Learn Romanian: În ciuda ploii, concertul live a fost absolut minunat. - In spite of the rain, the live concert was absolutely wonderful.

The compound preposition în ciuda (despite or in spite of) requires the noun that follows it to take the Genitive case. For the feminine noun ploaie, the definite Genitive form (meaning 'of the rain') is ploii.

What is the literal translation of the phrase în ciuda?

The noun ciudă means spite, vexation, or grudge. So în ciuda literally translates to 'in the spite of'. You will also frequently encounter the related expression a-i fi ciudă, which means to feel annoyed, envious, or frustrated about a situation.

Is the English loanword live treated like a normal Romanian adjective here?

Mostly yes, as it is naturally placed immediately after the noun it modifies (concertul). However, because it is an English loanword, it is invariable in Romanian. This means it will never change its ending to match a noun's gender, number, or case.

Why is there no connecting word like de between absolut and minunat?

The word absolut functions directly as an adverb here. Unlike the adverb destul (which means 'quite' or 'enough' and requires the preposition de before an adjective, as in destul de minunat), adverbs like absolut and foarte connect directly to the adjective they emphasize.