сколько бы ни...

• СКОЛЬКО (...) НИ...; СКОЛЬКО БЫ (...) НИ...

[subord Conj, concessive]

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⇒ 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).