Breakdown of Несмотря на злую публику, мы не провалились.
не
not
мы
we
злой
angry, mean
несмотря на
despite (+ noun)
публика
audience
провалиться
to bomb
Questions & Answers about Несмотря на злую публику, мы не провалились.
Why do we use the accusative case for злую публику?
The preposition несмотря на (despite) requires the accusative case. That is why the feminine singular noun публика becomes публику, and its matching adjective злая becomes злую.
Is несмотря always written as a single word?
Yes, when it acts as a preposition meaning 'despite', несмотря is written as one word. However, if it were used literally to mean 'not looking at' (describing a physical action), it would be written as two words: не смотря на злую публику (not looking at the mean audience).
How does провалились mean 'bomb' here if it usually translates to 'fall through'?
While провалиться literally means 'to fall through' or 'to collapse', it is heavily used as a colloquial term for failing a test, flopping, or bombing a performance. Since the sentence mentions an audience (публика), this is a performance context.
Why is there a comma after публику?
In Russian grammar, a phrase starting with несмотря на (despite) or невзирая на (regardless of) is almost always separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, no matter where it appears.
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