无所谓X不X: it doesn't matter whether…
【高143】口语格式 / fixed patterns
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
无所谓 + A + 不 + A says that you do not care about that dimension: 无所谓好看不好看, 无所谓贵不贵. After 无所谓 you put the full affirmative-negative form (好看不好看), and you often add the one thing that does count: 我满意就行 (“as long as I'm happy”), 质量好就可以.
The full A 不 A is needed: 无所谓好看 on its own does not say “whether it is pretty or not”. A can have its own subject (无所谓你来不来), and when A is a verb-object word, 不 slips in after the first syllable: 无所谓你加不加班. 无所谓 is also a common word by itself (我无所谓: “I don't mind”), but it is the 无所谓 + A 不 A mould that we deal with here.
Compare 不管 / 无论……都…… (hsk3-g32), which says that the result is the same in every case (不管贵不贵,我都买), whereas 无所谓X不X voices the speaker's indifference to one criterion. It is more neutral, even more accommodating, than the challenge of 爱A不A (hsk7-g57). Register: everyday spoken.
Examples
无所谓贵不贵,质量好就可以。
Wúsuǒwèi guì bu guì, zhìliàng hǎo jiù kěyǐ.Expensive or not doesn't matter, as long as the quality is good.
无所谓好看不好看,我满意就行。
Wúsuǒwèi hǎokàn bu hǎokàn, wǒ mǎnyì jiù xíng.Pretty or not doesn't matter: as long as I'm satisfied.
我无所谓去不去,你们决定吧。
Wǒ wúsuǒwèi qù bu qù, nǐmen juédìng ba.Whether I go or not makes no difference to me: you decide.
我无所谓你来不来,反正饭我照做。
Wǒ wúsuǒwèi nǐ lái bu lái, fǎnzhèng fàn wǒ zhào zuò.I don't mind whether you come or not: I'm cooking anyway.
她无所谓输不输,只想认真比一场。
Tā wúsuǒwèi shū bu shū, zhǐ xiǎng rènzhēn bǐ yì chǎng.Winning or losing matters little to her: she only wants to play a proper match.
Common mistakes
✗ 无所谓好看。 → ✓ 无所谓好看不好看。 (the full A 不 A is needed).
✗ 没所谓好看不好看 → ✓ 无所谓好看不好看 (the standard form is 无所谓).