Overcoming Obstacles: Mimo and Pomimo
To say "despite" or "in spite of" in Polish, you can use either mimo or pomimo. These two prepositions mean exactly the same thing and can be used interchangeably. Whenever you use them, the noun or phrase that follows must be in the Genitive case.
| Despite difficult conditions, the climbing was very interesting. | Mimo trudnych warunków wspinaczka była bardzo ciekawa. |
Notice how the plural phrase trudne warunki (difficult conditions) changes to its Genitive form, trudnych warunków.
| Despite bad weather, they want to reach this summit. | Pomimo złej pogody chcą osiągnąć ten szczyt. |
Here, the singular feminine phrase zła pogoda (bad weather) takes the Genitive form złej pogody. You also see the verb osiągnąć (to achieve) and noun szczyt (summit) combined here to mean "reach the summit."
Extreme Expeditions
When talking about an extreme expedition (ekstremalna wyprawa) or mountain climbing (wspinaczka), you will often need to describe pushing through harsh environments or extreme danger (niebezpieczeństwo).
| He became the leader of the expedition despite great danger. | Został liderem wyprawy pomimo wielkiego niebezpieczeństwa. |
| Despite the avalanche, we reached the summit of the mountain. | Mimo lawiny osiągnęliśmy szczyt góry. |
In these examples, wielkie niebezpieczeństwo (great danger) becomes wielkiego niebezpieczeństwa, and the feminine noun lawina (avalanche) becomes lawiny.
Pushing Through
Whether you are facing extreme conditions or just a really hard task, you can use mimo or pomimo to talk about reaching your goals anyway.
| Despite the fatigue, we do not give up. | Pomimo zmęczenia nie poddajemy się. |
| I am not afraid of the expedition despite extreme conditions. | Nie boję się wyprawy mimo ekstremalnych warunków. |
| She wants to achieve success despite the danger. | Chce osiągnąć sukces pomimo niebezpieczeństwa. |