How do you say "I don't mind" in German? At the end of the recent lesson about the verb ausmachen, I mentioned that the verb ausmachen, combined with a dative pronoun and the negation nicht, is a way of asking if somebody "minds" something, or of stating that "you don't mind."

Ach, was soll's! Die Alten meckern ja dauernd, aber das macht mir nichts aus.

Oh, never mind! Old folks are always complaining, but I don't mind.

Captions 19-20, Es war einmal... der Weltraum Die Saurier

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banner6 PLACEHOLDER

The adverb meinetwegen is a curious one. It may be translated, according to the context, as "for all I care," "because of me," "as far as I'm concerned," or even just "whatever." But sometimes it's also "I don't mind":

Meinetwegen. Aber wenn du das Geld von meinem Vater hast, dann sag...

I don't mind. But if you got the money from my father, then say...

Captions 38-39, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt

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The phrase von mir aus may also be translated as "for all I care," "fine with me," "fine by me," or "as far as I'm concerned," but also as:

Wir wollen mit! Also gut, Jungs, von mir aus.

We want to come along! All right, boys, I don't mind.

Captions 15-16, Es war einmal... der Weltraum: Planet Omega

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The phrase nichts dagegen haben could be literally translated as "to have nothing against it," but in many contexts that is awkward. This is often a better solution:

Also, wenn du nichts dagegen hast, kann ich dieser Jackie ja mal 'nen Besuch abstatten.

So, if you don't mind, I can pay that girl Jackie a visit.

Captions 103-104, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt

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To summarize, the phrases nicht viel ausmachen (with a personal dative pronoun), von mir aus, nichts dagegen haben, and the adverb meinetwegen may all, depending upon the context, be translated as "don't mind."

Further Learning
Read the German Lesson Meinetwegen and von mir aus to go deeper into those terms. Then go to find some more examples on Yabla German to see other German words and phrases translated as "(I, you, we, they) don't mind."

You may already know the noun der Schlag and the verb schlagen:

Eine Ohrfeige ist ein Schlag auf die Wange.

A slap is a blow to the cheek.

Caption 34, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte: Baden-Württemberg

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Sie schlagen mit ihren Flossen auf die Oberfläche, um die Möwen anzulocken.

They strike their fins on the surface to attract gulls.

Captions 75-76, Die Top Ten: Die 12 freundlichsten Meerestiere der Welt

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Both Schlag and schlagen have to do with "hitting" or "striking" something. But did you know that they are the root words for over a thousand German nouns and verbs? Let's take a look first at some common nouns with Schlag as their root word:

Der Anschlag, ja.  -Da war dann alles völlig anders. -Am 11. September.

The attack, yes. -Then everything was completely different there. -On September 11th.

Captions 53-54, Dieter Kränzlein: Bildhauer

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Wenn dir der Vorschlag zu riskant ist, dann mieten wir die Fahrräder einfach nur bei dir.

If the proposal is too risky for you, then we'll just rent the bikes from you.

Captions 25-26, Nicos Weg: Praktisch!

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Ich spiele viel Klavier auch sonst, aber ich spiel' auch Schlagzeug.

I play... I play a lot of piano also otherwise, but I also play drums.

Caption 58, Rockfabrik-Open-Air: Love-Street-Interview

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It's pretty clear how the root word Schlag is related to the noun der Anschlag ("the attack"). It's less clear, however, how the root word is related to der Vorschlag ("the proposal"). If you reduce das Schlagzeug to its root words, you have der Schlag and das Zeug, which could render "drums" into the literal translation "hit thing!" There is a certain logic here, however, as a drum is something that is struck.

Let's follow up with some verbs:

Und der Treves wurde vom Amt beschlagnahmt. -Ja, das war eine sehr, sehr schlechte Haltung.

And Treves was seized by the pound. -Yes, that was a very, very bad situation.

Caption 12, Ein Herz für Tiere: Tierschutzhof in Huggenhardt

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Die anderen Steine können durchschlagen.

The other stones can penetrate.

Caption 47, Es war einmal... der Weltraum: Planet Omega

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Der einst in Berlin ansässige Kunsthandel des jüdischen Paares wurde von den Nationalsozialisten zerschlagen.

Once based in Berlin, the art business of the Jewish couple was destroyed by the National Socialists.

Captions 6-7, Restituierung von Raubkunst: aus der Nazi-Zeit

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With verbs too, the relation to schlagen is sometimes clearer: durchschlagen ("to penetrate") may also be translated more literally as "to break through." The verb zerschlagen also has an element of hitting or striking in its meaning "to destroy." It's not as clear, however, how beschlagnahmen ("to seize") is connected with its root word.

Very often you have to go back centuries to Middle or Old German to find out how the words were originally related before their meaning changed over time. Sometimes even linguists aren't certain how the words came to have such different meanings from their root words!

Further Learning
Read through this list of words that use der Schlag and schlagen as root words, and look some of them up on Yabla German to see them used in a real-world context.