Breakdown of Как бы они себя ни вели, она никогда не отворачивается от родителей.
не
not
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
они
they
как
how
Questions & Answers about Как бы они себя ни вели, она никогда не отворачивается от родителей.
Why do we use the past tense вели when the second half of the sentence is in the present tense (отворачивается)?
This is a strict rule for universal concessive clauses (clauses meaning 'no matter how, what, or who'). When you use the combination of a question word (like как) + бы + ни, the verb inside that clause must always be in the past tense, regardless of when the action actually happens.
Why is the particle ни used here instead of не?
In these 'no matter...' structures, ни does not negate the verb. Instead, together with the question word (как) and бы, it acts as an amplifier to create the '-ever' meaning (however, whatever, wherever). If you used не, you would accidentally create a negative condition, completely changing the meaning.
Where does the word 'behaved' come from in this sentence? I only see вели.
The verb 'to behave' in Russian is a phrase: вести себя (literally 'to carry oneself'). Here, the parts are split up: the pronoun себя comes before the particle ни, and the past tense verb вели comes right after it. This happens because the particle ни prefers to sit directly in front of the verb it modifies.
Does отворачивается (turns away) always take the preposition от?