儘管…（還/但是）…grammar point · tier 2 · 儘管…（還/但是）… concession over a granted extreme (even though … still / but …)
Concession: grant a situation at its fullest extent, then hold the far clause regardless.
字源 FORM what the parts do
儘 is a person (亻) with 盡, a hand wiping a vessel empty to its limit — push the case to the utmost. 管 carries 官 for the sound; here it is the 不管 'leave it' sense worn into 儘管 — let it run that far, unminded. The far bracket holds the turn: 還 is the road (辶) carried on unbroken (still, anyway); 但是 plants the reversal.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A slope pushed to its steepest, and the cart keeps rolling up it all the same.
You want to grant a situation at its strongest and say the outcome holds regardless.
序 · The move
1Put the conceded situation after 儘管 — a settled fact, or a degree pushed up with 再 (儘管再忙 / 儘管再貴).Is it a fixed or maxed-out case, not an open question-word clause? An open variable takes 不管, not 儘管.
2Open the second clause with 還是 / 還 (carries on) or 但是 (turns against).Does the outcome stand in spite of the conceded case, rather than because of it?
例 · Examples
1儘管even though / however much工作再忙busy to whatever degree，爸爸週末還是still, anyway會留點時間keeps a little time去當志工。
However busy work gets, Dad still keeps some weekend time to volunteer.
界 · Boundary
不管…都…
不管 takes an OPEN clause (question-word, A 還是 B, A 不 A) and keeps one outcome across every value; 儘管 grants ONE fixed fact or a 再-maxed degree, then holds the far clause anyway.
因為 makes the first clause the REASON for the second; 儘管 makes the first clause something the second overrides — the outcome stands in spite of it, not because of it.
儘管什麼時候忙，他都來。 ✗ → 不管什麼時候忙，他都來。 ✓ (an open question-word clause takes 不管…都, not 儘管)
儘管工作很忙，所以爸爸去當志工。 ✗ → 儘管工作很忙，爸爸還是去當志工。 ✓ (儘管 concedes against the outcome; pair it with 還是/但是, never 所以)
儘管再忙。 ✗ → 儘管再忙，他還是會來。 ✓ (儘管 opens a frame; the second clause carrying the outcome is required)
English "even though" needs no answering word, so learners drop the obligatory 還是 / 但是 in the second clause.