Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.

I am not sure whether I will go to this camp by myself or with friends.

Breakdown of Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.

• друг: the friend
• я: I
• с: with
• в: to
• не: not
• этот: this
• поехать: to go
• или: or
• ли: whether
• уверен: sure
• лагерь: the camp
• сам: by myself

Questions & Answers about Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.

What does ли mean here, and why is it in the middle (поеду ли я) instead of at the beginning?

Ли is a particle that turns a clause into a yes/no “whether” question when that clause is embedded inside another sentence.

In English, you say:

• I’m not sure *whether I will go...*

In Russian, you use ли for that “whether”:

• Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам...
  I’m not sure whether I will go by myself...

Placement rule:

• Ли cannot stand at the very beginning of the clause.
• It usually comes right after the first important word in that clause—often the verb, sometimes an adverb or pronoun.

So:

• ✅ поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь
• ✅ я ли поеду (possible but more marked/emphatic, and less natural here)
• ❌ ли поеду я — wrong
• ❌ ли я поеду — wrong

In your sentence, поеду is the main verb of the embedded question, so ли comes after it: поеду ли я.

If there is ли, why is there no question mark at the end of the sentence?

The whole sentence is not a question; it’s a statement that contains an embedded question.

• Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.
  Literally: I am not sure, whether I will go…

The main clause (Я не уверен) is a statement. The part with ли is its object clause: you are not sure about what? — поеду ли я сам…

Compare:

• Direct question:
  Поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями?
  → This would have a question mark.
• Embedded question:
  Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам...
  → No question mark; it’s a regular declarative sentence.

Why is поеду (from поехать) used, and not поеду / буду ехать / буду ездить from ехать/ездить?

There are three closely related verbs about “going by transport”:

1. ехать – to go (by transport), one-direction, imperfective
2. ездить – to go (by transport), multi-directional/repeated, imperfective
3. поехать – to set off, go (by transport) once, perfective

Futures:

• я буду ехать – I will be going (process, in progress)
• я буду ездить – I will go (repeatedly, habitually)
• я поеду – I will go / I will set off (one trip, as a single event)

In your sentence:

• поеду (from поехать) is natural because:
  • You are talking about one specific future trip to the camp.
  • You care about the fact of going / setting off, not the process.

So:

• Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь...
  = I’m not sure whether I’ll (actually go / make the trip) by myself...

Alternatives:

• буду ехать would emphasize being in transit (while I’m traveling), which is not the point here.
• буду ездить would suggest going there regularly, not just once, so it doesn’t fit.

What is the nuance of сам here? Why not just say один?

Both сам and один can be translated as alone or by myself, but they are not identical.

• сам = by oneself / on one’s own, often emphasizing independence, not being helped.
• один = alone / without other people present, focusing more on being alone physically.

In your sentence:

• поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями
  → contrast is “by myself (on my own)” vs “with friends”.

Here сам is very natural, because the key issue is with friends or not with friends.

If you used один:

• ...поеду ли я в этот лагерь один или с друзьями.
  This is also possible. It sounds a bit more like
  “will I be alone there or with friends?” (more about not having company).

Also, сам agrees in gender and number:

• Я сам поеду... (man speaking)
• Я сама поеду... (woman speaking)
• Мы сами поедем... (we ourselves will go)

Why is it в этот лагерь and not в этом лагере?

This is a classic direction vs. location distinction.

The preposition в (“in / to”) works with either:

• Accusative: куда? (to where?) → в этот лагерь (to this camp)
• Prepositional: где? (where?) → в этом лагере (in this camp)

Your sentence is about going (to) the camp:

• поеду в этот лагерь – (I will go to this camp).

If you were talking about being located there, you would use:

• Я буду в этом лагере. – I will be in this camp.
• Мне нравится в этом лагере. – I like it in this camp.

So: direction → accusative (в этот лагерь).

Why is it с друзьями and what case is друзьями?

The preposition с (“with”) here takes the instrumental case.

• Nominative: друзья (friends)
• Instrumental: друзьями (with friends)

After с meaning “together with”, you need the instrumental:

• с друзьями – with (my) friends
• с мамой – with (my) mom
• с коллегами – with colleagues

So друзьями is simply “friends” in the instrumental case.

Note: sometimes с becomes со before certain consonant clusters or words for easier pronunciation (e.g. со мной, со всеми), but here с друзьями is natural.

Can I change the word order, for example: Я не уверен, сам ли я поеду в этот лагерь или с друзьями?

Yes, this is possible, but it slightly shifts the emphasis.

Your original:

• Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.
  Neutral emphasis: will I go by myself, or with friends?

Variant:

• Я не уверен, сам ли я поеду в этот лагерь или с друзьями.
  Here сам is in the focus position (right before ли), so the emphasis is more on “me, myself”:
  I’m not sure if *I myself will go to this camp or (I’ll go) with friends.*

Still, both are grammatical and understandable; the first (original) word order is more neutral and typical.

Note: you cannot move ли to the very start; it must stay after some word in the clause:

• ❌ Я не уверен, ли сам я поеду... – incorrect.

Could I just drop ли and say: Я не уверен, поеду я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями?

You may hear this word order in spoken Russian, but standard, neutral Russian strongly prefers using ли in such object clauses.

• With ли:
  Я не уверен, поеду ли я сам...
  → Very clear: I’m not sure *whether I will go by myself...*

• Without ли:
  Я не уверен, поеду я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.
  → Still understandable, but sounds more colloquial / less polished. Some speakers might find it a bit rough in formal contexts.

So for correct, neutral usage in writing and careful speech, keep ли.

What is уверен grammatically? Is it an adjective? Why not я не увереный?

Уверен here is a short-form adjective (краткая форма прилагательного).

Russian has many adjectives that have:

• Full form: уверенный – confident, sure (as a permanent/character trait or descriptive quality)
• Short form: уверен – (is) sure (temporary state)

In this pattern:

• Я не уверен. – I’m not sure. (state at the moment)
• Он всегда очень уверенный человек. – He is always a very confident person. (character trait)

With verbs like быть / быть understood, short forms are extremely common for mental/temporary states:

• я уверен / не уверен – I’m (not) sure
• он рад / я рад – he is glad / I’m glad
• мы должны (modal, from должный) – we must

So я не уверен is the standard way to say I’m not sure, not я не увереный.

Does или here mean something special with ли? Could I use либо or или же instead?

In this sentence, или is just the normal “or” linking two alternatives:

• ...поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь или с друзьями.
  = whether I’ll go by myself or with friends.

The structure ли ... или ... corresponds to English “whether ... or ...”.

You can sometimes replace или with:

• либо – a bit more formal/literary or stylistic:
  поеду ли я сам в этот лагерь либо с друзьями (possible, especially in written style).
• или же – adds a slight extra contrast/emphasis:
  ...или же с друзьями – “or rather / or instead with friends”.

But the most neutral and common in everyday speech is exactly what you have:

• ли ... или ...