Formal Concessions: "en dépit de"
To say in spite of in formal situations, use en dépit de followed directly by a noun.
| The contact arrives in spite of the surveillance. | Le contact arrive en dépit de la surveillance. |
| It is a useful piece of information in spite of his distrust. | C'est un renseignement utile en dépit de sa méfiance. |
Contractions with "de"
When de is followed by the definite articles le or les, they must contract into du and des. This rule applies to en dépit de as well.
| The suspect lies in spite of the suspicions. | Le suspect ment en dépit des soupçons. |
You can also place this phrase at the beginning of a sentence to set the scene.
| In spite of our help, the police unmasked the informant. | En dépit de notre aide, la police a démasqué l'informateur. |
An Alternative: "malgré"
You can also use malgré (despite) to express the same idea. It has the same meaning, but en dépit de tends to sound a little more formal. Both are followed directly by a noun.
| The informant speaks despite the surveillance and the interrogation. | L'informateur parle malgré la surveillance et l'interrogatoire. |
| The agent is going to unmask him despite the team's distrust. | L'agent va le démasquer malgré la méfiance de l'équipe. |
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