Learn Hardcore Russian: Несмотря на дождь, мы гуляем в парке. - Despite the rain, we are walking in the park.

Несмотря на is a compound preposition meaning “despite” or “in spite of.” It introduces a concessive phrase and always governs the accusative case. In our sentence, несмотря на дождь literally means “despite the rain,” serving as an adverbial modifier of concession.

Why is дождь in the accusative case and not the genitive?

Because the preposition на in the fixed expression несмотря на requires the accusative. For inanimate masculine nouns like дождь, the accusative form is identical to the nominative. You cannot say несмотря на дождя—that would be ungrammatical.

Why is there a comma after дождь?

When a concessive phrase such as несмотря на дождь appears at the beginning of the sentence, Russian punctuation rules call for a comma to separate it from the main clause мы гуляем в парке. This comma marks the boundary between the introductory adverbial modifier and the principal clause.

Can we place несмотря на дождь at the end of the sentence, and would the comma remain?

Yes. You can say Мы гуляем в парке, несмотря на дождь. The comma remains because the concessive phrase is still a parenthetical adverbial modifier, now after the main clause.

Why is the verb used instead of the infinitive ?