Learn Hardcore German: Wir gehen ohnehin später los, also brauchst du nicht zu eilen. - We’re leaving later anyway, so you don’t need to hurry.

sowieso = also anyway, but it sounds more colloquial and is very common in spoken German.
ohnehin = a bit more neutral or slightly more formal; you see it more in writing, but it is also used in speech.

You can usually replace ohnehin with sowieso without changing the meaning much:

Wir gehen sowieso später los … – very natural, especially in everyday speech.
Wir gehen ohnehin später los … – also natural, maybe a touch more neutral/formal.

Why is ohnehin placed where it is, and can it move to other positions?

In Wir gehen ohnehin später los, ohnehin is in the “middle field,” after the verb and subject:

Wir (subject)
gehen (conjugated verb)
ohnehin (sentence adverb: anyway)
später (time)
los (separable prefix)

Other possible positions (all grammatically correct):

Wir gehen später ohnehin los. – puts a bit more emphasis on later.
Ohnehin gehen wir später los. – starting with ohnehin sounds more emphatic or stylistic, more typical in written language.

The version in your sentence (Wir gehen ohnehin später los) is the most neutral and typical in everyday language.

Why do we say gehen … los instead of just gehen?

losgehen is a separable verb that means to set off, to start moving, to leave.

Wir gehen los. = We’re setting off / We’re leaving (now/from here).
Wir gehen. = We are going/walking – it does not necessarily mean we are departing now; it just says that we go somewhere.

In the present-tense main clause, a separable verb splits:

infinitive: losgehen
present tense: wir gehen los

So Wir gehen ohnehin später los specifically means We’ll be leaving later anyway, not just we’ll be walking later.

Why is the verb gehen in the present tense when it refers to the future?

German very often uses the simple present to talk about the future, especially when there is a clear time expression like später, morgen, nächste Woche, etc.

So:

Wir gehen später los. = We’re leaving later. (future meaning)
Wir gehen morgen nach Berlin. = We’re going to Berlin tomorrow.

You can use werden for the future:

Wir werden ohnehin später losgehen.

but in everyday German the present tense with a time word (später) is usually preferred and sounds completely natural.

What is also doing in this sentence, and why does the verb come right after it?

Here also means so, therefore, not also in the English sense.

In:

…, also brauchst du nicht zu eilen.
… so you don’t need to hurry.

also is a conjunctive adverb (similar to deshalb, darum, therefore). In main clauses, such words usually take the first position, and then the conjugated verb must be in second position, so we get:

also brauchst du nicht zu eilen.
(also in the first position, brauchst in the second)

That is why it is also brauchst du and not also du brauchst.

Note: there is also a filler also at the start of spoken sentences (Also, was machen wir jetzt? = So, what do we do now?), but in your sentence it clearly functions as so / therefore linking two clauses.

Why is it also brauchst du and not also du brauchst?

German main clauses generally follow the verb‑second rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position.

In the second clause:

also occupies the first position (a whole phrase can be a single “position”)
so the verb brauchst must come second
the subject du then comes after the verb

So:

also brauchst du nicht zu eilen (correct, verb in second position)
also du brauchst nicht zu eilen (sounds wrong in standard German main clause word order)

If you remove also, you get the “basic” version:

Du brauchst nicht zu eilen.

How does the structure with brauchen work in brauchst du nicht zu eilen?

Here brauchen is used like a modal verb with an infinitive:

pattern: nicht brauchen, etwas zu tun
= to not need to do something

Word order in the neutral version:

Du brauchst (verb)
nicht (negation)
zu eilen (infinitive with zu at the end)

So:

Du brauchst nicht zu eilen. = You don’t need to hurry.

In your sentence, because of also + inversion, it becomes:

also brauchst du nicht zu eilen.

Key points:

with this modal-like brauchen, the second verb normally takes zu:
Du brauchst nicht zu kommen. / Ich brauche nicht zu arbeiten.
nicht comes before zu + infinitive, because it negates the action expressed by the infinitive.

Could you also say musst du nicht eilen instead of brauchst du nicht zu eilen? Does it mean the same?

Yes, you can say:

Wir gehen ohnehin später los, also musst du nicht eilen.

This also means you don’t have to hurry / you don’t need to hurry.

Nuances:

Du musst nicht eilen. – absence of obligation; you are not required to hurry.
Du brauchst nicht zu eilen. – very similar, but a bit more explicitly not necessary / not needed.

Important contrast:

Du darfst nicht eilen. = You may not / are not allowed to hurry. (prohibition)
Du musst nicht eilen. = You don’t have to hurry. (no necessity, not a prohibition)

So musst nicht and brauchst nicht zu are close in meaning, but brauchst nicht zu is often used when you want to stress “there is no need at all.”

Why is it nicht zu eilen and not zu eilen nicht?

In German, when you have zu + infinitive with a negation, nicht normally comes before the whole zu + infinitive group:

nicht zu eilen
nicht zu kommen
nicht zu arbeiten

So:

Du brauchst nicht zu eilen. (correct)
Du brauchst zu eilen nicht. (unusual/wrong in standard German)

Think of nicht as negating the action of hurrying, which is expressed by the whole phrase zu eilen, so it stands right before that phrase.

What is the difference between eilen and sich beeilen? Which is more natural here?

Both relate to hurrying, but they are used a bit differently:

sich beeilen (reflexive verb)
= to hurry (up), to make haste
Very common in everyday speech:
- Beeil dich! = Hurry up!
- Du brauchst dich nicht zu beeilen. = You don’t need to hurry.
eilen (non‑reflexive verb)
can mean to hurry / to be urgent, but it is somewhat more formal or less common in the personal sense
- Ich eile nach Hause. (sounds a bit elevated)
- Es eilt. = It’s urgent.

In your sentence, nicht zu eilen is correct and understandable, but in everyday speech many people would actually say:

Wir gehen ohnehin später los, also brauchst du dich nicht zu beeilen.

That version with sich beeilen sounds very natural and idiomatic.

Could the sentence be phrased differently but mean almost the same thing?

Yes. Some very natural alternatives:

Using sich beeilen:
- Wir gehen ohnehin später los, also brauchst du dich nicht zu beeilen.
Using sowieso instead of ohnehin:
- Wir gehen sowieso später los, also brauchst du dich nicht zu beeilen.
Using deshalb instead of also:
- Wir gehen ohnehin später los, deshalb brauchst du dich nicht zu beeilen.

All of these keep essentially the same meaning:
We’re leaving later anyway, so you don’t need to hurry.