Structure Legend
Structure
Noun + について
Noun + について + の + Noun
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一般
Rare Kanji
付いて
About について
について is a combination of the case marking particle に, the verb う - Verb 就く 'to assume a position', and the conjunction particle て. It is most often translated as 'about (A)', or 'concerning (A)', with the literal translation being closer to 'taking the position of (A)', or 'assuming the topic of (A)'.
について may be used after nouns, or noun-phrases (phrases that use こと, の, etc).
について may be used after nouns, or noun-phrases (phrases that use こと, の, etc).
- 彼女と別れたことについて話したいんだけど時間ある?I want to talk to you about breaking up with my girlfriend, but do you have time?
- 契約のことについて、何か質問はありますか。Assuming the topic of the contract, do you have any questions?
- 行きたい国について、作文を書いてください。Please write an essay about the country you want to visit.
- 契約についてのパンフレットは明日届くので、しっかりとお読みになってください。The brochure regarding the contract will be delivered tomorrow, so please make sure to read it.
- 今日は和製英語についてのレッスンをしたいと思います。Today, I am thinking of giving you a lesson about Wasei Eigo.
Caution
It is rare to see について actually using the kanji 就. について itself is regularly considered as a single compound word, rather than a combination of its parts.Synonyms
につき
Due to, On account of, Each or every
Not studied yet
に取って
To, For, Concerning
Not studied yet
に関する・に関して
Related to, About, Regarding
Not studied yet
にかかわる
To relate to, To have to do with, Concerning, Depends on
Not studied yet
にかけては
When it comes to, Regarding, Concerning
Not studied yet
において・における
In, On, At, Regarding, In terms of
Not studied yet
に対して
In contrast to, While, In regard to, Whereas
Not studied yet
Examples
この問題について、誰かに話しましたか。
Have you talked to anyone concerning this problem?
今日は子供教育について、講演を行います。
There will be a lecture today concerning the education of children.
火災について、訓練をするべきです。
There should be training regarding fires.
震災についての情報を教えてもらった。
I was taught information concerning earthquake disasters.
原因についてはまだ調査中です。
Regarding the cause, we are still investigating.
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~について & ~に関して
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~について
LearnJapaneseDaily
にかんして and について
Nihongo Shark
Are に関して, に対して, において, について, における interchangeable?
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について – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (20 in total)
amph1ptere
About 2 months ago
Also the first question I asked myself when I saw this grammar point. Does anyone have any insight into the nuance between は and について specifically? I don’t think it’s been answered elsewhere in this thread.
simias
About 2 months ago
「について」と「は」について:
Hopefully someone with deeper knowledge of the language will chime in but I think this confusion only arises because sometimes people translate Japanese は as “regarding X” or “concerning X” etc… which are also translations for について.
But that’s kind of misleading in this case because we only translate は that way when we want to emphasize the grammatical role of は in a sentence. It’s rarely the proper way to translate it into English. For instance you would only translate 彼は日本人です as “regarding him, he’s Japanese” if you were looking to really break down the grammar, it’s not a correct and natural translation of the Japanese. A more natural translation would simply be “he’s Japanese”.
On the other hand 彼について、日本人です would actually mean “on the topic of him, he’s Japanese” or something to that effect. It’s a lot more “forceful” and literal as a way to set the topic.
As an example you look at the titles for this podcast for beginners:
simias
About 2 months ago
I just encountered this sentence in the wild that showcases both について and は:
ことみくんは私について何か言っていたかね
If you translate very literally:
As for (は) kotomi-kun, on the subject of (について) me, did he say something?
But in a less literal translation you’d probably just say:
Did kotomi-kun say something about me?
The は kind of disappears in this translation and kotomi-kun becomes the grammatical subject, but the について is still present in the “about”.
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