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JLPT N3Particles

～って— The Casual Quote & Topic

A versatile spoken-Japanese particle. It works as a casual version of と/という to quote or report speech ('they say ~', 'called ~'), and as a casual version of は to raise a topic ('as for ~'). It makes conversation sound natural and relaxed but is almost never used in formal writing.

Grammar path · 練習

Practice this in the path

A short lesson: the pattern, its sentence anatomy, a quick quiz and a sentence to build.

Pro lessonUNIT 116 · PARTICLES

Structure · 形

[Word/Plain clause] + って (quote/hearsay/naming) ; [Noun] + って (topic)

Examples · 例文

  • 明日は雨が降るって。

    Ashita wa ame ga furu tte.

    They say it'll rain tomorrow.

    って replaces と言っていた/そうだ, reporting hearsay casually.

  • 田中さんって、本当に優しいね。

    Tanaka-san tte, hontou ni yasashii ne.

    Tanaka-san is really kind, isn't she.

    って here is a topic marker, standing in for は ('as for Tanaka-san').

  • 「森」って漢字はどう書くの？

    "Mori" tte kanji wa dou kaku no?

    How do you write the kanji called 'mori'?

    って links a name/label to a noun, like という ('the kanji called mori').

Usage notes · 注意

  • Register: spoken/casual only; use と/という/そうだ in writing or formal speech.
  • Sentence-final って often means 'I heard that ~' (dropping 言っていた).
  • As a topic marker って ≈ は but sounds friendlier and more conversational.
  • Can attach directly to nouns, quotes, or whole plain-form clauses.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～って is tested against.

vs～という

という is the full, neutral/written form for naming and quoting; って is its shortened, casual spoken equivalent.

vsは

は is the standard topic particle for any register; って as a topic marker is casual-only and adds a chatty, spoken feel.

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