Despite x despite of - English x Portuguese
Today I was learning about "linking words" and it blew my mind when I saw that the following sentence was correct "despite the government building more homes in city centers, there is still a lack of housing". Then, I looked at the Cambridge dictionary and found out that "despite" means "apesar de", so what about "despite of"? once that "of" means "de" "despite of" means "apesar de de"?? o.O

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Haha. De nada.

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You are thinking about this question way too literally, Francine. =P Languages (fortunately or unfortunately) are not Math equations. You don't have a perfect, direct, word-by-word counterpart for everything in another language. Think about it: in Portuguese, we literally 'listen musics'; in English, one only 'listens TO SONGS' (how the hell do you 'ouve PARA canções', right?). In Portuguese, we 'need of' things; in English, why make it harder? Duh, you simply need them. =P

So, to say 'apesar de' in English, go with either 'despite' or 'in spite of'. There doesn't need to be an explanation; believe me, it's the easiest way. Over time, you'll get used to the new structure or term in question and your mind will think of it in the new language. To me, nowadays, saying 'despite of this' sounds as strange and ill-formed as saying 'apesar isto' in Portuguese, because my mind understands both constructions by their language's own logic.

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Pelo teu link, Natali, vejo que a confusão não é apenas minha hahaha o assunto deu o que falar. Ajudou, sim. Obrigada :)

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https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/despite-despite-of.673407/
Não sei se este link ajuda ou confunde mais, mesmo assim, creio que vale a pena dar uma olhada.

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Era o que eu pensava, Paulo, mas note que em todos os exemplos com o uso de "despite of" do link que me enviastes, em Inglês está escrito apenas "despite" sem o uso de "of", apesar de no título ele estar presente. O que a Jade falou faz sentido. Encontrei textos no Google com o uso de "despite of", mas a maioria mencionava que as opções são "despite" ou "in inspite of" e não "despite of', então imagino que "despite of", embora esteja presente em alguns textos disponíveis na internet, esteja mesmo incorreto, gramaticalmente falando.