くせに: “Despite…”

Introduction

In spite of this lesson's somewhat negative tone, I think you'll find it quite useful! And hopefully easy to understand... If not, please take things up with the grammar point, not me. I'm not liable for any confusion caused on account of くせに...

～くせに: A strong "in spite of"

構成こうせい

• 

  Casual form verb/い-adjectiveくせに

• 

  な-adjectiveなくせに

• 

  Nounのくせに

  Example:
  → あんなに成績せいせきが悪わるいくせに、よくも俺おれをバカにしやがって！
  "How dare they make fun of me despite the fact that their grades are so bad!”

～くせに is all about saying "in spite of" or "even though" or "despite", and usually carries a fairly negative nuance. It's similar to ～のに, which also means "in spite of" or "despite" (as you may recall), but ～くせに sounds a bit stronger, and more judgemental (although this depends somewhat on how ～くせに is being used).