The expression for all I care is used to indicate that the person is not the least bit concerned about a matter, or, using clearer Portuguese, that they don’t give a damn.
For example, imagine that a girl is very angry with her boyfriend, who betrayed her trust. She says:
He can leave the city and never come back, for all I care !
How would you translate the expression above? For all I care can be translated in several ways, such as “for me” or “I don’t care” . So, the sentence above could be translated in the two ways below:
For all I care , he can leave town and never come back!
He can leave town and never come back, I don’t care !
Let’s look at some more sentences with for all I care to learn how to use this expression well. Don’t forget to listen to the audios and take the sentences below to your Anki !
Let’s start with for all I care being translated as “for me”:
You can go to the party alone , for all I care .
For all
I care , the whole city can go to the devil.
You can do what you like with him for all I care .
For all I care , you can do whatever you want with him.
You can starve to death for all I care. I am not giving you any more of my leftovers .
For all I care can also mean “I don’t care”:
I can be fired for all I care .
I can be fired, I don’t care .
He
can rot there for all I care .
Ask my parents yourself, for all I care ─ it won’t make any difference.
You could be
the Queen of England, for all I care ─ you’re not coming in here without a ticket .
Now, look at our expression today being used with other pronouns:
I could drown for all you care .
For you , I could drown.
We could be starving for all they care !
For them , we could be starving! (Read the post What’s the difference between Peckish, Hungry and Starving? )
For all she cares ,
I could be lying dead somewhere.
Ralph told me that I can punch the punching bag until I drop for all he cares – he really wants me to get this out of my system .
Now you know everything about the expression for all I care ! But don’t stop here and also read the articles about I Couldn’t Care Less and Não Estar Nem Aí. See you next time!
