"Despite the hunger, he sleeps."

Translation: Apesar da fome, ele dorme.

[jacegurr]

I just get confused when you have multiple feminine/masculine words in a sentence and then you have to decide which word goes with which and what not. English doesn't have feminine and masculine... Instead we have 8563795 other things to confuse people with and that dont make any sense.

[emmmo74]

So when is de, and when is do/da?

[Nuept]

do = de+o : I like the dog - Eu gosto do cashorro, the certain dog.

da= de+a : I remember the letter - Eu lembro da carta, the certain letter.

If you speak in general, but not about certain things you use just DE

[LobsangC]

I bet my money on a bobtail nag oh do da de.... I couldn't help it!

[Serro]

So can anyone explain why the becomes DA instead of A/O

[Paulenrique]

despite = apesar de / despite the = apesar do(s)/da(s)

[Serro]

Aaah ok. So its like gosto daquella?

[Paulenrique]

yes!

[PedziMakum]

Should it be apesar DO, since ELE is masculine?

[Paulenrique]

DA is related to the following word "fome", which is feminine.

[mjjf26]

Is there a rule that will help with remembering fome is feminine? Maybe this is incorrect, but my impression so far has been that words ending in "a" are always feminine and the others are usually masculine.

[emeyr]

Most words that end in "a" are feminine. Words that end in "grama" and "ema" are masculine.

[sashalen]

do we ever get taught anything, or is it all trial by error?

[Paulenrique]

Well, we learn by mistakes and taking notes! :-)

[BarlimanOfBree]

Okay, I would have written "Apesar da fome," except the help text says "should be used with "de" and a personal infinitive verb" and makes it seem this is always the case. This should be clarified.

[Nonzo]

"should be used with "de" and a personal infinitive verb" - isn't "dormir" the infinitive form of the verb? If so, why is the verb used in the conjugated form "dorme"?

[emeyr]

It looks like Duo misinformed you. There is no reason for a personal infinitive in this translation.

[Nonzo]

Hmmm, both BarlimanOfBree and I were quoting from Duo's 'Tips and notes'. It's a little disconcerting to find that they can be misleading.... Thank you for your help, emeyr.