Ми заряджали телефон, попри те, що відключення електроенергії відбулося раніше.

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Breakdown of Ми заряджали телефон, попри те, що відключення електроенергії відбулося раніше.

• телефон: the phone
• раніше: earlier
• відбутися: to take place

Questions & Answers about Ми заряджали телефон, попри те, що відключення електроенергії відбулося раніше.

Why is it Ми заряджали, not Ми зарядили?

Заряджали is the imperfective past form, so it presents the action as a process, activity, or ongoing attempt in the past.

• Ми заряджали телефон = We were charging / we charged (as an activity)
• Ми зарядили телефон = We charged the phone completely / successfully

In this sentence, заряджали fits well because the focus is not on the completed result, but on the fact that the charging was happening even though the power outage had already occurred earlier.

What case is телефон here, and why does it look the same as the dictionary form?

Телефон is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of заряджали.

The dictionary form is nominative singular: телефон.

For inanimate masculine singular nouns, the accusative usually looks exactly the same as the nominative, so:

• nominative: телефон
• accusative: телефон

So the form does change grammatically, but not visibly.

What does попри те, що mean, and how should I understand its structure?