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Il prato era impraticabile nonostante i teloni.

Il prato era impraticabile nonostante i teloni.
The lawn was impassable despite the tarpaulins.
From Lesson 450:Concessive prepositions (nonostante / malgrado)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il prato era impraticabile nonostante i teloni.

Why doesn't nonostante need an extra preposition before i teloni?
In Italian, the concessive prepositions nonostante and malgrado connect directly to the following noun. You do not need to add an extra preposition like di or a before i teloni. It translates directly to "despite the tarpaulins" in English, avoiding the extra word you would need if you said "in spite of".
Could I use malgrado instead of nonostante in this sentence?
Yes, saying malgrado i teloni would mean exactly the same thing. Both nonostante and malgrado mean "despite" or "in spite of" and are completely interchangeable when placed directly in front of a noun.
prato usually translates to "lawn" or "meadow". What specific situation is this sentence describing?
While prato does mean "lawn", this specific combination of vocabulary typically describes a sports pitch (like a soccer field) after heavy rain. The adjective impraticabile means "unplayable" or "impassable" in sports jargon, referring to a field that is too waterlogged for a match to take place.
Is the word teloni related to the word for canvas or cloth?
Yes! The word teloni is the plural augmentative form of telo (a cloth or sheet). By adding the suffix -one to mean "large", a telone becomes a large, heavy-duty cover, such as the waterproof tarpaulins used to protect a stadium field from bad weather.

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