Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 4: 11/21

だってI heard/was said, Because, But, Even or also, Even if or even though

Used in casual language; has a childish/naive nuance

Structure

Noun + （なん） + だって
だって + Phrase

Details

  • Standard

About だって

だって is a colloquial combination of the auxiliary verb だ, and the adverbial particle とて in Japanese (a combination of the particles と, and て). It has a wide range of uses, but primarily exclaims that something is the 'premise' for whatever has been said, or will be said next. This 'exclamation' is usually translated as 'I heard', 'cause', 'but', or 'even if'. The meaning that will be conveyed is determined primarily by where だって appears in a sentence.

When placed at the beginning of a sentence, だって highlights the speaker's (usually) displeasure about something that has just been said, before following it with an explanation or counterpoint. This だって is quite similar to でも.

At the end of a sentence, だって is used to express hearsay, in a similar way to 'I heard that', or 'it was said that', in English. In these cases it will be preceded by なん. なんだって always appears after a noun, or a phrase that has been nominalized (with の or こと).

Caution

When used directly after a noun, だって has a similar nuance to the だって that appears at the beginning of sentences (emphasizing what has come before it, in order to explain further). This comes across as でも, and may not be used with なん.

Fun Fact

The adverbial particle とて itself is an abbreviation of expressions like と言(い)って, and と思(おも)って. だとて (the full construction) may also be used, but is almost always replaced by だって, as it is far easier to say.

Fun Fact

When used at the beginning of a sentence, もん or もの will often come at the end of that sentence, in order to strengthen the opinion given by the speaker. This is more commonly used by women and children.

  • 私(わたし)もそんなもの食(た)べたくないよ。だって、不味(まず)いもん。
    I also don't want to eat something like that. It's because it tastes bad.
  • 今日(きょう)は家(いえ)から出(で)ません。だって、今日(きょう)は暑(あつ)いもの。
    I am not going to leave my house today. Cause it is hot today.

Related

Vocab Coverage

All Bunpro Vocab that appears on this item.

Examples

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  • 全員(ぜんいん)合格(ごうかく)だってよ。

    It is said that everyone had passed the exam.　

  • だって、全然(ぜんぜん)知(し)らないんだもん。

    Because, I have no idea.

  • 彼(かれ)だって落(お)ち込(こ)むこともあるよ。

    Even he gets depressed from time to time.

  • 「たけしさん、海外旅行(かいがいりょこう)だって？」

    'Is it true (what I have heard) that Takeshi is on vacation abroad?'

  • 月(つき)にだって行(い)けるかもしれない。

    You can probably even go to the moon.

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だって – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (28 in total)

  • The111

    The111

    The red text at the bottom of the image below is not even accurate for that review. According to the red text, unless there is a noun preceding the だって, then it requires a なん before it. Obviously my understanding here sucks… I guess it’s still attaching to the noun, it’s just sharing that attachment with the other particle に. But it’s hard for me to think of that as a “direct” attachment when there’s something in between them. EDIT: That was all wrong.

    I think this lesson is lacking. It does not explain the mechanics of why the phrase connects to “noun+particle” the way that this review question requires. The lesson explicitly talks about how different the semantics and syntax are for when it appears at the beginning vs the end of a sentence. But it doesn’t explain this third case where it’s in the middle, acting, apparently, as a particle… which I did not expect (I had to talk to an LLM to figure that part out).

  • ka5

    ka5

    This lesson mixes 3 very different uses, and 5 years ago there was an idea to split it (だって - Grammar Discussion - #9 by mrnoone)

    To borrow a dictionary explanation (だって(ダッテ)とは？ 意味や使い方 - コトバンク), the usage in the sentence 月にだって行ける, in the meaning of “even”, is a connecting particle (係助詞) like は・も・でも・から etc, and is used to provide an example:

    ［係助］
    名詞・副詞、一部の助詞に付く。
    「でも」に似るが、語調がより強い。
    ① ある事柄を例示し、それが他と同類、または、同様であるという意を表す。…もやはり。…でも。
    「ここからだって見える」

    Connecting particles can follow not only nouns, but nouns with particles too, e.g. 誰でも・誰にでも.

    だって in the beginning of a sentence is a conjunction (接続詞), and usually means なぜかというと.

    だって at the end of a sentence is a sentence-ending particle (終助詞), and so it can be optionally combin...

  • cafelatte

    cafelatte

    splitting it would def help me, I still struggle with understanding だって

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