Breakdown of Пусть её кот капризный, но он всё же очаровательный.
кот
cat
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
но
but
пусть
let
Questions & Answers about Пусть её кот капризный, но он всё же очаровательный.
Wait, doesn't пусть normally mean "let"? How does it mean "even if" here?
You're right! You probably first learned пусть as a way to say "let" (like пусть он войдёт - let him come in). But when it is paired with но (but) or всё же (still) in the following clause, it creates a concessive meaning. It translates best to "granted that," "although," or "even if" when accepting a known fact.
Is it mandatory to use both но and всё же in the second part of the sentence?
No, you can use just но (но он очаровательный) or just всё же (он всё же очаровательный). Using both together (но он всё же...) simply makes the contrast stronger, emphasizing that his charm completely makes up for his bad temper.
Could I use the short adjectives капризен and очарователен instead of the long forms here?
Yes, you could say Пусть её кот капризен, но он всё же очарователен. The meaning is identical, but the short forms make the sentence sound more formal or bookish. The long forms used here (капризный, очаровательный) are much more natural in everyday spoken Russian.
Can I use this пусть structure for hypothetical situations, like "Even if her cat were capricious [but he isn't]"?