trotzdem. Nevertheless. The verb stays.

trotzdem means "nevertheless," "anyway," or "still." It shows that something happens despite an obstacle. And unlike obwohl, it does not touch the verb's position. The verb stays exactly where it always sits.

The contrast that matters

Both obwohl and trotzdem express a contrast: something happened even though you would not expect it. The meaning is similar. The grammar is completely different.

obwohl introduces the unexpected part and sends the verb to the very end of its clause. trotzdem introduces the result and leaves the verb in position 2, as normal. It is an adverb, not a conjunction.

	Example	Verb position
obwohl	..., obwohl es regnete.	End of clause
trotzdem	Trotzdem gingen wir raus.	Position 2 (normal)

Same idea, two different structures

Here is the same thought expressed with obwohl and then with trotzdem. Notice how the word order shifts completely.

With obwohl	With trotzdem
Obwohl es regnete, gingen wir raus.	Es regnete. Trotzdem gingen wir raus.
Obwohl er müde war, arbeitete er weiter.	Er war müde. Trotzdem arbeitete er weiter.
Obwohl sie krank ist, kommt sie zur Arbeit.	Sie ist krank. Trotzdem kommt sie zur Arbeit.

With obwohl, both parts sit in one sentence and the verb moves to the end of the obwohl clause. With trotzdem, the obstacle comes first as its own sentence, and trotzdem opens the next one.

trotzdem at the front: inversion

When trotzdem takes position 1, the verb follows immediately in position 2 and the subject moves behind it. This is the same inversion rule as with dann and deshalb: anything in position 1 that is not the subject causes subject and verb to swap.

Position 1	Verb (pos. 2)	Subject	Rest
Trotzdem	gingen	wir	raus.
Trotzdem	kommt	sie	zur Arbeit.
Trotzdem	hat	er	es versucht.
Trotzdem	lerne	ich	jeden Tag.

trotzdem in the middle of a sentence

trotzdem does not have to open the sentence. It can also sit in a middle position, after the verb. The word order stays completely normal.

Subject	Verb	trotzdem	Rest
Ich	lerne	trotzdem	weiter.
Wir	sind	trotzdem	gegangen.
Er	hat	trotzdem	nicht geantwortet.

dennoch: the more formal twin

dennoch means exactly the same thing as trotzdem and follows the same rule. The verb stays in position 2. dennoch sounds more formal and appears more in written German. In everyday speech, trotzdem is by far the more natural choice.

Word	Register	Example
trotzdem	Everyday speech and writing	Trotzdem lerne ich weiter.
dennoch	Formal writing	Dennoch lerne ich weiter.

The full picture: four words, one pattern

dann, deshalb, trotzdem, and schließlich all follow the same rule: they are adverbs, the verb stays in position 2, and inversion applies when they open a sentence. The only difference is the meaning each one adds.

Word	Meaning	Verb position
dann	then (sequence)	Position 2
deshalb	therefore (consequence)	Position 2
trotzdem	nevertheless (contrast)	Position 2
schließlich	finally / after all (at last, or here is why)	Position 2

The same inversion rule with deshalb: deshalb. That's why. The verb stays. The verb-last rule that trotzdem avoids: weil. The verb goes last.