Question 1

Can I replace Nonostante with Malgrado in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! Nonostante and malgrado are completely interchangeable when used as prepositions before a noun. You could just as easily say Malgrado l'umidità. They both mean "despite" or "in spite of".

Question 2

Since we are using nonostante as a preposition, do we ever need to add di or a after it?

Accepted Answer

No, when followed by a noun, nonostante and malgrado attach directly to the noun and its definite article. You will never see nonostante all'umidità or nonostante dell'umidità, only nonostante l'umidità.

Question 3

What exactly is the word ne doing in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Here, ne means "of it" or "of them". It replaces the previously mentioned thing that the tarpaulins were covering. Instead of repeating the noun by saying "protected a good part of the cargo", Italian uses the pronoun ne placed right before the conjugated verb: ne hanno protetto una buona parte.

Question 4

I thought ne makes the past participle agree with the quantity. Why is it protetto instead of protetta to match una buona parte?

Accepted Answer

Excellent question. You must make the past participle agree when ne replaces the direct object itself. But here, the direct object is actually the phrase una buona parte, and ne is just acting as a modifier meaning "of it" (they protected a good part of it). Because ne isn't the direct object, the participle protetto stays in its default masculine singular form.

Nonostante l'umidità, i teloni ne hanno protetto una buona parte.

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