Do You Mind?

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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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."