- Nuance Ninja
も Particles, も Problems, Part IV
NikoA couple of lessons ago, we saw how でも and ～ても can mean something like "even:"
子供でも出来るよ。
こども でも できる よ。
Even a child can do it. // Even kids can do it.
安くても買わない。
やすくても かわない。
Even if it's cheap, I won't buy it.
Remember that?
If not, you're in trouble because...
🔥 Pop quiz! 🔥
What is the passive form of 笑う (わらう // to laugh)?
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Hint: You can go back and review this lesson, if you'd like.
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The answer: 笑われる (わらわれる // to be laughed at).
If we wanted to put that into て-form, it would be:
笑われる → 笑われて
わらわれる → わらわれて
Thus, if we want to give it the ～ても ending, we would say:
笑われる → 笑われても
わらわれる → わらわれても
笑われても（わらわれても // even if [one] is laughed at）
So, we could say, for example:
笑われても気にしない。
わらわれても きにしない。
Even if I'm laughed at, I don't care. // I don't care if I get laughed at.
And now, for something new: Instead of ～ても, we can also say ～たって, which has a somewhat informal ring to it and can only be used in spoken Japanese.
To end a VERB with ～たって, you put it into て-form, then change the final て to た and add って:
笑われる → 笑われて → 笑われたって
わらわれる → わらわれて → わらわれたって
to be laughed at → is laughed at (and) → even if (one) is/was laughed at
It might seem simpler to imagine that you're just adding って to the plain past tense (～た) of a verb:
笑われる → 笑われた → 笑われたって
わらわれる → わらわれた → わらわれたって
to be laughed at → was laughed at → even if (one) is/was laughed at
However, note that this strategy wouldn't work for i-adjectives (because their plain past tense ends in ～かった). So maybe it's best to just think of ～たって as being formed by (1) putting a word into て-form, then (2) switching out て for た and adding って：
安い → 安くて → 安くたって
やすい → やすくて → やすくたって
cheap → cheap (and) → even if (it is/was) cheap
Anyway, here are some examples:
笑われたって気にしない。
わらわれたって きにしない。
Even if I'm laughed at, I don't care. // I don't care if I get laughed at.
いくら安くたって、ジャンクフードは買いません。
いくら やすくたって、 ジャンクフード は かいません。
It doesn't matter how cheap it is, I don't buy junk food.
Since ～たって is an alternative form of ～ても (which comes at the end of i-adjectives and verbs), perhaps it doesn't come as too big of a surprise that だって is an alternative form of でも (which comes after nouns and na-adjectives)：
そんなの誰でも知ってるよ。
そんな の だれでも しってる よ。
Everyone knows that (kind of thing).
↓ ↓
そんなの誰だって知ってるよ。
そんな の だれだって しってる よ。
Everyone knows that (kind of thing).
だって. Keep that particular combination of kana in your mind.
We're going to see it a few more times before this course is complete.
Niko
