What is correct, "I could care less" or " I couldn't care less"? As a non-native English speaker I'm confused because natives use both terms and I don't know which is wrong.

Answer 1

You

 

TUTOR

 Great question! You are probably confused because we native speakers also make mistakes when using our own language! The correct phrase is, "I couldn't care less." That means that the speaker cares so little about something that he/she cannot possibly care any less than he/she does.

The other phrase, "I could care less" is saying that it is possible to care less than the speaker does and therefore does not correctly express what the speaker usually means.

In everyday speech, you will probably hear both phrases used; the speaker however, almost always means, "I couldn't care less," even when they say, "I could care less."

I hope this helps! Keep asking questions: that is one of the best ways to learn.

Answer 2

English is full of examples where many different phrases are used for the same thing.

My experience (mostly California) is that the more common version is "I couldn't care less". Consider the logic of this: If you expand it, it might be "I don't care about this at all--in fact it would not be possible to care LESS than I do now"

But, either of these 2 versions--plus many other colloquialisms--will get the point across

Answer 3

While the latter choice is correct, the former is more commonly used, as least here (in Indiana).