Breakdown of Il tappetino è rimasto asciutto nonostante un po’ di umidità nell’aria.
in
in
un po’ di
a bit of
rimanere
to stay
nonostante
despite
asciutto
dry
l’aria
the air
l’umidità
the humidity
il tappetino
the mat
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Questions & Answers about Il tappetino è rimasto asciutto nonostante un po’ di umidità nell’aria.
What does è rimasto asciutto mean literally, and why do we use essere here?
It’s the passato prossimo (present perfect) of the intransitive verb rimanere (to remain), formed with the auxiliary essere + past participle rimasto. It literally means “has remained dry” (the mat remained dry). Because rimanere is intransitive, it uses essere. The participle agrees in gender and number with the subject: rimasto (m.sg) here matches tappetino.
Why is the adjective asciutto placed after rimasto, and why can’t we say asciutto rimasto?
In Italian, the past participle (rimasto) plus adjective (asciutto) expresses the resulting state and form a verb phrase. The participle must follow the auxiliary, and the adjective follows the participle because it’s a predicate adjective describing the subject’s state. Asciutto rimasto would sound unnatural and break the fixed verb-phrase structure.
What does nonostante mean, and how does it function here?
Nonostante is a preposition/conjunction meaning “despite” or “in spite of”. Here it introduces a concession phrase: nonostante un po’ di umidità nell’aria = “despite a bit of humidity in the air.” It connects the unexpected condition with the main clause.
Why is nonostante followed by a noun phrase here and not by a verb in the subjunctive?
Nonostante can govern either a noun phrase (as here) or a subordinate clause. When followed by a clause, that verb must be in the congiuntivo: e.g., nonostante ci fosse un po’ di umidità nell’aria. In this sentence, the speaker chose a noun phrase un po’ di umidità instead, so no subjunctive is needed.
What does un po’ di umidità mean, and why is there an apostrophe in po’?
Un po’ di = “a bit of” or “some.” It’s a colloquial shortening of poco, so the c is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe. Un po’ di umidità literally means “a little bit of humidity.”
Why is it nell’aria instead of in aria?
Because aria (air/humidity in the air) needs the definite article, so you contract in + l’ to nell’ (the apostrophe marks the dropped vowel). In aria without the article would be used in other contexts (e.g., “in the open air”), but to express humidity in the air, Italian uses nell’aria.
Can I replace nonostante with malgrado or benché?
Yes, malgrado and nonostante are almost interchangeable when followed by a noun phrase: malgrado un po’ di umidità nell’aria. Benché typically introduces a clause and requires the congiuntivo (benché ci fosse umidità), so you couldn’t say benché un po’ di umidità without adding a verb.