Breakdown of În ciuda pronosticului negativ, candidatul a câștigat votul.
avea
to have
câștiga
to win / to gain, to save (time)
candidatul
the candidate
votul
the vote
Questions & Answers about În ciuda pronosticului negativ, candidatul a câștigat votul.
Why does pronosticului have the -lui ending here?
The compound preposition în ciuda (meaning despite) requires the noun that follows it to be in the Genitive case. Since pronostic is a neuter noun, its definite Genitive singular form takes the -lui ending.
Why doesn't the adjective negativ change its ending to match the Genitive case of pronosticului?
In the masculine and neuter singular, adjectives do not have a distinct Genitive/Dative ending in Romanian. The noun takes the case marker (the -lui in pronosticului), but the adjective negativ stays in its base form. If the noun were feminine, or if the phrase were plural, the adjective's ending would change.
Could I use în pofida instead of în ciuda in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! În pofida is completely synonymous with în ciuda. Both are concessive compound prepositions that require the Genitive case, so the phrase would simply become În pofida pronosticului negativ.
If I wanted to replace pronosticului negativ with a pronoun to say "Despite it, the candidate won", how would I do that?
You would use the Genitive form of the personal pronoun. Since pronostic is a neuter noun, it behaves like a masculine noun in the singular, so you would use lui: În ciuda lui, candidatul a câștigat.