Today’s lesson focuses on the highly useful French expression peu importe, which has several translations including “regardless of”, “never mind”, “it doesn’t matter” and “it does’t make much difference”.
peu importe
regardless of, never mind, it doesn’t matter
Example sentences
When peu importe comes at the end of a sentence, it can translate to “never mind”, “it’s no biggie” or “not to worry” or “whatever”. J’aurais voulu (I would have wanted) is an example of the past conditional tense.
Ce n’est pas exactement ce que j’aurais voulu mais peu importe.
It’s not exactly what I would have wanted but it’s no biggie.
For this sentence, lequel means “which one” and I explain the word in this lesson.
Donne-moi un biscuit, peu importe lequel.
Give me a cookie. It doesn’t matter which one.
These next two sentences uses the structure peu importe + noun, meaning “no matter”, “regardless of” and “it doesn’t make much difference”.
Peu importe ton âge, on vous accepte dans le club.
We’re accepting you in the club regarless of your age.
Peu importe la matière, il est important d’assister aux cours.
Regardless of the subject, it’s important to attend classes.
This final example sentence uses the subjunctive mood.
Peu importe que tu n’aies pas beaucoup de temps.
It doesn’t make much difference if you don’t have a lot of time.
Related lessons
Reference
