# Qu'à cela ne tienne



## EvilGuido

Cette phrase vient d'une bande dessinée que je lis pour pratiquer mon Francais. Est-ce que quelqu'un peut m'aider a la traduire?

Malheureusement il n'a pas beaucoup de contexte 

Ma tentative: Don't hold it against yourself / don't worry about it ?

Merci

*Moderator note: *We have merged a large number of threads about _qu'à cela ne tienne_ here in a single discussion. You will find many French examples, many possible English translations, and an discussion of the structure of the French expression. If you still have a question after having read through all these many contributions, please respond here in this thread, rather than creating a new, separate discussion.


----------



## syl2o

Basically I'd use Nevermind


----------



## SNTB99

that's no problem


----------



## equilingual

Qu'à cela ne tienne" may be translated in a number of different ways...: "No matter!", "Never mind that!", or in other contexts: "However, ...", "Nevertheless, ...", etc.

Hope this helps, though.


----------



## pieanne

I think, literally, it can be translated as "let this not hold us back"


----------



## antoine.a

i think "anyway" could convene too.


----------



## tvlad

Aeroflot construit son propre terminal ? Qu'à cela ne tienne, l'administration de l'aéroport d'Etat se lance elle aussi dans la course

Ca veut quoi dire "qu'a cela ne tienne", perhaps something along the lines of : That/It doesn't matter ?

merci beaucoup.


----------



## yeyiboub

dans le Larousse de la langue française, "Qu'à cela ne tienne" veut dire : que cela ne soit pas un empêchement.
dans le Robert et Collins Supersenior Français > Anglais, ils donnent comme traduction de qu'à cela ne tienne :_ Never mind (that)_ or _that needn't matter _or _that's no problem_.
Hope it helps !


----------



## sudest

Dans cette boutique d'objets de décoration, la vendeuse n'est pas trop regardante. Les soldes ne commencent que le 9 janvier ? * Qu'à cela ne tienne. * Aux clients qui insistent, elle est prête à « faire » 30 % sur les prix. Non loin de là, chez Habitat, ...

_In this store of decoration,saleswoman is not too much stingy.The discounted sales begin just in the 9th January_...................

Can you explain that I show in bold? Please.

[Moderator note: posts merged to provide full context]


----------



## pieanne

I'd say "what does it matter".

"Nevertheless", perhaps.

[Moderator note: posts merged during thread clean-up]


----------



## sudest

Thank you *pieanne*.I thought that it is more complex.Thanks again.


----------



## Rjoie

Bonjour,

J'ai du mal avec cette phrase.  C'est dans une bande dessinee sur "Barbe-Bleue".  Un messieur refuse de fournir des enfants au marechal et il repond.  "Qu'a cela ne tienne, j'ai ma bonne chapelle, mes adorables petits chanteurs..."

Je comprends la phrase sauf "qu'a cela ne tienne."  Est-ce "I hope it won't last" ou "as long as that lasts, I've got my chapel, etc."?

Merci. Je dois finir cette traduction!!


----------



## Donaldos

Qu'à cela ne tienne = It doesn't matter


----------



## Flameo

"Qu'à cela ne tienne" veut dire "Peu importe!".

Je traduirais ça comme cela : "It doesn't matter, I have my own..."


----------



## Jean-Michel Carrère

Alternatively : "Anyway, ..."


----------



## clem7531

"Qu'à cela ne tienne"

I really wonder if there's an english equivalent. Does anyone have an idea ?

Je me demande vraiment s'il y a un équivalent anglais. Quelqu'un aurait-il une idée ?

Thanks ! / Merci !


----------



## Gutenberg

qu'à cela ne tienne = that's no problem
http://french.about.com/library/express/blexdico-q.htm


----------



## samlibere

"Let's not make a big deal about it!" could be an another translation


----------



## Maped40

Never mind!


----------



## clem7531

I am only a bit disappointed because I would have like to find translations that are not as familiar as theses ones. 
I know the meaning but have no idea of a sentence that I could use in the same manner in english, without sounding familiar.

But many thanks to you all ! I appreciate


----------



## Carl75

-Peu importe !
-Que cela ne soit pas un obstacle !


----------



## Moon Palace

I believe you would say _so be it_ in English.


----------



## polaire

The WR dictionary suggests:  _Never mind._


----------



## polaire

Moon Palace said:


> I believe you would say _so be it_ in English.



