8 ways to say 'I don't care' in Korean, from easygoing to cold
"I don't care" covers a lot of ground in English, from an easygoing "whatever you like" to a door closing. Korean splits that range into separate phrases, and learners who use 상관없어요 for all of them end up sounding colder than they mean to.
The eight below run from warmest to coldest. The first few are what you say when a friend asks where to eat; the last is what you say when the conversation is already over. Polite 요 speech unless the note says casual.
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아무거나 괜찮아요.
amugeona gwaenchanayo.
Anything is fine.
Literally: Anything is okay.
The answer to 뭐 먹을래요? (what do you want to eat?). 아무거나 on its own is the famously unhelpful reply that makes the person choosing sigh, so the 괜찮아요 is doing real work. Still polite, still easygoing.
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다 좋아요.
da joayo.
I'd be happy with any of them.
Literally: All is good.
The warmest option on this list. It says the choices are all appealing rather than that you cannot be bothered. Use it when someone has suggested two or three things and you genuinely like them all.
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상관없어요.
sanggwaneopseoyo.
It doesn't matter to me.
Literally: There is no relation (to me).
Neutral on paper, and the tone decides everything: light and quick, it means 'either way is fine'; flat, it means 'I don't care'. 상관없어 among friends. 저는 상관없어요 (for me, it doesn't matter) keeps it clearly about preference.
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마음대로 하세요.
maeumdaero haseyo.
Do as you like.
Literally: Do according to (your) heart.
Can be generous or sulky, and Koreans hear the difference instantly. From a shopkeeper about where to sit, it is kindness. From a partner after a disagreement, 네 마음대로 해 (casual) means the argument is not over.
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알아서 해.
araseo hae.
Figure it out yourself.
Literally: Knowing (on your own), do.
Casual speech, to a friend or someone younger. 알아서 is 'using your own judgment', so from a boss, 알아서 하세요 can be real trust or real exasperation, and only the context tells you which.
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신경 안 써요.
singyeong an sseoyo.
I don't let it get to me.
Literally: (I) don't use nerves.
For gossip, criticism and other people's opinions, not for choices. The related 신경 쓰지 마세요 is 'don't worry about it', what you say to someone who has just apologised for something small.
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관심 없어요.
gwansim eopseoyo.
I'm not interested.
Literally: Interest does not exist.
The cold one. Fine to a street seller or about a TV show; about a person it is a rejection, and about a plan it closes the topic. The polite form does not make it soft.
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그러든지 말든지.
geureodeunji maldeunji.
Do it or don't, whatever.
Literally: Whether (you) do so or not.
Casual and pointed, usually after an argument, to someone who has stopped listening to you. -든지 말든지 is 'whether or not', and the shrug is built into the grammar. Not a phrase for the office.
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A rule of thumb: when you are being asked to choose, add something positive, 다 좋아요 or 아무거나 괜찮아요, because a bare 상관없어요 or 아무거나 puts the work back on the other person, and Koreans find that as mildly irritating as anyone else does. Save the flat ones for things that genuinely do not matter.