Understand the difference between quoique and quoi que in french

FRENCH GRAMMAR CAN BE FRUSTRATING BUT THERE ARE OFTEN SIMPLE RULES TO REMEMBER AND APPLY TO HELP French can be a confusing language with many similar looking and sounding words that can get

mixed up both when written and spoken. A common pitfall for many advanced learners is to confuse _quoique_ and _quoi que_ - despite being almost identical, they mean very different things.

Although at first glance it is confusing, when you get your head around the rules it is straightforward. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? _Quoique_ as one word means ‘although’ or ‘even if’ and it

usually expresses doubt or opposition. It can be followed by the indicative or the subjunctive depending on the context. An example is: _Quoique nous soyons en hiver, il fait encore assez

chaud _(Although we are in winter it is still quite hot). One thing to note however is that _quoique_ is quite old-fashioned, and most people nowadays would use _bien que_ or _encore que_,

also followed by the subjective or indicative, to express this. When it is written as two words, _quoi que_ means ‘whatever’ in the sense of many possibilities. _Quoi que _is always followed

by a subject and a verb in the subjunctive, and means 'whatever the thing' or 'anything. For example, _Quoi que je choisisse comme plat, le dessert sera inclus dans la

formule _(Whatever I choose for my main dish, dessert will be included in the menu). In this instance, the verb _choisir_ is in the subjunctive form because it follows quoi que. A common

phrase where you are likely to hear quoi que employed is _quoi que ce soit_ which means anything if talking about something undefined or whatever it is if talking about something unknown.

For example, _si vous avez besoin de quoi que ce soit, n'hésitez pas à me dire_ (If you need anything don’t hesitate to tell me). DIFFERENCE IS NOTABLE IN WRITTEN FRENCH Both _quoique_

and _quoi que_ sound the same in spoken French so it is more in the written language that you need to be aware of their differences. In both cases, when followed by _il, elle_ or _on_ (he,

she or we), each word drops the ‘e’ and uses an apostrophe to join with the subject. For example, _je l’aime bien quoiqu’il m'énerve de temps en temps _(I like him even though he annoys

me from time to time). Similarly, _quoi qu’elle fasse après la fac, elle sera contente d’avoir fini ses études _(whatever she does after university she will be pleased to have finished her

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