って (Colloquial Quotation Marker) Japanese Grammar Lesson

って (Colloquial Quotation Marker) Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Particle

Essential Meaning: Colloquial quotation marker

Construction: Quote + って

Notes:

って (Colloquial Quotation Marker) is the colloquial form of と (Quotation Marker), so any quotation that can precede と (Quotation Marker) can also precede って (Colloquial quotation marker). The basic function of these particles is to mark a quote within a sentence.

When って (Colloquial quotation marker) is used with a human subject, it can be ambiguous who the author of the quote is. The reporting verb 言いう [To say / To tell] can be used to clarify that the subject is the one who is making the quotation. Otherwise, the sentence may come across as hearsay.
- E.g. ジェーンは踊おどらないって。[Jen says that she won’t dance. / They say that Jen won’t dance.] In this example, it is unclear whether it is Jen who says she won’t dance or whether it is some other person(s) who says that Jen won’t dance.
- E.g. ジェーンは踊おどらないって言いっているよ。[Jen is saying that she won’t dance.] 言いう makes it clear that Jen is the one who is being quoted.

When って (Colloquial quotation marker) is not followed by any verb, 言いう is the implied verb. So 言いった, 言いいました, 言いっている, and 言いっていました can be omitted after って (Colloquial quotation marker) without any change in meaning. However, this is not the case for と (Quotation Marker). Furthermore, other verbs that may follow って can not be omitted.
- E.g. 僕ぼくも行いこうかって思おもいました。[I wondered if I should go too.] 思おもう [To think] (or any other verb besides 言いう) can not be omitted after って.
- E.g. ジェーンは踊おどらないって。[Jen says that she won’t dance.]
- E.g. *ジェーンは踊おどらないと。[Jen says that she won’t dance.] 言いう can not be omitted after と (Quotation Marker).

Generally speaking, って is more emphatic and emotional than と (Quotation Marker) because glottal stops such as って are associated with emotionality in Japanese.

When the author of the quoted statement is an unspecified person(s) rather than the subject, って (Colloquial quotation marker) resembles そうだ (Hearsay). The difference is that って (Colloquial quotation marker) is more informal than そうだ (Hearsay).
- E.g. ジェーンは踊おどらないって。[They say that Jen won’t dance.]
- E.g. ジェンは踊おどらないそうだ。[I heard that Jen won’t dance.]

When specifying an information source with って (Colloquial quotation marker), the structure X が言いっていたけど is used. With そうだ (Hearsay), によると is used to specify an information source instead.
- E.g. ジョンが言いっていたけど、ジェーンは踊おどらないって。[According to John, Jen will not dance.]
- E.g. *ジョンによると、ジェーンは踊おどらないって。[According to John, Jen will not dance.] によると is not used with って.
- E.g. ジョンによると、ジェーンは踊おどらないそうだ。[According to John, Jen will not dance.] によると is used with そうだ (Hearsay).

Example Sentences:

ジェーンは踊おどらないって。[Jen says that she won’t dance. / They say that Jen won’t dance.]

今晩こんばんは雪ゆきが降ふるって。[They say it’s going to snow tonight.]

僕ぼくも行いこうかって思おもいました。[I wondered if I should go too.]

WILD Examples:

Listen to this line at 1:07: 「ねえ愛あいってなんなの」って彼女かのじょが聞きいて、「さぁ愛あいって何なんだろう」って僕ぼくが返かえして [She asked “What is love?”, and I responded “Yeah, what is love?”] There is also an example of って (Colloquial Topic Marker) in this example.

Listen to this line from 0:48:「お前まえ綺麗きれいだなぁ」って言いってみたりすると、どこか胸むねがぎゅっとなって泣なけたりするの [I say things such as “You’re beautiful”, and I feel tightness somewhere in my chest and I begin to cry]

***YouTube videos may be region-locked depending on your country of origin. If you experience issues, please try using a VPN set to a United States IP address.***