~tte

[Thomas Ashton]

Hi,

This is probably really simple, but I've been having some problems
working out exactly how って functions in contexts such as (from
Japanese Core Words and Phrases, Kakuko Shoji):

マリが来月結婚するよ。彼って全然ハンサムじゃないんだって。

Translated as:

"Mari will get married next month. He is not handsome at all, I heard."

It seems as though the first って marks the subject of the sentence,
and the final one corresponds to "I heard". But I can't seem to find
a description of either usage. Are they perhaps contractions of some
sort?

Regards,
--
Thomas Ashton

[tna...@no-more-virii-please.direct.ca]

Thomas Ashton wrote:

> Hi,

> マリが来月結婚するよ。彼って全然ハンサムじゃないんだって。
>
> Translated as:
>
> "Mari will get married next month. He is not handsome at all, I heard."
>
> It seems as though the first って marks the subject of the sentence,
> and the final one corresponds to "I heard". But I can't seem to find
> a description of either usage. Are they perhaps contractions of some
> sort?

I don't know if they're contraction per se, but we learned these forms
as a way of reporting quotes. The -んだって is a way of offering an
explanation based on what others have said (If I understand correctly).
I'm not sure what the って after the subject means, but I seem to
recall reading something in a Mangajin book about that. I'll let others
answer that, but I believe it's another (colloquial) way of introducing
a subject.

--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Travers Naran | Visit the SFTV Science Blunders
F/T Programmer,P/T Meddler In Time&Space | Hall of Infamy!
New Westminster, British Columbia, |
Canada, Earth, Milky Way, etc. | <www.geocities.com/naran500/>
"Stand Back! I'm a programmer!" |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Bart Mathias]

"Thomas Ashton" writes:

> Hi,
>
> This is probably really simple, but I've been having some problems

> working out exactly how B$C$FB functions in contexts such as (from

> Japanese Core Words and Phrases, Kakuko Shoji):
>

> ... [kare-tte zenzen hansamu-ja nai-n-da-tte.]

>
> Translated as:
>
> "Mari will get married next month. He is not handsome at all, I
> heard."
>

> It seems as though the first B$C$FB marks the subject of the

> sentence, and the final one corresponds to "I heard". But I can't
> seem to find a description of either usage. Are they perhaps
> contractions of some sort?

The first one will be said to be a contraction of "-to yuu-no-ha"
(but more likely "-to itte") and is frequently used for marking
topics (not plain subjects); the nuance with "-ha" is hard to define,
for me, anyway.

The second one, almost ditto: "-to yuu" or "-to itta" depending on
context. Your translation is the "-to yuu" interpretation, "they
say." If one thought that voiced Mari's complaint, that would be
"-to itta," "she said."

Bart