って (Colloquial Topic Marker) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Particle
Essential Meaning: Speaking of X
Construction:
- Noun + って
- E.g. 先生って [Speaking of teachers]
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal nonpast + って
- E.g. 話すって [Speaking of speaking]
- E.g. 高いって [Speaking of being expensive]
Notes:
- って (Colloquial Topic Marker) is a colloquial topic marker that behaves similarly to the topic marker は or toというのは [When it comes to X / Speaking of X], depending on the context. って (Colloquial Topic Marker) is used to introduce some topic and then give some emotive judgement regarding that topic. Note that って (Colloquial Topic Marker) is NOT used with な-Adjectives, with the exception of those that can be used as nouns (e.g. 健康 [Health], 孤独 [Loneliness], 親切 [Kindness], et cetera).
- E.g. 健康ってありがたいですね。[Speaking of health, it’s a precious thing, isn’t it.]
- E.g. *元気ってありがたいですね。[Speaking of healthy, it’s a precious thing, isn’t it.] 元気 can not be used as a noun, so it can not be used with って (Colloquial topic marker).
- って (Colloquial Topic Marker) can not be used if the predicate does not express the speaker’s emotive judgement.
- E.g. 山口さんって変な人ですね。[Speaking of Yamaguchi-san, he’s a strange person, isn’t he?]
- E.g. *山口さんって先生です。[Speaking of Yamaguchi-san, he’s a teacher.] This sentence is unacceptable because the predicate does not express the speaker’s judgement.
- って (Colloquial Topic Marker) should not be confused with って (Colloquial Quotation Marker). Generally, when って is preceded by a quote, it’s interpreted as って (Colloquial Quotation Marker). When って co-occur with sentence-final particles ね or よ, it’s generally interpreted as って (Colloquial topic marker) due to the emotive nature of the sentence.
- E.g. 山崎が医者になったって本当ですか。 [I heard that Yamazaki has become a doctor…is that true?] って follows an indirect quote in this case, which signals that this is an example of って (Colloquial Quotation Marker).
- E.g. 家が広いっていいですね。[Having a spacious house is good, isn’t it.] In this sentence って pairs with the colloquial sentence final particle ね, which signals that this is an example of って (Colloquial topic marker)
- って (Colloquial Topic Marker) basically resembles the topic marker は when it follows a noun and というのは when it follows a sentence. The difference is that って (Colloquial Topic Marker) comes across as more emotive and colloquial.
- E.g. Following a noun: アメリカ人ってフットボールが好きだね。[Speaking of Americans, they like football, don’t they?]
- E.g. Following a sentence: 漢字を覚えるって大変だね。[Remembering kanji is difficult, isn’t it?]
Example Sentences:
アメリカ人ってフットボールが好きだね。[Speaking of Americans, they like football, don’t they?]
漢字を覚えるって大変だね。[Remembering kanji is difficult, isn’t it?]
漢字っておもしろいですよ。[Speaking of kanji, it’s interesting!]
日本人ってよく写真をとりますね。[Speaking of Japanese people, they take a lot of photos, don’t they?]
外国で暮らすって難しいね。[Living abroad is difficult, isn’t it?]
木が多いっていいものだね。[It’s good if there are a lot of trees, right?]
家が広いっていいですね。[Having a spacious house is good, isn’t it?]
WILD Examples:
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