Not that there aren`t other ways to say it, but `soit` and `d'accord` and `ainsi soit-il` (in the sense of 'amen') also are used to express `so be it.`


----------



## Moon Palace

Of course, but_ qu'à cela ne tienne_ is another equivalent, as _never mind_ or _it doesn't matter.... _
I thought of _so be it_ since _qu'à cela ne tienne_ is quite formal, compared with _'never mind'. _


----------



## Nancy35

Hi,

What does this translate to: qu'à cela ne tienne ?

The context is someone complaining that he has no gun, and then the other chap replies:  Qu'à cela ne tienne, j'ai deux fusils.

Thanks!


----------



## Scrivener

_qu'à cela ne tienne_
It doesn't matter
Don't worry about it
Be that as it may


----------



## Jasmine tea

qu'à cela ne tienne : puisque c'est comme ça. 
Puisque le seul point pendant est celui-là...(... je vais m'en charger....)


----------



## Keith Bradford

Be that as it may...
For all that...
That's a minor issue...


----------



## Wordsmyth

I've read through the several threads about "Qu'à cela ne tienne", but haven't found what I'm looking for. I'm aware of the various possible translations, and my question isn't really context-dependent, but here's an example anyway:

An article recounts that a football (soccer) team, in the 1920s, had to play on the village rugby team's pitch: "Qu'à cela ne tienne, le foot se jouait en lever de rideau, puis les joueurs retiraient les poteaux de but et le match de rugby pouvait commencer" — I would translate the opening expression as "That wasn't a problem because ..." or "To make it work, ...".

Now to my question. Being of a logical turn of mind, I find it helps me to recall set expressions if I also remember their literal translations (and it can be quite amusing!).
With "Qu'à cela ne tienne" I'm stumped. I understand "_que_ + 3rd person singular of the present subjunctive"; I understand "tenir à" ... *but what is the subject of the verb tienne?* Even if it's implicit, I'm not sure what it would be: _rien_, perhaps?.

Any thoughts?

Ws


----------



## EmmanuelM

Well, what follows is my opinion. I'm not a linguist.

The subject of the sentence is in my opinion "Il" - which is not in the sentence, I know. 

"Qu'à cela ne tienne ..." = "Qu'à cela il ne tienne ..." =  "Il ne tient qu'à cela que ..." = "Il ne tient à rien/à peu de choses que .." 

(here "tenir à" means roughly you must respect the conditions that follow in order to be successful , it's quite literary now in this sense though, except for some set expressions) 

"Il" is here in French "un sujet apparent" (as in "il fait beau").


----------



## Wordsmyth

Merci beaucoup pour cela, Emmanuel. 

À cause du subjonctif, je l'interprétais comme "Que _[sujet]_ ne tienne à cela". Avec _il_, ça aurait donné "Qu'il ne tienne à cela". 
Mais je n'ai pas pensé à la construction "ne ... que" dans ce cas. 

Ws


----------



## Michelvar

Hi, 

"tenir", in this context, means "dependre de" (to depend on). "Qu'à cela ne tienne" = "qu'il ne dépende pas de cela" = let it no depend on this.

You use it, for example, when a problem (same pitch for rugby and soccer) seems to have a bad consequence on / to make impossible an action (organizing both match on sunday).  In this sentence, "il / it" refers to the action, and "cela / this" refers to the problem. The meaning is then "qu_e la possibilité d'organiser les deux matchs le dimanche _ne dépende pas de / ne soit pas rendue impossible par _le fait qu'il n'y ait qu'un terrain_".


----------



## William Stein

I think it means '; don't let that trivial obstacle hold you  back. Ne te laisse pas paraliser par cet obstacle, on peut réussir quand même


----------



## Wordsmyth

Salut Michelvar,

Many thanks for your excellent explanation. That supports my thought that the construction was indeed "_Que_ + subjunctive" (so "Let it ..."); but above all it confirms that the missing subject is "il". So if I read it as "Qu'*il* ne tienne à cela", it all becomes clear.

Thanks, William, for your input. I didn't actually have a problem with the meaning of the set expression (and there are several other threads covering that); I was just curious about the seemingly absent subject of the verb.

Thanks again to everyone.

Ws


----------



## Wodwo

Depending on context, more formal versions could be:

"no matter"
"that is not a problem"

or getting round it by integrating the idea into the sentence in a way that doesn't use a little phrase on its own.


----------



## Itisi

Don't let (whatever) stand in the way


----------



## malku75

I think the most literal translation would be: Don't let that hold you back or don't let that stop you. We have in Spanish: que eso no te detenga


----------



## joelooc

let's not be thwarted by that!


----------

