DON'T SAY I don't care! 👉 What to say instead [Advanced English Conversation] | Go Natural English

Hi, I'm Gabby from gonaturalenglish.com

I remember when I was speaking with one of my English students and I said something like I'm

Learning Portuguese, but my Portuguese isn't that good yet and my student said I don't care

and I always really hurt because

what they meant to say was

I don't mind but when they said I don't care it made me think it wasn't

important to them and they didn't care about

Me or the fact that I didn't speak their language here

I was making a big effort to learn their language and they said I don't care

but here's the thing a lot of English learners make a

Mistake thinking that I don't mind and I don't care have the same meaning

However, they do not they have similar meanings, but the effect the result the meaning is

quite different and so today we're gonna talk about the difference between I don't mind and I don't care and

make sure that you are using the right one so that whomever you're speaking with whether it's your English teacher or a

friend or a colleague

Doesn't get the wrong idea

So we're also going to talk about it

doesn't matter because this is quite similar to

I don't care but we can use it in different ways and I'm going to share a really

great useful phrasal verb with you that you can use instead of

Some of these responses and I'm gonna give you a quick quiz to test your understanding

Of all of these phrases at the end. So let's jump into this lesson

And by the way, if you do enjoy go natural English lessons here for free

You should consider joining my complete English course the next time it opens

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slash

Pre-reg the link is in the description and I'll also add it right up there

So, what is the difference I don't

I don't care is

used when we don't really give any importance or

consideration to something for example, do you

Want to watch a movie go to the theater or stay in and watch Netflix

I don't care means I could do any of them. But that also means that I don't really give any importance to these activities

so let's say that my friend is putting in a lot of effort into trying to plan an

Activity with me like going to the movies or watching Netflix or whatever and I say I don't care

That means to them. I don't really appreciate their effort and that could feel really hurtful to them

So instead of I don't care a better phrase to use would be

Whatever you like or I'm up for anything

Or I'm down for anything which are two completely

Opposite phrasal verbs up or down but they actually mean the same thing

I'm up for anything means that you are feeling like exploring any option

You're okay with anything. It's probably more a little bit more common, but I'm down for anything

Kind of means the same thing that you're willing to try anything, but it's way more

Informal and you wouldn't use that in a professional environment

I'm down to do anything means you're hanging out with your friends and

You're just okay to do whatever they want to do

I'm gonna share some examples and as usual my examples have to do with food because I'm always hungry

So what do you want on your pizza?

I don't care

Whatever you want. I'll eat anything. I'm so hungry here. It's probably okay to say I don't care

it's like it's really not important because I'm so hungry or

Did you know that guacamole is an extra charge? Yeah, I don't care. I love guacamole

so in this I'm saying my love of guacamole is so big which is true that

Paying extra for it is of no importance to me

But again, be careful saying I don't care could sound rude

For example, if your coworkers invite you to lunch and I say, where would you like to go to lunch today?

And you say I don't care it could really sound off-putting

It could sound like it's not important to you to go to lunch with your colleagues

So instead of saying I don't care try saying whatever sounds good to you

Or I don't know what were you thinking?

That's a much better way to express what I think you mean to say

Which is anything is okay for me or anywhere or any kind of food is okay for me, which is another option

So whatever you like, it's up to you. I'm okay with any

Option. How about you? Pick it today or what were you thinking? These are all

Really much better expressions to use in this situation then I don't care

People often use I don't care when they're upset

It's really important to think about your tone of voice because if you say I don't care, it's light. It's nice

it's friendly but if you say I don't care it's

Quite confusing people will think that you're upset with them. Now another way that we can use I don't care is

actually as a phrasal verb

When you add the preposition for I don't care for something has a completely different meaning it means that you don't

Like or you don't prefer something for example, I don't care for

Overly sweet desserts. They're not my cup of tea, which is another expression. That means I don't really like them. They're just too sweet

I don't care for

Politics I don't care for cold weather

What's something that you don't care for tell me in the comments and practice using this phrasal verb, I don't care for

something some noun

It could be an example that I shared or something different something that you don't like many times

We you say I don't care you actually mean I don't mind. Let's look at how you use I don't mind

