One of the safest and least vulgar ways of saying I don’t care in Italian is the phrase Non mi interessa, which literally means It doesn’t interest me.
Non mi interessa che tu voglia andare a casa. Dobbiamo rimanere qui.
I don’t care that you want to go home. We have to stay here.
As you’ve probably guessed from the literal meaning, another perfectly valid translation of this phrase is quite simply I’m not interested.
Questa seria TV non mi interessa più di tanto.
This TV series doesn’t really interest me.
A second way of saying I don’t care is Non mi importa which literally means It isn’t important to me. It is very close in meaning to Non mi interessa.
Non mi importa se non vuoi venire a teatro stasera.
I don’t care if you don’t want to come to the theatre tonight.
A very colloquial way of saying I don’t care is Non me ne frega nulla or alternatively Non me ne frega niente. Both contain the reflexive verb fregarsene which means to not care. Feel free to use this phrase with friends but not with older people or people you don’t know well as you could risk sounding impolite.
Non me ne frega nulla di quel fannullone!
I don’t care one bit about that deadbeat!
Another popular expression you will hear on a regular basis is Chi se ne frega or Chissenefrega which mean Who cares. The shortened version Chissene is also commonly used.
Ho vinto alla lotteria! – Chissenefrega!
I won the lottery! – Who cares!
Finally we come to the most vulgar expression of the three: Non me ne fotte nulla / niente / un cazzo. Although it is important for learners to understand what this phrase meanings, it is best to avoid using it as it is very rude and offensive. Note that you might hear the phrases Me ne frego! / Me ne fotto! as a standalone exclamation.
Chissenefrega – Samuel Heron
Chissenefrega is the title of a song by Italian rapper Samuel Heron. You can hear him repeating the words throughout the entire track.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
