If someone inconveniences you or unintentionally causes you offence, a handy phrase you can use to reassure or comfort him or her is Non fa niente, which is one way of saying It doesn’t matter in Italian.
It is made up of the following components: Non (negation) + fa (third person of fare ‘to do/make‘) + niente (nothing).
Caspita, ho dimenticato il portafoglio a casa! – Non fa niente, pago io.
Dang, I forgot my wallet at home! – It doesn’t matter, I’ll pay.
Quite often, non fa niente is shortened to simply fa niente in conversation.
Non capisci? Vabbè, fa niente. Te lo spiego di nuovo.
You don’t understand? Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll explain it to you again.
Some other possible translations in English include Never mind, No problem or No big deal whereas an Italian might opt for one of the following expressions instead:
- Non ti preoccupare. / Non preoccuparti. = Don’t worry.
- Stai tranquillo. / Tranquillo. = Relax, it’s fine.
- Non importa. = It doesn’t matter.
- Non è grave. = It’s not serious / a big deal.
Sometimes niente is replaced with the nulla, which is another way of saying nothing in Italian.
Non ho visto la tua email. – Non ti preoccupare, non fa nulla.
I didn’t see your email. – Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter.
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.
