Apesar

Apesars is a Portuguese term used to express concession or contrast, roughly translating to “in spite of” or “despite” in English. It is most commonly employed in the fixed expression apesar de, which introduces the material that contrasts with what is stated or expected.

Syntactic use and forms. The core construction is apesar de followed by a noun phrase, pronoun, or infinitive: apesar da chuva, o jogo continuou; apesar de estar cansado, ele terminou o relatório. The particle also appears with infinitives, as in apesar de chover, o evento seguiu conforme o previsto. In some contexts, especially in informal writing, people may encounter although-like phrases such as embora or mesmo que; these are often used as synonyms to introduce more explicit or hypothetical concessions.

Distinctive features. Apesar de de, not simply apesar, is the usual form in standard Portuguese. The variant apesar de que, though widely heard in speech, is considered less formal or nonstandard in some varieties. The choice between apesar de and equivalents like embora depends on register and regional preferences. In formal writing, a clear concession is typically expressed with apesar de followed by a non-finite clause or noun phrase.

Etymology and related terms. The word despite derives from the expression a pesar de, with pesar meaning “to weigh” or “to regret,” functioning as a metaphor for something that weighs against a claim. Related conjunctive options include embora, ainda que, and mesmo que, which can serve as alternatives to convey concession with varying nuance.

See also. Conjunctions expressing concession, a despeito de, embora, ainda que, mesmo que.