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Essential French Expression
| Meaning | I don’t care, It doesn’t matter, It’s all the same to me | |
| Literally | That’s equal to me | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation | [sah meh tay gahl] | |
| IPA | [sa mɛ te gal] | |
Usage notes: When you just don’t care, say ça m’est égal. This essential French expression indicates your inability or unwillingness to decide between two or more choices, whether stated or implied.
Par exemple…
| – Est-ce que tu préfères le bleu ou le rouge ? – Ça m’est égal. |
– Do you prefer the blue or the red? – I don’t care. |
|
| – Il serait mieux de commencer demain. – Ça m’est égal. |
– It would be better to start tomorrow. – It doesn’t matter, It’s all the same to me (when we start). |
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| Facebook, Threads, Instagram, ça m’est égal. | Facebook, Threads, Instagram, it’s all the same to me. |
Variation: Cela m’est égal
Ça m’est égal can be used for any grammatical person – you just need to change the indirect object pronoun:
| Ça t’est égal ? | It’s all the same to you? You don’t care? | |
| Ça lui est égal. | It’s all the same to him/her. He/She doesn’t care. | |
| Ça nous est égal. | It’s all the same to us. We don’t care. | |
| Ça vous est égal ? | It’s all the same to you? You don’t care? | |
| Ça leur est égal. | It’s all the same to them. They don’t care. |
Mistake: Ça m’est égale. In this expression, égal is an adjective, and since its subject ça is neuter, égal must stay in the default masculine form.
Synonyms
- Peu importe – It doesn’t matter
informal (I don’t care) - Je m’en fiche
- Je m’en moque
familiar to vulgar (I don’t give a damn / I don’t give a s*** / I don’t give a f***) - Je m’en fous
- Je n’en ai rien à battre
- Je m’en bats les couilles / l’œil / la race / les reins / les steaks
Related lessons
- Ça and other indefinite demonstrative pronouns
- Être conjugations
- Indirect object pronouns
- M’ and other contractions
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