って (tte) Meaning Japanese Grammar - It Seems That

The particle って (~tte) is used in Japanese to quote what was said by someone else.

って is the more colloquial form of the particle と.

って is very useful in indirect speech, that is, in all those situations where you want to quote what someone said.

In this post we learn more about the meaning of って, how it is formed, and when って is used through real example sentences.

How って is formed

って is formed by the Hiragana character て preceded by っ (small つ).

って is added after a quote and before the verb:

How and when to use って

って is often used to form indirect speech, specifically when we directly quote what someone said:

We can see from the example how って is added after the brackets 「...」. って is used to indicate that we are repeating what someone said.

って at the end of the sentence: I heard that...

って can often be found at the end of a sentence. In these cases って expresses the fact that what we said is a quote from someone else.

A possible translation is I heard that.., as って indicates that I'm quoting what someone said.

For this reason, adding って at the end adds a sense of uncertainty: it seems that, I heard that, they say that.

Let's see an example from the video game Final Fantasy VII: Remake:

KanjiNo FuriganaKanaRomaji

そうだジョニーと会(あ)ったよミッドガルを出(で)るって。

Ah right, I met Jonny, he said he's leaving Midgar.

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In this example チイファ (Tifa) uses って to repeat something she heard from Jonny. Tifa uses っ て to quote: it looks like, I heard that, he said that.

ってば: reiterate what was said above

って is also used at the end of the sentence to express a sense of frustration in repeating what was previously said.

This sentence indicates a strong emotion in reaffirming that what we said previously is true. This emotion is often found in the tone of voice used, which will be very direct and strong.

A particular expression in these cases consists of adding ば after って:

You can also use ったら instead of ってば

This form emphasizes even more the sense of frustration in having to repeat what was said:

Let's see another example from the video game Final Fantasy VII: Remake:

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KanjiNo FuriganaKanaRomaji

男(おとこ)は立(た)ち入(い)り禁(きん)止(し)ですってば。

I said it's forbidden for men to enter.

This example uses the polite form です before ってば. This sentence is told to you by ウエッジ (Wegg) if you try to enter with the main character (Cloud) an area that is not accessible at that moment. ウエッジ says this sentence to reiterate what he said earlier after a long talk to Cloud about the "Forbidden Area".

って instead of the particle は

って can also be used in place of the particle は to indicate the topic of the sentence. Again, って makes the sentence more colloquial:

って is more often used in spoken language, as it is quick and easy to pronounce.

Examples of って