egal
indifferent
Indifferent or unimportant; of no consequence. Usually used predicatively.
EXAMPLE
Mir ist egal, ob wir ins Kino oder ins Theater gehen.
It doesn't matter to me whether we go to the cinema or the theater.
egal
indifferent / no matter
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Meanings
egal, ob/was/wie...
no matter whether/what/how
Introduces a subordinate clause and means 'regardless of whether/what/how...'.
EXAMPLE
Egal, was passiert, ich werde immer zu dir halten.
No matter what happens, I will always stand by you.
egal
doesn't matter
A colloquial answer used to express that something is indifferent to you or that you have no preference.
EXAMPLE
„Möchtest du Tee oder Kaffee?“ – „Egal, ich trinke beides gern.“
'Would you like tea or coffee?' — 'Doesn't matter; I like drinking both.'
Usage tips
No declension
The word 'egal' is almost only used predicatively (e.g., 'Das ist egal' — That doesn't matter) or adverbially. It is not declined like a normal adjective before a noun.
EXAMPLE
Die Farbe ist mir egal.
The color doesn't matter to me.
Construction with dative
To express to whom something is indifferent, the construction 'jemandem egal sein' is used. The person experiencing the indifference is in the dative.
EXAMPLE
Ihm ist es völlig egal, was andere über ihn denken.
He doesn't care at all what others think of him.
Sentence structure with subordinate clause
In the combination 'egal, ob/was/wer…' (no matter whether/what/who...), 'egal' introduces a subordinate clause. The main clause that follows usually begins with the subject (normal word order).
EXAMPLE
Egal, wie das Wetter wird, wir gehen spazieren.
No matter what the weather is like, we are going for a walk.
Colloquial answer
As a standalone answer, 'Egal!' is a very common, colloquial way to respond to a question and express that you have no preference.
EXAMPLE
„Was möchtest du essen?“ – „Egal, ich habe auf alles Appetit.“
'What would you like to eat?' — 'Doesn't matter; I'm in the mood for anything.'
Compare with
egal vs gleich
immediate / same
Both words can express that something is unimportant to someone or makes no difference to them. In this meaning, Gleich typically takes a person in the dative and sounds somewhat more marked, whereas egal is more general and more common. Use Gleich in the fixed expression „jemandem gleich sein“; otherwise, use egal in most cases.
egal
Welchen Platz wir bekommen, ist mir egal.
I don’t care which seat we get.
gleich
Welchen Platz wir bekommen, ist mir gleich.
I don’t mind which seat we get.
In real life
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