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I know there are different ways to get the sense of 'although..., but...' in a sentence. Too many ways for me to be clear about how to express it at all, to be honest. In Chinese it's as simple as can be: 虽然。。。但是。Is there an equivalent in Japanese that suits most situations, independent from style and politeness level? Also, if you happen to know of a good Chinese-Japanese Dictionary I'd be more than happy with your recommendation.

Greets, Touming

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  • Ask a native speaker about "~~にしても、....". But, I think it can be deceptive because I think that "~~にしても、..." sometimes should be translated into the subjunctive mood, and "although ..." cannot be in the subjunctive mood.
    – david.t
    Sep 1, 2015 at 1:18
  • Am I correct that what you need is a word translates "although", and "but" is not really relevant? Your Chinese 虽然...但是 seems to correspond to "although" altogether.
    – broccoli forest
    Sep 15, 2015 at 17:11

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To me, が seems to be the thing you're looking for. It is most commonly known as the "subject marking particle", but can also be placed at the end of a clause to create the sense of "although" or "but".

For example:

今日はいい天気だが、遊びに行きたくない。
Although the weather is nice today, I don't want to go play.

This type of が can also be used in polite sentences:

私は日本に行ったことがありますが日本語がぜんぜんできません。
Although I've been to Japan before, I can't speak Japanese at all.

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I'm not sure if this is very polite, but at least in a casual setting you can use のに:

天気がよかったのに、散歩に行きませんでした。

Although the weather was fine, I didn't go for a walk.

I think a more formal way of expressing a similar construction is using ながら:

寒いながら、ジャケット着ずに待ちました。

Although it was cold, I waited without putting my jacket on.

Disclaimer: I am not 100% sure the example above are correct, probably a native speaker could correct me.

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