How the contrastive conjunctions ‘even though’ and ‘even if’ differ

A FILIPINA writer based in the Middle East requested me recently for a refresher on the difference between “even though” and “even if.” I don’t recall having discussed the subject in this column nor in Jose Carillo’s English Forum over the years, but I’ve noticed that some writers—even professional ones—tend to use those two contrastive conjunctions interchangeably. I am therefore glad that the writer, Forum member Miss Mae, asked me to clarify their proper usage.

I’d like to emphasize to begin with that as a rule, “even though” and “even if” are not interchangeable. “Even though” is used to express a fact or something that’s real or true, while “even if” is used in a supposition or for something imagined or unreal.