Несмотря на волнение, он продолжает работать спокойно.

Despite his anxiety, he continues to work calmly.

Breakdown of Несмотря на волнение, он продолжает работать спокойно.

• спокойно: calmly
• он: he
• работать: to work
• несмотря на: despite
• волнение: the anxiety
• продолжать: to continue

Questions & Answers about Несмотря на волнение, он продолжает работать спокойно.

What does Несмотря на + noun mean and how is it used?

Несмотря на is a single-word preposition meaning despite or in spite of. It always appears before a noun (or pronoun) in the accusative case to express a concession. For example:
Несмотря на дождь, мы вышли на улицу
Despite the rain, we went outside.

Why is волнение in this sentence in its current form? Which case is it?

The preposition несмотря на requires the accusative case. Волнение is a neuter noun whose nominative and accusative singular forms coincide, so you don’t see a visible ending change. If it were masculine, e.g. страх, you’d say несмотря на страх.

How can I tell that несмотря на here is a preposition meaning “despite” and not a gerund (деепричастие) of смотреть?

There are two key clues:

1. несмотря на is one word plus на and is followed by a noun. A gerund не смотря (“not looking”) would be two words and wouldn’t take на + noun.
2. The meaning fits “despite.” If you wanted “while not looking,” you’d write он, не смотря на экран, говорил (“he spoke without looking at the screen”).

Why is there a comma after волнение?

The phrase Несмотря на волнение is an introductory adverbial phrase (обстоятельственный оборот) at the beginning of the sentence. In Russian, such phrases are normally set off from the main clause with a comma:
Несмотря на волнение, он продолжает работать спокойно.

What tense, person, and aspect are used in продолжает работать?

• Продолжает is present tense, 3rd person singular.
• Продолжать is an imperfective verb, and it takes another imperfective infinitive (работать) to express ongoing or repeated action. Together they mean “he continues to work” or “he keeps working.”

Why is спокойно an adverb here instead of the adjective спокойный?

Спокойно is an adverb describing how he works (calmly). Adverbs modify verbs. Спокойный is an adjective and would modify a noun (e.g. спокойный человек – “a calm person”), so it cannot describe the verb работать.