Breakdown of Мы начали сеять пшеницу, несмотря на то, что почва сухая.
мы
we
почва
soil
сухой
dry
начать
to begin (perfective)
несмотря на то, что
despite the fact that
пшеница
wheat
сеять
to sow
Questions & Answers about Мы начали сеять пшеницу, несмотря на то, что почва сухая.
What is the literal translation of несмотря на то, что?
It literally translates to "not looking at that, that." The word несмотря is formed from не (not) + смотря (looking, which comes from the verb смотреть). You use несмотря на (despite) plus то, что (the fact that) whenever you need to connect "despite" to a full clause containing a subject and a verb.
Why is there a comma right before что in the conjunction?
In Russian, compound conjunctions like несмотря на то что (despite the fact that) or до того как (before) can optionally be split by a comma. Placing the comma before что puts a little more emphasis on the fact that follows. It is also perfectly correct to just put a single comma before the entire phrase: ...пшеницу, несмотря на то что почва сухая.
Since this is a specific action they set out to do, why is сеять (to sow) in the imperfective aspect?
This is due to a strict Russian grammar rule: verbs that express the beginning, continuation, or end of an action (like начать, продолжать, or закончить) must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive. Because the sentence uses начали (started), the following verb сеять has to be imperfective.
Could we use the short-form adjective суха instead of the long-form сухая for "dry"?
Yes, почва суха is grammatically correct, but short-form adjectives often sound more formal, literary, or dramatic. In everyday modern Russian, it is much more natural to use the standard long form (сухая) to state a simple physical fact about the soil.
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