Aunque is a very popular and practical concessive conjunction that can be used in a couple different ways. Let’s take a look!
1) We use ‘aunque’ to express a contrasting or opposing view to the main action:
- La invitaré aunque ella no sea mi amiga. I’ll invite her even though she’s not my friend.
2) We use ‘aunque’ to indicate that there’s an obstacle or impediment for the main action:
- Aunque ella está enferma quiere ir al cine esta tarde. Although she’s sick, she still wants to go to the movies this afternoon.
AUNQUE + INDICATIVO/SUBJUNTIVO:
We can use aunque with either the indicativo or the subjuntivo in the following cases:
a) We use it with the INDICATIVO when discussing information that is real and/or generally acknowledged. We can use it with the present, past or future tenses.
- Siempre trabajo mucho aunque estoy cansada. I always work hard even though I am tired. (Regular occurrence.)
- Yo fui al cine aunque estaba cansada. I went to the movies even though I was tired. (Past situation.)
- Yo iré a la cine aunque estoy cansada. I will go to the movies even though I am tired. (Future situation.)
b) We use it with the SUBJUNTIVO to indicate an action that may or may not happen; ie, we have no certainty about it. It indicated a potential future.
- Iré al cine aunque llueva. –> No sé si lloverá, es algo que no lo puedo saber. I’ll go to the movies even if it rains. –> I don’t know if it’ll rain or not; it’s something that I cannot know with certainty.
- Me casaré con Juan aunque mis padres no lo quieran. –> Mis padres no lo saben todavía y no sabemos si lo van a aceptar o no. I will marry Juan even if my parents don’t love him. –> My parents don’t know the news yet and we can’t know if they’ll approve or not.
c) We use it with the SUBJUNTIVO to indicate my intention of doing something regardless of what others have said.
- – Mira el periódico. Dice que va a llover mañana. Look at the paper; it says that it will rain tomorrow.
- – Yo me iré a pasear, aunque llueva mucho. I’ll go for a walk even if it rains a lot.
- – Ellos han dicho que no me invitarán a la fiesta, pero iré. –> Iré a la fiesta aunque no me inviten. They’ve said that they won’t invite me to the party, but I will go. –> I’ll go to the party even if they don’t invite me.
3. We can also use ‘aunque’ to express an unlikely or improbable condition.
- No me casaría con Juan aunque él fuera rico (= Juan no me gusta para nada). I wouln’t marry Juan even if he were rich (= I don’t like Juan at all).
- Ellos no trabajarían en esa empresa aunque les pagaran un buen sue-alunamaldo (= no les gusta esta empresa). They wouldn’t work for that company even if they were to receive a good salary (= they don’t like this company).