Word
Malgrado il gelo, lo chef aveva già preparato la cena.
Meaning
Despite the frost, the chef had already prepared dinner.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Malgrado il gelo, lo chef aveva già preparato la cena.
avere
to have
la cena
the dinner
preparare
to prepare
già
already
Questions & Answers about Malgrado il gelo, lo chef aveva già preparato la cena.
Do I need to use the subjunctive after malgrado?
Not in this sentence! While malgrado (and nonostante) often trigger the subjunctive when followed by a new clause with a verb (like malgrado facesse freddo), here it acts as a preposition followed directly by a noun (il gelo). Since there is no verb attached to it, you don't need the subjunctive.
Could I use nonostante instead of malgrado here?
Yes, absolutely. When used as prepositions followed by a noun, malgrado and nonostante are completely interchangeable. You could say Nonostante il gelo with zero change in meaning. Notice also that neither word requires the preposition di after it, unlike the English phrase "in spite of".
Why does chef take the article lo instead of il?
Why is the verb aveva preparato (past perfect) used rather than ha preparato (present perfect)?