Breakdown of En dépit de notre aide, la police a démasqué l'informateur.
avoir
to have
notre
our (singular and plural forms: notre, nos)
la police
the police
l'aide
the help (f)
en dépit de
in spite of
l'informateur
the informant (m)
démasquer
to unmask
Questions & Answers about En dépit de notre aide, la police a démasqué l'informateur.
Is there any difference between using en dépit de and malgré in this sentence?
Could I say en dépit que if I wanted to follow it with a conjugated verb instead of a noun?
No, en dépit que does not exist in standard French! En dépit de must always be followed by a noun or a pronoun. If you want to express the same idea using a conjugated verb, you need a conjunction like bien que or quoique (meaning "even though" or "although"), which must be followed by the subjunctive mood.
Why is the verb singular (a démasqué) when "the police" usually takes a plural verb in English?
In French, la police is a strictly singular collective noun. It refers to the police force as a single institution, so it always takes a third-person singular verb. If you want to talk about multiple individual officers, you would use the plural les policiers.
Would de change if it were followed by a plural noun phrase instead of notre aide?
Yes, the de in en dépit de follows the standard rules of contraction. If you were saying "in spite of the rumors" (les rumeurs), de and les would contract to make en dépit des rumeurs. In this sentence, it remains de because it is followed by the possessive adjective notre, which does not trigger a contraction.
Learn En dépit de notre aide, la police a démasqué l'informateur and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free