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Le marin maintient le cap malgré le vent.

Le marin maintient le cap malgré le vent.
The sailor maintains the course despite the wind.
From Lesson 204:Concession preposition (malgré)·French

Questions & Answers about Le marin maintient le cap malgré le vent.

Can I use a verb after malgré instead of a noun?
No, malgré (despite or in spite of) is directly followed by a noun or a pronoun, just like le vent in this sentence. If you want to express 'despite doing something' with an action, you would typically use a different conjunction like bien que (even though), which requires a conjugated verb.
Is maintient conjugated like the verb tenir?
Yes! The verb maintenir (to maintain) is built from the words for hand (main) and to hold (tenir). It follows the exact same irregular conjugation pattern as tenir and venir. Since le marin is a third-person singular subject, we use the form maintient.
Does le cap only refer to a ship's physical course?
In this nautical context, le cap literally means the ship's heading or course. However, it is also very common in everyday French as a figurative expression: maintenir le cap or garder le cap means to stay the course, hold steady, or stay focused on a goal when facing difficulties.
Why does the sentence use le vent instead of du vent?
We use the definite article le because it refers to a specific wind (the actual wind blowing right now that the sailor is fighting against). You use the partitive article du (some) when talking about an unquantifiable amount, such as when describing the weather in general: il y a du vent (it is windy).

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