GRAMMAR
〜って
speaking of
quote marker
Explanation
NOTE
〜って is a versatile casual particle with two main uses.
明日は休みって聞いた。
I heard that tomorrow is a day off.
Quotation use: casual と
田中さんって、面白い人だよね。
Speaking of Tanaka-san, she's an interesting person.
Topic use: 'Speaking of Tanaka-san...'
NOTE
Use 1 — Quotation marker: the casual equivalent of と. Follows what someone said, thought, or heard.
彼は来られないって言ってた。
He said he couldn't come.
Casual quotation used to report someone else's words.
NOTE
Use 2 — Topic marker: introduces a topic, like は but more colloquial — 'speaking of' or 'as for'.
あの店って、高い？
Speaking of that shop — is it expensive?
Used here to introduce 'that shop' as the topic of the question.
STRUCTURE
... って ...
彼は来ないって言ってた。
Kare wa konai tte itteta.
He said he wasn't coming.
この映画って、面白い？
Kono eiga tte, omoshiroi?
Speaking of this movie — is it interesting?
試験は難しかったって聞いた。
Shiken wa muzukashikatta tte kiita.
I heard the exam was difficult.
Practice exercises
1
田中さんって、だれ？
Speaking of Tanaka-san, who is that?
Answer
って
2
彼は来ないって言ってた。
He said he wasn't coming.
Answer
って
3
彼女は結婚したって本当？
I heard she got married — really?
Answer
って
4
明日は雨って天気予報で言ってた。
The weather forecast said it would rain tomorrow.
Answer
って
5
山田さんって、どんな人？
Speaking of Yamada-san, what kind of person is she?
Answer
って
6
この店って、値段が高いらしいよ。
Speaking of this shop, apparently the prices are high.
Answer
って
7
部長が来月転勤するって噂で聞いた。
I heard through the grapevine that the manager is transferring next month.
Answer
って
8
新薬の臨床試験が成功したって発表があった。
There was an announcement that the clinical trial of the new drug succeeded.
Answer
って