と思いつつ and と知りつつ are also commonly used.

つつ meaning of "although" is that of English "while" in terms of contradiction (while knowing the rules, he broke them anyway).

1. つつ expresses concurrent action by the same person. (so does ながら; to express concurrent actions by different people, use 間 あいだ).
2. つつ is not used to describe everyday actions like eating, drinking, watching TV.
3. つつ is only ever attached to V stem.
4. ながら can be preceded by V stem, as well as adjectives, nouns, V て い, V ない see ながら(も).

機能：逆説

形：V（ーます）＋つつ(も)、＿＿＿。

意味：＿＿＿ていても、＿＿＿。

※V＝思う・知る・感じる・言う・分かる・・・

例文：タバコは体に悪いと知りつつ、やめられない。

つつ mainly written language but
Is for actions that take longer compared to ながら that are immediate actions.

バイトをしつつ勉強します。 It takes a longer period

コヒを飲みながら本を読みます。is in this moment

- Is often used with following words like
- 知る
- 考える
- 感じる
- 思う
- 言う
- 気になる
- 気にする

- From the feelings standpoint, it is used to express the feelings like regret, mistake, reflection on the fact that something is not right.

- Both parts of the sentence, the subject remains the same ダメだと思いつつ、カンニングしてしまった - both me was the one who thinks that it is bad, and the one who did it is also me.

When using it with the meaning - 'while' (expressing simultaneous actions the same way as with ながら ), the main action/topic is the one that follows the つつ part. The subject (actor) is the same in both parts.