We can usematteras a verb or a noun. It is a very common word with a number of different uses and grammatical patterns.
Matteras a verb
Matterin the negative
The most common use of the verbmatteris in the expressionit doesn’t matter(and the less common formsit didn’t matter, it wouldn’t matterandit won’t matter).It doesn’t mattermeans ‘it is not important’, ‘I don’t mind’ or ‘it is not a problem’:
A:I forgot to buy milk when I was in town.
B:It doesn’t matter.We’ve got enough till tomorrow.
It doesn’t matterif you can’t be here by nine o’clock. We can start without you and you can join us later.
It wouldn’t matterif we didn’t invite Paul and Jan to the wedding. They wouldn’t expect to be invited.
Matterin questions
We can ask questionswithmatter, often followed by anif-clause. Questions withmatterusually mean ‘Is it a problem?’:
Does it matterif I leave my computer on all night?
Would it matterwhich flight we got?
A:I forgot to copy Chris in on the email to Margaret.
B:Does it matter?
A:I suppose not.
Matterin affirmative statements
Less commonly, we can usematterin affirmative statements to say that something is important for a particular person, often withto:
A:Sally says the school buildings are in a bad state.
B:Well, the local authority doesn’t care. Nobody cares.
A:Wellit matters to Sally.She has to work there.
It matters to methat my children should be polite to adults.
Matteras a noun
What’s the matter (with …)?
We can usewhat’s the matter (with …)?to ask someone about a problem or to ask for an explanation of a situation that looks problematic:
[adult to little child]
What’s the matter, darling? Why are you crying?
What’s the matter withDerek these days? He’s acting so strangely.
We don’t saythe matter is…, we saythe problem is…
He’d like to live in the USA.The problem ishe can’t get a visa.
Not:The matter is…
When we reply to the questionWhat’s the matter?, we don’t usematter, we useproblem:
A:What’s the matter with Greg?
B:The problemis he’s just broken up with his girlfriend. They’ve been together for a long time.
Matteras a countable noun
We can usematteras a countable noun to mean ‘question, problem or issue’:
This is amatterfor the police. We cannot deal with it ourselves.
It’s only amatterof time before everyone will get bored with reality TV shows.
Are there any othermattersto discuss today, or shall we finish?
Matteras an uncountable noun
Matteras an uncountable noun means ‘the physical substance that makes up the universe’:
How muchmatteris there in the entire universe? Scientists are not absolutely sure.
As a matter of fact
We can use the expressionas a matter of factto emphasise that something is different from what has been said before, or from what people think or expect:
A:I don’t think you like Hilary, do you?
B:No, that’s just not true.As a matter of fact,I’m very fond of her. It’s just that she irritates me sometimes.
In a matter of+ time expression
We can use the expressionin a matter ofwith a time expression to refer to something that happens very quickly, or which can be done very quickly:
It used to take an hour to get to the airport, but now with the new metro line you can get therein a matter ofminutes.
No matter
We can useno matterto link two clauses as a conjunction. It is a short form ofit does not matter. We can useno matterwithwhat, when, where, which, whoandhowto refer to a situation that cannot be changed, even though we try:
No matter whatI wear, I always feel dull and old-fashioned.
No matter whereshe looked, she could not find the missing paper.
He never answers emails,no matter howmany you send him.
If there is just one clause, we useit doesn’t matterbeforewhat,when,where,which,whoandhow:
A:There are three phone numbers here for the tax office. Which one do I call?
B:It doesn’t matterwhich one you use.
Not:No matter which one you use.
We don’t useno matteras a conjunction withif. We sayit doesn’t matter if:
It doesn’t matter ifyou wear a smart suit, they still won’t let you in without a tie.
Matter: typical errors
The nounmatter, meaning ‘question, problem or issue’, is countable:
I have some importantmattersto discuss.
Not: …some important matter…
The conjunction form isno matter. We don’t saynot matter:
I’ll get a job,no matterhow long it takes.
Not: …not matter how long…
See also:
However,whatever,whichever,whenever,wherever,whoever