Él caminó por la ciudad a pesar del frío.

Yes. Spanish often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is. Caminó tells us it is he/she/it in the preterite.

So both are possible:

• Él caminó por la ciudad...
• Caminó por la ciudad...

Including él can add emphasis, contrast, or clarity. For example, it may be used if you want to stress that he was the one who walked, not someone else.

The accent distinguishes él meaning he from el meaning the.

• él = he
• el = the

This is a very common written distinction in Spanish.

Caminó is the preterite form of caminar for él/ella/usted.

It is used for a completed action in the past. In this sentence, the walking is seen as a finished event.

• caminó = he walked

An English speaker may compare it with caminaba, the imperfect:

• caminó = he walked, he did walk, he went walking as a completed event
• caminaba = he was walking, he used to walk, he walked habitually or in the background

So caminó fits when the speaker presents the action as one whole completed घटना in the past.

The infinitive is caminar, meaning to walk.

Caminar is a regular -ar verb. In the preterite, the él/ella/usted ending for regular -ar verbs is -ó:

• caminar → caminó

This pattern is very common:

• hablar → habló
• mirar → miró
• llegar → llegó

Here, por suggests movement through, around, or along the city.

• por la ciudad = through/around the city
• en la ciudad = in the city

So the difference is about the kind of location:

• caminó por la ciudad focuses on movement within the city space
• caminó en la ciudad only says the walking happened in the city, without the same sense of moving through it

In this sentence, por is the more natural choice.

A pesar de is a fixed expression meaning despite or in spite of.

It is followed by a noun or noun phrase:

• a pesar del frío
• a pesar de la lluvia
• a pesar de sus problemas

It can also be followed by que plus a clause:

• A pesar de que hacía frío... = despite the fact that it was cold...

So in your sentence, a pesar del frío is simply the standard way to say despite the cold.

Because in Spanish, de + el normally contracts to del.

• de + el → del

So:

• a pesar de el frío ❌
• a pesar del frío ✅

This is one of the two standard contractions in Spanish:

• de + el → del
• a + el → al

Important exception: there is no contraction if El is part of a proper name:

• de El Escorial = correct, no contraction

In Spanish, abstract or general nouns often use the definite article where English does not.

So el frío means the cold in a general sense, referring to the cold weather or cold conditions.

That makes a pesar del frío the natural phrasing. Without the article, a pesar de frío, it would sound incomplete or unnatural in standard Spanish.

Here frío refers to cold weather or cold conditions.

Spanish often uses el frío in this broad way:

• Hace frío = it is cold
• No me gusta el frío = I do not like cold weather / the cold
• A pesar del frío = despite the cold

So it is not just the abstract idea of low temperature; it naturally refers to the unpleasant cold conditions.

Yes, absolutely. Spanish word order is more flexible than English.

These are both natural:

• Él caminó por la ciudad a pesar del frío
• A pesar del frío, él caminó por la ciudad

Putting A pesar del frío first gives it more emphasis, a bit like setting the scene first. The basic meaning stays the same.

The accent mark shows where the stress goes: ca-mi-NÓ.

Without the accent, Spanish stress rules would make you expect a different stress pattern. The written accent tells you clearly that the last syllable is stressed.

So:

• caminó → stress on the final syllable

This is both a pronunciation marker and a way of distinguishing the correct verb form in writing.

In standard Peninsular Spanish, ciudad is pronounced roughly like thyoo-DAD, with stress on the last syllable.

A few helpful points:

• ciu is said as one syllable
• the d at the end is softer than in English
• in much of Spain, c before i is pronounced like the th in think

So the overall rhythm is approximately:

• ciu-DAD

If you are learning Spanish from Spain, that th sound is the expected model in most of Spain.