Do you have a minute to spare to learn some English? Dan delivers the differences between don’t mind and doesn’t matter. Give us 60 seconds and we’ll give you the English!
Dan
Hi, everyone! Dan for BBC Learning English here. Today we’re going to talk about ‘don’t mind’ and ‘doesn’t matter’.
The verb mind means ‘dislike, be annoyed by or object to’. It’s followed by (verb)ing and often used in negatives and questions. For example: Do you mind opening the window?
Sam
No, I don’t mind.
Dan
If someone says ‘I don’t mind’, it means that they have no preference or that they are happy for something to happen.
However, the verb matter in English can mean ‘be important’. ‘English matters,’ means ‘English is important’. If we say ‘it doesn’t matter’, it means that the thing that we are talking about is not important or not significant. Do you want tea or coffee?
Sam
It doesn’t matter.
Dan
OK! Sometimes they can both mean the same thing.
Sam
Do you want chicken for dinner?
Dan
I don’t mind!
Sam
Do you want chicken for dinner?
Dan
It doesn’t matter to me.
Don’t mind vs doesn’t matter
Don’t mind
The verb mind means ‘dislike, be annoyed by or object to’. It’s followed by (verb)ing and often used in negatives and questions. If someone says I don’t mind, it means that they have no preference or that they are happy for something to happen.
- I don’t mind having tea or coffee.
- Does he mind you arriving a little late?
- They’re nice people. They won’t mind you staying an extra night.
Doesn’t matter
The verb matter can mean ‘be important’. If we say ‘it doesn’t matter‘, it means that the thing that we are talking about is not important or not significant. Be careful – we often say ‘it doesn’t matter‘ – ‘it’ being the situation. If you use a different pronoun – ‘you’, for example to say that someone doesn’t matter, you are saying they are not important. This can be very rude!
- It doesn’t matter what we have for dinner.
- It doesn’t matter where you go. I will always be with you.
- It doesn’t matter why you left. The damage is done.