Breakdown of Vi ska lösa konflikten, vare sig det tar tid eller inte.
det
it (neuter)
vi
we
inte
not
ska
will
Questions & Answers about Vi ska lösa konflikten, vare sig det tar tid eller inte.
Can I use om instead of vare sig to mean "whether" in this sentence?
No. While om can mean "whether" in indirect questions (like "I don't know whether he is coming"), vare sig ... eller is used when you mean "regardless of whether". It shows that the first part of the sentence (Vi ska lösa konflikten) will happen no matter what the second part says.
I've seen vare sig ... eller translated as "neither ... nor". Why does it mean "whether ... or" here?
It depends entirely on whether the main clause is positive or negative! Because our main clause is positive (Vi ska lösa...), the phrase means "whether ... or (regardless)". If the main clause had a negative word like inte (e.g., Vi ska inte lösa vare sig X eller Y), it would translate to "neither ... nor".
What happens to the word order after vare sig?
Vare sig acts as a subordinating conjunction, meaning it starts a subordinate clause (a subclause). Therefore, it follows the standard subclause word order: the subject (det) must come right before the verb (tar).
Why use ska here instead of kommer att for the future tense?