Learn French: Nous naviguons sur l'océan malgré la tempête. - We sail on the ocean despite the storm.

Nous naviguons sur l'océan malgré la tempête.

We sail on the ocean despite the storm.

Breakdown of Nous naviguons sur l'océan malgré la tempête.

sur

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

Questions & Answers about Nous naviguons sur l'océan malgré la tempête.

Why is malgré followed directly by la tempête, and can I use it with a verb?

Malgré means "despite" or "in spite of" and must be followed by a noun or pronoun, never a conjugated verb. Just like in English where you say "despite the storm" rather than "despite it storms", in French you use malgré + a noun phrase like la tempête.

Could I say en dépit de la tempête instead of malgré la tempête here?

Yes, absolutely! En dépit de is another way to say "in spite of" or "despite" and works exactly the same way. However, malgré is much more common in everyday spoken French, while en dépit de sounds a bit more formal or literary.

Why do we use sur l'océan instead of dans l'océan?

You use sur (on) because a boat travels on the surface of the water. If you used dans (in), it would imply you are submerged inside the water, which is better suited for a submarine (un sous-marin) or someone swimming!

Does naviguer only apply to boats and sailing?

Primarily, yes, it means to navigate or sail on water. But just like in English, it has adapted to modern technology. You will often hear naviguer sur internet meaning "to surf the web" or "to browse the internet".