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Сегодня мы едем на экскурсию, несмотря на то, что идёт дождь.

Сегодня мы едем на экскурсию, несмотря на то, что идёт дождь.
Today we are going on an excursion, despite the fact that it is raining.
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Questions & Answers about Сегодня мы едем на экскурсию, несмотря на то, что идёт дождь.

Why does едем (present tense) refer to a future action here?

With verbs of motion, Russian often uses the present tense to talk about a planned or scheduled near-future trip. Сегодня мы едем… means Today we’re going / we’re off… (i.e., we have arranged to go today).
If you want to emphasize the start as a one-time event, you often use a perfective form like Сегодня мы поедем… (more like Today we will set off/go).

What’s the difference between мы едем and мы поедем?
  • мы едем (imperfective, “we are going / we are travelling”) focuses on the trip as an ongoing or arranged process; in context it can mean we’re going today.
  • мы поедем (perfective, “we will go / we will set off”) focuses on the single departure/decision to go as a completed event in the future.
Why is it на экскурсию and not в экскурсию?

Экскурсия is an event/activity, not a container-like place. Russian commonly uses на + Accusative for events:

  • на экскурсию (on an excursion)
  • на концерт, на встречу, на урок
    в + Accusative is more typical for entering a place/space: в музей, в парк, в город.
What case is экскурсию, and why?

Экскурсию is Accusative singular (feminine).
After на meaning direction/goal (where to?), Russian uses the Accusative: ехать на экскурсию = “go to an excursion.”

How does несмотря на work grammatically? What case follows it?

Несмотря на functions like despite / in spite of and it requires the Accusative case:

  • несмотря на дождь (despite the rain)
  • несмотря на то, что… (despite the fact that…)
Why is it несмотря на то, что… with то—what is то doing here?

In несмотря на то, что…, the word то is a “dummy” demonstrative meaning that (thing/fact). The structure literally is: despite that, that… → more naturally despite the fact that…
It’s very common and stylistically neutral.

Can I omit то and just say несмотря на что идёт дождь?

No—несмотря на что… is not the normal conjunction for this meaning.
Use either:

  • несмотря на то, что идёт дождь (despite the fact that it’s raining), or
  • хотя идёт дождь (although it’s raining), or
  • несмотря на дождь (despite the rain) if you want a noun phrase.
Why is there a comma before несмотря на то, что… and another comma after экскурсию?

The phrase несмотря на то, что идёт дождь introduces a subordinate clause with что, so it’s typically separated by commas from the main clause. Here it comes after the main clause, so you get:

  • main clause: Сегодня мы едем на экскурсию,
  • subordinate clause: несмотря на то, что идёт дождь.
    The comma after экскурсию is the boundary between them.
Why is it идёт дождь (literally “the rain goes”)? Is that the normal way to say “it’s raining”?

Yes. Russian commonly describes weather with verbs like идти (“to go”) or быть (“to be”):

  • идёт дождь = “it’s raining”
  • идёт снег = “it’s snowing”
    It’s a standard, natural expression.
Could I say дождь идёт instead of идёт дождь? Does word order matter?

Yes, both are possible:

  • идёт дождь is neutral and common, often introducing the fact that it’s raining.
  • дождь идёт can sound slightly more contrastive or descriptive (e.g., “The rain is coming down,” or “It is raining (as you can see)”).
    Russian word order is flexible and used to manage emphasis and information flow.
Why is Сегодня at the beginning? Could it go elsewhere?

Сегодня can move, but position affects emphasis:

  • Сегодня мы едем… (Today—this is the relevant time)
  • Мы сегодня едем… (We, today, are going—slightly more conversational)
  • Мы едем сегодня… (Today is added later, sometimes contrastive: today, not tomorrow)
    All are grammatical; the first is very neutral.
How do I pronounce несмотря на то, что and where is the stress?
  • несмотрЯ (stress on -я)
  • на (unstressed)
  • то (usually unstressed here)
  • что (often pronounced што in normal speech)
    So it sounds like: несмотрЯ на то, што… (with natural reductions in fast speech).