1 take care of
Take care of normally means ‘look after’ or ‘take responsibility for’.
Nurses take care of people in hospital.
It’s no good giving Peter a rabbit: he’s too young to take care of it properly. Ms Savage takes care of marketing, and I’m responsible for production. Take care (without a preposition) means ‘be careful’. Some people use it as a formula when saying goodbye.
Take care when you’re crossing the road, children.
Bye, Ruth. care: take care , care and care forBye, Mike. Take care.
2 care (about)
Care (about) is used to say whether you feel something is important to you. This is very common in negative sentences. About is used before an object, but is usually left out before a conjunction.
Most people care about other people’s opinions.
(NOT … take care of I care for other people’s opinions)
I don’t care whether it rains – I’m happy.
I’ll never speak to you again. care: take care , care and care forI don’t care.
Your mother’s upset with you. care: take care , care and care forI couldn’t care less. (= I don’t care at all.)
3 care for
Care for can be used to mean ‘look after’.
He spent years caring for his sick mother.
Another meaning is ‘like’ or ‘be fond of, but this is not very common in modern English.
I don’t much care for strawberries.
For more information consult a good dictionary like Langman, Oxford, Merriam Webster, or Collins.