Det är varken straff eller frispark.

Varken ... eller means neither ... nor.

In this sentence:

Det är varken straff eller frispark.
= It is neither a penalty nor a free kick.

It connects two alternatives and rejects both of them.

More examples:

• Han dricker varken kaffe eller te. = He drinks neither coffee nor tea.
• Jag kan varken läsa eller skriva. = I can neither read nor write.

A key point: varken ... eller is already negative, so you do not normally add inte.

Det är is the normal way to say it is / that is in Swedish when you are identifying or classifying something.

Here, det does not refer to a specific grammatical gender like den or det sometimes does with nouns. It works more like the general English it in It is neither X nor Y.

So:

• Det är en bil. = It is a car.
• Det är sant. = It is true.
• Det är varken straff eller frispark. = It is neither a penalty nor a free kick.

Using den är here would usually sound wrong unless you were referring back to a specific en-word noun already mentioned.

In Swedish, when something is being classified after är (is), nouns are often used without an article.

So Swedish often says:

• Det är bil. in some contexts? Not usually with concrete nouns in everyday speech. But very commonly with roles, titles, categories, and certain set expressions:
• Hon är läkare. = She is a doctor.
• Det är straff. = It is a penalty.
• Det är frispark. = It is a free kick.

In sports language, this article-less style is especially common when talking about a referee’s decision or the type of restart.

So straff and frispark here are treated as labels or categories, not as countable individual objects.

Usually, no—at least not in natural football Swedish.

The more idiomatic version is:

Det är varken straff eller frispark.

Why? Because in this context Swedish uses the nouns as decision labels:

• Det är straff.
• Det är frispark.

Adding en sounds much less natural here.

Also, many speakers use straff in football as a fixed term, not normally en straff in this structure.

In general Swedish, straff means punishment.

But in sports—especially football—it commonly means penalty or penalty kick.

So the word has a broader meaning in general language, but in this sentence the sports meaning is clearly intended because it appears together with frispark (free kick).

Related word:

• straffspark = penalty kick

In football conversation, people often just say straff instead of the full straffspark.

Because the sentence is rejecting two alternative possibilities:

• it is not a penalty
• it is not a free kick

So Swedish uses varken ... eller = neither ... nor.

If you used och (and), the meaning would not work correctly.

Compare:

• varken straff eller frispark = neither a penalty nor a free kick
• straff och frispark = a penalty and a free kick

The sentence is saying that neither label applies.

No. Varken ... eller already contains the negative idea.

So this is correct:

• Det är varken straff eller frispark.

But this is generally wrong or unnatural:

• Det är inte varken straff eller frispark.

Think of varken ... eller as already doing the job of neither ... nor.

They are singular because the sentence is talking about one situation and identifying what kind of decision it is.

It is saying that the event is:

• not a penalty
• not a free kick

So Swedish uses singular category nouns.

English does the same:

• It is neither a penalty nor a free kick.

Not:

• It is neither penalties nor free kicks.

The basic word order is straightforward:

Det + är + varken straff eller frispark

This is normal main-clause Swedish word order:

• subject: Det
• verb: är
• complement: varken straff eller frispark

The important thing to remember is that varken comes before the first item, and eller introduces the second item:

• varken X eller Y

For example:

• Jag vill varken gå ut eller stanna hemma.
• Hon är varken trött eller sjuk.

A common pronunciation guide is roughly:

varken ≈ VAIR-ken
frispark ≈ FREE-spark
straff ≈ straf (with a short vowel and a strong final ff sound)

A few notes:

• The ä in värken-like sound is similar to the e in bed, though not exactly the same.
• The r in Swedish varies by dialect.
• straff has a short a, not a long English-style ay sound.

If you want to sound natural, keep the vowels short in straff and the stress on the first syllable in frispark.

Yes. It can connect many kinds of elements, as long as the structure is parallel.

With nouns:

• varken straff eller frispark

With adjectives:

• Han är varken glad eller arg. = He is neither happy nor angry.

With verbs:

• Hon kan varken simma eller cykla. = She can neither swim nor ride a bike.

With infinitives:

• Att varken vinna eller förlora... = To neither win nor lose...

So in your sentence, it is simply joining two nouns.

Yes, very much so.

Sports commentary and everyday football talk often use short, article-less decision phrases such as:

• Det är straff!
• Det är frispark!
• Det är offside!
• Ingen straff!

So Det är varken straff eller frispark sounds natural in a football context, especially when discussing a referee’s decision or whether a foul should be called.