С-228

СКОЛЬКО (...) НИ... СКОЛЬКО БЫ (...) НИ... Jsubord Conj, concessive) regardless of how great a number of times (one does or attempts sth. ) or regardless of how great a quantity of sth. (exists, is in s.o. 's possession etc) (the desired result will not be achieved)

however much

no matter how much (how often, how many times etc) as much as

сколько ни пытайся - try as you might

however (no matter how) hard you try despite all s.o. 's efforts

(when used with NP) no matter how much NP (how many

NPs)) it doesn't matter how much NP (how many

NPs)). ...Сколько ей (Марье) ни толкуй - не понимает, что по нынешним временам учение - основа жизни (Абрамов 1). However much you explain it to her (Marya), she doesn't understand that today learning is the foundation of life (1b).

Признаюсь, сколько я ни старался различить вдалеке что-нибудь наподобие лодки, но безуспешно (Лермонтов 1). I must confess that however hard I tried to make out something like a boat in the distance, I had no success (Id).

Сколько его (Цурцумия) ни уговаривали, он твёрдо стоял на своём (Искандер 4)____Despite their best efforts to win him (Tsurtsumia) over, he firmly stood his ground (4a).