って (JLPT N5)

About って

って is a casual variation of the と particle that is used for quoting something. This use is called 引用(いんよう) in Japanese, which basically translates to 'reference', or 'citation'. って is almost exclusively used after direct quotations, and will be followed by a verb indicating what type of communication was used. 言(い)った, 思(おも)った, 聞(き)いた, for example.

Just like with と, the verb that comes after って is frequently omitted. This is even more true for って, as many things are omitted in casual language.

Caution

Although often heard, due to って being very casual, it can be considered unnatural to use in sentences that also use the です or ます polite structures. However, if the conversation is formal but friendly (like between a senpai and a kouhai), most people would consider it normal.

Examples

--:--

「乾杯(かんぱい)！」って言(い)いたい。

I want to say, 'Kanpai!'

先生(せんせい)は「おはよう！」って言(い)った。

The teacher said, 'Good morning!'

「明日(あした)は雨(あめ)が降(ふ)りますか」って聞(き)いた。

I asked, 'Is it going to rain tomorrow?'

彼(かれ)は「晩(ばん)ごはんを捨(す)てた」って言(い)った。

He said, 'I threw away my dinner'.

「何時(なんじ)からですか」って聞(き)いた。

I asked, 'What time is it from?'

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って – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

Jake
casual quotation
Structure
- Quote + って + Verb
[casual quotation]

Can replace と

View on Bunpro
JohnnyMufgo
In my review, I got this point wrong because I used って and then followed it with a polite past tense verb (言いました).

It said the verb needed to be plain, but the examples have both polite and plain verbs… so I’m bit confused about this one.
mrnoone
Hey!
It is ok to use って(in this case quotation marker) and polite verbs together.
It will be simply more colloquial than using と.
JohnnyMufgo
Thanks for the reply.

I guess when I’m doing my reviews, I find it difficult to remember when to use って or と. Please see my screenshot attached. I got the review question wrong, but it’s technically correct?
mrnoone
Yes, it is correct
I will add it as “alternate answer” in questions asap
jomteon
So, I just had the review sentence:

お母かあさんは「危あぶない！」って言いった。

My question is, if って is used for quotation, then why was 言いった necessary as well?
mrnoone
Hey

Basically, って can be considered to be the contraction of both, と particle by itself or whole と言う phrase (among others).

So it all depends on how much speaker wants to shorten the phrase, basically preference.

You can say お母かあさんは「危あぶない！」って, and it will be also OK.

I hope it makes things a bit more clear,
Cheers!
jomteon
Ah, okay, that’s what I thought! Thanks for clearing it up
Pep95
I’m currently reading a book in which the protagonist says, 『Stuff blah blah』て言う本. I interpret this as “A book called ‘Stuff blah blah’”, but am not sure what the grammar point would be, apart from a kind of colloquial version of this (って) colloquial version of 〜と.
It’s a children’s book though, so I’m kind of surprised there are even any colloquialisms in there.
Am I correct in my assumption here?