と and って
In this lesson, you will learn how to quote people. You will learn how to say 'someone said', using the quotations と or って.
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to use と or って in quotation sentences.
Japanese quotation marks look like this 「」. You will see them more in novels when characters are talking.
We have two uses for って. って will replace と in less formal settings.
私の友達はこの店のケーキがおいしいって言ってた。
Watashi no tomodachi wa kono mise no keeki ga oishii tte itteta.
My friend told me that this shop's cakes were delicious.
We often find って at the end of sentences. It will often be used to tell what you have heard from someone else.
今日、宿題ないんだって。
Kyou, shukudai nainda tte.
I heard there is no homework today.
って can be used at the end of sentences to express a certain frustration in repeating what was said before. It indicates a strong emotion, and it will often manifests in the tone of voice and adding ば at the end.
ねぇ、起きて。起きてってば！
Nee, okite. Okite tte ba!
Hey, wake up. I said wake up!
A second usage of って is to indicate the subject of a sentence. It somewhat replaces the particle は in that context.
恋愛ってなに？
Ren'ai tte nani?
What is love exactly?
このキムチっておいしい！
Kono kimuchi tte oishii!
This kimchi is delicious!
Here, you can see the quotes where the characters are talking in this Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone book. However, quotation marks are not used all the time. There are two ways we will use to quote someone, and that is with と and って. They are used the same way, と being more formal than って. They usually are followed by the verb 言う (to say), but they can be followed by the verbs 聞く, ささやく, 叫ぶ, 呼ぶ, etc.
ハリーは「危ない！」と叫んだ。
Harii wa 'abunai!' to sakenda.
Harry screamed 'careful!'
私の友達はこの店のケーキがおいしいと言ってた。
Watashi no tomodachi wa kono mise no keeki ga oishii to itteta.
My friend told me that the cakes from this shop were delicious.
トムは今日休むと言いました。
Tomu wa kyou yasumu to iimashita.
Tom said he will rest today.