[ti:Never Mind and It Doesn't Matter]
[al:Ask a Teacher]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2022-05-14]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Jesús, from Spain, about the difference between "never mind" and "it doesn't matter."
Question:
[00:13.59]Hello,
[00:15.90]My name is Jesús, and I find the use of "never mind" and "it doesn't matter" sometimes confusing, could you clear it up for me, please?
[00:26.97]Thank you from Spain.
[00:28.59]Dear Jesús,
[00:31.24]Thank you for your question. We will start with the expression "never mind."
[00:37.41]Often, we use "never mind" as an imperative or command form to tell someone to leave a subject or topic alone.
[00:50.27]This is especially true if a request is not fulfilled or a question is left unanswered.
[00:55.83]For example, if you have a question like:
[01:05.00]Can you help me put away the groceries?
[01:07.91]And it goes unanswered. You can reply:
[01:11.96]Never mind, I will do it without you.
[01:15.51]In this exchange, "never mind" is used as a command to mean "ignore what was just asked or said."
[01:26.12]Another way we can use "never mind" is as a conjunction, a part of speech that joins together two ideas, clauses or sentences. 
[01:41.07]When used as a conjunction, "never mind" connects two options, the second option being the least likely or wanted.
[01:52.08]For example:
[01:53.74]I do not like traveling to work. There are too many people on the bus, never mind that it takes 45 minutes to get there.
[02:05.30]In this sentence, "never mind" acts the same as another conjunction, "in addition."
[02:13.14]In the above example, the second option is expressed as the worst part of traveling to work.
[02:21.27]"It doesn't matter" means that the subject or issue is not important.
[02:27.92]We can reword the sentence to understand it better:
[02:33.39]It does not matter (to me).
[02:36.59]The verb "matter" means to be of importance.
[02:41.05]So when we say, "it doesn't matter" we are saying "this issue or subject is not important."
[02:50.45]For example, if we are given a choice between two things, and we say "it doesn't matter," we are saying that either choice is acceptable.
[03:02.30]Do you want coffee or tea?
[03:05.76]It doesn't matter.
[03:07.29]Here we are saying that the choices are unimportant and we could enjoy either coffee or tea.
[03:17.11]Sometimes, both of these expressions can be combined, as follows:
[03:24.27]Never mind, it doesn't matter.
[03:27.53]This sentence demonstrates our lack of interest in the subject and expresses that we do not care to talk about the situation any further.
[03:38.99]Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Jesús!
[03:45.50]What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
[03:57.35]And that's Ask a Teacher.
[04:00.51]I'm Faith Pirlo.
[04:02.30]And I'm Jill Robbins.