6

How do I say "whatever" in German? I am going to use it in this context:

A: "Lass uns morgen ins Kino gehen!"
    (Let's go to the movies tomorrow!)

B: "Nein. Ich muß mich noch auf meine Prüfung vorbereiten."
    (No. I still need to prepare for the test.)

A: "Wie auch immer!"
    (Whatever!)

Is "Wie auch immer" a proper translation for "whatever"?

3
  • 2
    In dem Fall ist es "Wie du meinst."
    – schlingel
    Dec 18, 2013 at 9:57
  • 3
    "Meinetwegen." expresses lukewarm assent - possibly still a bit less lukewarm than in English. Dec 18, 2013 at 15:27
  • 3
    "Whatever" has a strong implication of a disinterested teenager. "Clean up your room". "Whatever". Getting that across seems difficult.
    – gnasher729
    Sep 25, 2014 at 16:42

4 Answers 4

5

Was auch immer!

is also in common usage.

1
  • I don't think "Was auch immer" fits in this context
    – Iris
    Oct 28, 2016 at 8:17
8

There are a few option that would work in this context

Sei's drum.

(Ach) und selbst wenn.

(Ach) und wenn schon.

(Ach) was soll's.

The "Ach" is a discarding one in this case. Besides those you could also say

Na und?

but that would be a question. The message is the same though. And to give you something to use with your buddies (and only with them)

(Ach) scheiß (doch) drauf.

Drauf geschissen!

Wie auch immer doesn't fit IMO but that might just be personal preference. All those work for this context but they will not work for other contexts of anyway.

1
  • 4
    Bei uns sagt man auch noch "Egal", das könnte aber regional sein.
    – Takkat
    Dec 18, 2013 at 14:55
2

It depends!

Do you mean "Whatever, fine, let's not go then?" In that case, Wie du meinst is good. (It sounds a little snippy to me, like "Have it your way" in English, but I'm not sure about that.) Na gut would be fine too, especially in Na gut, Samstag denn?

But if you mean, "Whatever, just blow off your homework" (which is what it sounds like to me), then you want Egal, as in Ist doch egal!

-4

"Wie auch immer" is howsoever in German. "Was auch immer" is whatever in German.

1
  • 1
    Even though probably correct, this does not seem to answer the question. Oct 27, 2016 at 10:25

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