Learn Spanish (Latin America): Buscamos el faro a pesar de que no brille hoy. - We look for the lighthouse even if it does not shine today.

Buscamos el faro a pesar de que no brille hoy.

We look for the lighthouse even if it does not shine today.

Breakdown of Buscamos el faro a pesar de que no brille hoy.

Questions & Answers about Buscamos el faro a pesar de que no brille hoy.

Why is brille in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative brilla?

This is the core rule for using a pesar de que! If we used the indicative (a pesar de que no brilla), it would declare a known, factual reality: "even though it isn't shining." By using the subjunctive (brille), we are treating it as a hypothetical, unconfirmed, or irrelevant situation: "even if it doesn't shine."

I thought a pesar de meant "despite." Why is it translated as "even if"?

A pesar de que literally translates to "despite the fact that." However, when you pair it with the subjunctive (like brille here) to talk about a hypothetical situation, it functions just like "even if" does in English.

Could I drop the que and just say a pesar de no brille?

No, you need the que here because it introduces a clause with a conjugated verb (brille). If you drop the que, you are forced to use an infinitive verb instead. You could legally say a pesar de no brillar hoy (despite not shining today), but you can't mix the two structures.

Why is there no word for "for" after buscamos?

English speakers naturally want to say buscamos por because we say "we look for." But in Spanish, the preposition is already built into the verb. Buscar means "to look for" or "to search for" all on its own, so adding por or para is unnecessary and grammatically incorrect.