in spite of

  • despite

    If you’ve ever tried to say something like “despite the fact that he was tired, he kept going” in French, you may have instinctively reached for malgré. It’s the word every textbook gives you for “despite,” so it feels like the obvious choice. But there’s a catch: malgré is a preposition, and prepositions in French…

  • malgré

    The French word malgré is a preposition meaning “despite” or “in spite of.” It is used to express contrast or opposition between two ideas. Malgré is always followed by a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase, and it is commonly used in both written and spoken French. Basic usage of malgré Malgré introduces a circumstance that…