介意, 在意, 在乎

[HashiriKata]

The three items seem to be almost the same to me but I'm very likely to be wrong. Does anyone know of any differences among them?

我不介意

我不在意

我不在乎

你介意吗？

你在意吗？

你在乎吗？

[trien27]

我不介意 = I don't mind

我不在意 = I wasn't aware

我不在乎 = I don't care

你介意吗？= Do you mind?

你在意吗？= Were you aware?

你在乎吗？= Do you care?

[HashiriKata]

Thanks Trien27. I think your translations help a bit but are not sufficient to keep the three apart, especially because 我不在意 can also be easily translated as "I don't mind / I don't care".

Actually, I went to bed after posting the question and woke up this morning (still 6:40 AM now! ) having the feelings that 介意 and 在意 are pretty the same whereas 在乎 is slightly different from the other two. I'll try pursuing this line and if it proves to be correct, I'll believe that our mind does do the work while we're sleeping!

[againstwind]

having the feelings that 介意 and 在意 are pretty the same whereas 在乎 is slightly different from the other two.

I feel that 在意 is slightly similar to both 介意 and 在乎, but 介意 and 在乎 are a little different.

Acccording to my sense, there is some tiny semantic difference between 介意 and 在意. 介意 emphasizes that 'to keep something annoying or offending in heart', while 在意 is just 'to object, to care or to mind'. Try to taste of the two sentences:

你介意我在这里吸烟吗？

x你在意我在这里吸烟吗？

你介意我把声音开大一点吗？

x你在意我把声音开大一点吗？

我不在意你说了什么。

我不介意你说了什么。

And 在乎 is similar to 在意 for 'to care about or to care for', but 在乎 seems more written or formal while 在意 more spoken or informal.

我很在意她的感觉，因为我不想伤害她。

我很在乎她的感觉，因为我不想伤害她。

x我很介意她的感觉，因为我不想伤害她。

我一定要得到她，不在乎要付出多大的代价！

？我一定要得到她，不在意要付出多大的代价！

？我一定要得到她，不介意要付出多大的代价！

Besides, I feel that all of 介意, 在意 and 在乎 more appear in negative sentences.

[semantic nuance]

Sometimes 介意/在意/在乎 are interchangeable but sometimes they're different.

我不介意 can mean I don't have personal preference about things done to me. Generally, nothing will affect the Subject's emotion/mind or make the Subject react towards it. In other words, doing or not doing things is ok with the Subject; The Subject can take it.

我不在意 can mean I don't care (about things which may provoke any emotions.) in 2 ways: one is similar to the above 我不介意, and the other is the Subject does not give a damn about things been done or not. The difference is the Subject can leave it.

我不在乎means the same as 我不在意 in the second sense: I don't give a damn.

在乎/ 在意 is often in the dialogues between lovers or couples.

你在乎/意過我嗎? Have you ever cared about what I feel?

But you won't say 你介意過我嗎? when it means the above.

Read the following dialogues:

A: 我覺得每個人都應該要結婚. 不結婚很不對.

I think everyone should get married. Not getting married is totally wrong.

B: 我不介意/不在意你有這樣的想法, 但我也不在乎/不在意你的想法. 誰說人就一定要結婚的?!

I don't mind you have such a thought. But I don't care what you think. Who says that people should get married?!

A: 可是如果沒有結婚, 別人就會用異樣的眼光看你, 你不介意/你不在乎/你不在意嗎?

But if you're not married, people will look at you differently. Don't you mind/care?

B: 我不會! 你介意/在乎/在意嗎?/

I won't! Do you?

Hope it helps!

EDIT: Thank you, HK, for your correction. The original wrong characters 意樣的 has been corrected into 異樣的.

[HashiriKata]

Thank you both againstwind and semantic nuance for spending the time. Through your explanations, I feel a bit more confident with these words now, and I'm sure they'll gradually sink in. They also reminded me of the love song: 我只在乎你.

SN, from your translation of the example, there seems to be a 不 missing. Or is this the way it should be ?

A: 可是如果沒有結婚, 別人就會用意樣的眼光看你, 你不介意/你不在乎/你不在意嗎?

But if you're not married, people will look at you differently. Don't you mind/care?

=> 可是如果沒有結婚, 別人就會用不一樣的眼光看你, 你不介意/你不在乎/你不在意嗎?

[semantic nuance]

Oops! Typo, typo, typo!! It should be 異樣的眼光.

Sorry about the typo!

[39degN]

我不介意 I don't mind (something wasnt but may be happened)

我不介意你打我两巴掌.

I don't mind if you slap me in the face.

我不在意 I don't mind (something happened already)

她这么对我, 我不在意.

I dont mind she treated me this way.(coz i love her or whatever)

我不在乎 I don't care/ I won't pay attention to

爱怎么着怎么着,我不在乎.

Whatever, I don't care.

Just MHO.

[trien27]

My translations aren't enough to keep the definitions apart? They're telling you all three mean the same and that's good enough to tell them apart? how can "I don't care" and "I wasn't aware/ paying attention" ever be the same? No matter what language you speak, they never mean the same thing!

[olayie]

介意 and 在意 to me are interchangable. however, 介意 is more formal than 在意。both means "mind"

在乎 means care, not bothered.

[redApple]

介意

when somegbody do something wrong(more or less)to you ,if you don't care about,that means "你不介意"

在意

when someone do something is not important to you,if you don't care about ,that means"你不在意"

my words is not according to the grammar ,just ah...we used to.

[HashiriKata]

my words is not according to the grammar ,just ah...we used to.

As I'm thinking along the line of what you're saying, I don't 在意/ 在乎 what the grammar may say.