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Malgré la sueur et le désespoir, ce vice a tout gâché, même le gain.

Malgré la sueur et le désespoir, ce vice a tout gâché, même le gain.
Despite the sweat and the despair, this vice ruined everything, even the gain.
From Lesson 250:The pronoun everything (tout)·French

Questions & Answers about Malgré la sueur et le désespoir, ce vice a tout gâché, même le gain.

Why is tout placed in the middle of a tout gâché instead of after the verb like in English?
When tout (everything) is the direct object in a compound tense like the passé composé, it is placed between the auxiliary verb (a) and the past participle (gâché). If you wrote a gâché tout, it would sound unnatural to French speakers.
Could I use bien que instead of malgré in this sentence?
No, because they take different grammatical structures. Malgré (despite) is a preposition that must be followed by a noun, like la sueur (the sweat) here. Bien que (although) is a conjunction that requires a full subject and a verb in the subjunctive mood.
I learned that même means "same". Why does it mean "even" in même le gain?
The word même is versatile. When placed immediately between an article and a noun, it acts as an adjective meaning "same" (like la même chose). However, when used as an adverb to add unexpected emphasis, as it is here right before the noun phrase le gain, it means "even" (even the gain).
Why is it ce vice instead of cet vice?
Vice is a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant (v). Therefore, you use the standard masculine demonstrative adjective ce (this/that). You only use cet for masculine nouns that start with a vowel or a mute H, like cet arbre (this tree).

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