעוד + a time word means “in [so much time]” (בעוד שעה, be’od sha’a, “in an hour”).

• Resume with a connector, not with אבל. A concessive subordinator already carries the “although”, so the main clause must NOT also start with אבל (“but”). Instead you may reinforce it with an adverbial connector: בכל זאת (bechol zot, “still / nevertheless”) or its more formal twin אף על פי כן (af al pi ken, “even so”): הוא למד ובכל זאת נכשל (hu lamad u-vechol zot nichshal, “he studied and still failed”); היה קר, ואף על פי כן יצאנו (haya kar, ve-af al pi ken yatzanu). This resumptive is optional but very natural; אבל after a concessive clause is simply wrong.

• Sentence-linking contrast: לעומת זאת, עם זאת, מצד אחד… מצד שני. Across two separate sentences you signal contrast with לעומת זאת (le’umat zot, “in contrast / on the other hand”): אני אוהב קפה, לעומת זאת אשתי מעדיפה תה (ani ohev kafe, le’umat zot ishti ma’adifa te). עם זאת (im zot, “however / that said”) concedes a qualification: זה יקר, עם זאת זה שווה את זה (ze yakar, im zot ze shave et ze). And to weigh two sides, use the pair מצד אחד… מצד שני (mi-tzad echad… mi-tzad sheni, “on the one hand… on the other hand”).

• Word order stays plain SVO. None of these connectors triggers inversion. After בעוד ש־, למרות ש־, לעומת זאת and the rest, the clause keeps its ordinary subject-verb-object order (see Non-SVO order, fronting, topic & focus for the marked options). Just the connector, then a normal sentence.

Forms & patterns

Concession — prepositions that take a noun phrase:

Concession — subordinators that take a whole clause (subject + verb):

Contrast — noun vs clause:

Sentence-connectors that resume or link the contrast:

Same word, ש makes the difference — noun vs clause:

Examples

Common mistakes

• למרות שהגשם יצאנו -> למרות הגשם יצאנו (lamrot ha-geshem yatzanu) - הגשם is a noun, so use bare למרות; add ש only before a full clause (למרות שירד גשם, “although it rained”).
• לעומת שאשתי מעדיפה תה -> בעוד שאשתי מעדיפה תה (be’od she-ishti ma’adifa te) - לעומת never takes ש or a clause; to contrast a whole clause use בעוד ש (or literary ואילו). לעומת governs a noun only.
• למרות שהיה קר, אבל הלכנו לים -> למרות שהיה קר, בכל זאת הלכנו לים (lamrot she-haya kar, bechol zot halachnu la-yam) - the concessive clause already means “although”, so don’t answer it with אבל; resume with בכל זאת, or use nothing.
• אף על פי הוא עייף -> אף על פי שהוא עייף (af al pi she-hu ayef) - to head a subject-plus-verb clause, אף על פי needs ש; the bare phrase can’t introduce a finite clause on its own.
• למרות הוא עייף הוא ממשיך -> למרות שהוא עייף הוא ממשיך (lamrot she-hu ayef hu mamshich) - before a clause you must add ש (למרות ש); bare למרות takes only a noun.
• לאומת זאת אשתי מעדיפה תה -> לעומת זאת אשתי מעדיפה תה (le’umat zot ishti ma’adifa te) - the word is לעומת with ע (from the root of “against / opposite”); the spelling לאומת with א is wrong.

Tips

• Sort every connector by what FOLLOWS it, just as in the causal lesson: a bare noun → למרות / על אף / לעומת; a full clause (subject + verb) → למרות ש / אף על פי ש / בעוד ש. Ask “is a verb coming?”
• ש־ is the clause hinge. Strip it and you’re back to a preposition that now wants a noun. That is why למרות שהגשם and לעומת ש… are both wrong: one glued ש onto a noun, the other onto a word that never takes ש at all.
• Concession and its resumption don’t double up. One “although” is enough: either the subordinator (למרות ש…) up front OR a plain sentence closed with בכל זאת — not אבל on top of the concessive clause.
• everyday vs literary: say למרות (ש), אף על פי ש, לעומת, בכל זאת in speech; keep חרף, הגם ש, אף כי, ואילו, אף על פי כן for writing and formal register.
• Watch בעוד. Contrastive בעוד ש = “whereas”; temporal בעוד ש = “while / as” (simultaneity); bare בעוד + a time word = “in [that much time]” (בעוד שבוע, “in a week”). Context and the presence of a time-word disambiguate.
• Word order never inverts. After any of these connectors the clause is ordinary SVO — just the connector, then a normal sentence.
• Keep the letters straight: לעומת and על אף both carry ע; חרף starts with ח, not כ or ה. A swapped guttural is a spelling error.