Learn Dutch: Wat kan het schelen? Wij aanvaarden het. - What does it matter? We accept it.

The verb schelen generally means "to make a difference" or "to matter". The literal translation of Wat kan het schelen? is "What can it matter?" or "What difference can it make?". It is a highly common fixed expression used to say "Who cares?" or "What does it matter?".

This lesson is about nou eenmaal. Where would we add it to this sentence to emphasize that the situation is inevitable?

You would place it after the direct object het, making it Wij aanvaarden het nou eenmaal. The particle group nou eenmaal expresses that a situation simply has to be accepted because that is just the way things are, which pairs perfectly with this sentence's meaning.

Why use aanvaarden here instead of the more common accepteren?

Both mean "to accept", but aanvaarden is slightly more formal and often implies a deeper, more emotional acceptance of a difficult reality or fate. Accepteren is more neutral and everyday. In a context where someone asks "What does it matter?", aanvaarden adds a slightly more dramatic or philosophical weight to the acceptance.

Are the two instances of het doing the same thing in both halves of the sentence?

They serve different grammatical roles, even if they refer to the same general context. In the first half, het is a dummy pronoun (like "it" in "it rains"). In the second half, het is a direct object pronoun, pointing directly to the specific situation or reality that the speakers are choosing to accept.