Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
Wild Nihongo!
たって

たって

たって Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Conjunction

Essential Meaning: Even if…

Construction: 

  • Verb informal past + って
    • E.g. 話はなしたって [Even if X speaks]
    • E.g. 食たべたって [Even if X eats]
  • い-Adjective Stem + くたって
    • E.g. 高たかくたって [Even if X is expensive]
  • (な-Adjective Stem / Noun) + だっ(たっ)て
    • E.g. 静しずかだっ(たっ)て [Even if X is quiet]
    • E.g. 先生せんせいだっ(たっ)て [Even if X is a teacher]

Notes:

  • たって is a casual, conversational expression (i.e. not typically used in writing) and expresses the idea of “Even if X, Y“. With たって, the subjunctive / hypothetical nature of the sentence is emphasized, which gives the sentence an emotive feeling.
    • E.g. お金かねがあったって車くるまは買かいたくない。[Even if I had money, I wouldn’t want to buy a car.]
  • どんなに can be prefixed to sentences with たって to mean “No matter how“.
    • E.g. どんなに考かんがえたって分わからないよ。[No matter hard you think, you won’t understand.]
    • E.g. どんなに寒さむくたって大丈夫だいじょうぶです。[No matter how cold it is, it’s no problem.]
  • たって can be interchanged with ても / でも (Even If). The difference is that ても / でも (Even If) is less emotive and less colloquial than たって and can be used in writing.
    • E.g. お金かねがあっても車くるまは買かいたくない。[Even if I had money, I wouldn’t want to buy a car.]
    • E.g. お金かねがあったって車くるまは買かいたくない。[Even if I had money, I wouldn’t want to buy a car.] The difference between this sentence and the previous sentence is very slight.

Example Sentences:

あの人ひとには話はなしたって分わからない。[Even if I told that person, he wouldn’t understand.]

僕ぼくはその切符きっぷを高たかくたって買かう。[Even if that ticket is expensive, I will buy it.]

お金かねがあったって車くるまは買かいたくない。[Even if I had money, I wouldn’t want to buy a car.]

きたなくたってかまいません。[Even if it’s dirty, I don’t mind.]

遠とおくて不便ふべんだってマイホームならかまいません。[Even if it’s far away and inconvenient, I wouldn’t mind as long as it’s my home.]

どんなにいい先生せんせいだってときどき間違まちがいます。[No matter how good a teacher one is, one sometimes makes mistakes.]

WILD Examples:

Listen to this lyric at 0:30: 失敗しっぱいしたっていいよ [Even if you make a mistake, it’s OK!]
At 0:20, listen for this lyric: オタクだったって It’s All Right [Even if you’re a geek, it’s alright!] This is also the name of the song itself.
Listen to this line at 1:19: 君きみが全然ぜんぜん全部ぜんぶなくなって散ちり散ぢりになったって、もう迷まよわないまたいちから探さがし始はじめるさ [Even if you completely disappear and get torn to pieces, I won’t lose my way, I’ll start searching for you again from square one]
Listen for this line at 1:00: 来世らいせがあったって、係かりに無なくたって、だからなんだって言いうんだ [Even if there’s an afterlife, and even assuming that there isn’t one, what of it?] The following line goes: 生うまれ変かわったって、変かわらなくたってんなこたぁどうだっていいんだ [Even if we’re reborn, and even if we aren’t who cares?]
Listen to this line at 3:03: 悲かなしいことがあったって、今日きょうが終おわれば忘わすれられるよ [Even if there are sad things, you can forget about them at the end of the day]

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