This means that it's not an inconvenience to you something is not going to make you upset and

Americans often say no problem or no worries

Don't worry about it instead of I don't mind but we also use I don't mind a lot

It's just a little bit more formal. So know that you have different options here

So for example

If you're supposed to meet your colleague and they text you or call you and say I'm running 15 minutes late

You could respond. That's okay

I don't mind and that's totally appropriate but saying I don't care really

Sounds rude in this case. So be careful and make the right choice

I know their example is I don't mind if sometimes my neighbors are a little bit noisy because that's

Apartment living or I don't mind when it rains because it makes the sunny days that much more enjoyable

you can also use I don't mind very

Strategically if you'd like to ask someone to do something for you a favor if you'd like to ask for a favor

You can put it this way

Let's say you're out to lunch or maybe you're on a date or something and you want the other person

To pay you could say I don't mind if you pay for lunch

It's a little bit of a funny way to ask for a favor, but it's common

well, let's say you don't feel like

Driving and you could say I don't mind if you drive today or anything that you want to ask someone to help you do

it's definitely an indirect way to

Request help but it is common. So try it out and see how it goes also

I don't mind if you subscribe to go natural English also use this as a

Question if you want to give some kind of maybe disappointing news like example

Do you mind if we don't go out to lunch today?

Maybe you'd plan to go out to lunch and you want to cancel your plans. You might ask your friend

Do you mind if we cancel our plans do you mind if we don't go out to lunch today?

because I am not feeling well or whatever excuse the reason that you have so do you mind is

A really great way to soften a request now

Let's talk about it doesn't matter which is more similar to I don't care it also means of no

consequence or

Little importance. It doesn't matter if it rains today. I'm staying inside and working all day

Anyway, a lot of the times people will say it doesn't matter to me

It doesn't matter to me if it rains or not. I'm gonna stay inside today

anyway

You might also use the word matter in the phrase no matter

No matter how fast we drive

We're not going to make it on time or a more positive example

No matter how long it takes we will succeed other

English speakers might use no matter to say ok

But American English speakers usually say no problem or no worries

If you're thinking of using one of these phrases to share your opinion or a lack of opinion

I would suggest maybe using a different phrase. So if someone asks your opinion like

Where would you like to eat lunch today instead of saying I don't care or it doesn't matter

try a different phrase like whatever you like or

What do you have in mind?

You could say it's up to you or whatever you like now

It's up to you to be up to someone is one of my favourite phrasal verbs

I don't know why I just like up

To I talked about it in another video

About what does what are you up to mean and I can link to that right up here

But this phrasal verb to be up to someone means the decision is with you

you make the decision so it's up to

My boss whether I can take a week of vacation in the summer

So whoever has the decision-making power. Well, it's up to them

It's up to you. If you become fluent in English, let's see how you're doing

Let's take a quick quiz and you tell me which one of these phrases is best to respond with

I don't mind I don't care or it doesn't matter

Number one I'm running late. How would you respond?

Well, the best response would be I don't mind. It's okay. I don't mind. No problem

No worries. Take your time

Number two. What kind of pizza should we order?

Whatever you like

How would you finish that sentence with one of these phrases in the best way? I?

Don't care would be a good fit here

Especially if you say whatever you like or it's up to you now

If you say I don't care just be sure to say it with a light tone because if you say it with a heavy tone

It could sound like you're upset. So

Good, I don't care. It's up to you heavy kind of upset tone. I don't care

It's up to you

so there is quite a difference there and your communication is

Only partly conveyed in words a big part of your communication is your tone number three. I saw a

Perfect apartment for me yesterday. The only thing is they don't allow pets

But I don't even have a pet. So how would I likely finish that sentence? I don't mind

I don't care or it doesn't matter

Well, the truth is we could use either of these three phrases

But I think the best fit here is it doesn't matter

So it doesn't matter if they don't allow pets because I don't have one. So, how did you do on the quiz?

Tell me in the comments and let me know if you have any questions any doubts or any examples

You'd like to share using I don't care. I don't mind. It doesn't matter or the phrasal verbs that I shared with you

It's up to you, or I don't care for something

Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you again in the next lesson. Bye for now