って (1)

Particle (Basic ㊦ 507)

A colloquial topic-introducer.

Equivalent: Speaking of ~

アメリカ人ってフットボールが好きだ・好きですね。: Speaking of Americans, they love football, don't they?
漢字を覚えるって大変だ・大変ですね。: To memorize kanji, it's terribly hard, isn't it?
漢字って面白いですよ。: Speaking of kanji, they are interesting, I tell you.
日本人ってよく写真を撮りますね。: Speaking of Japanese people, they love taking pictures, don't they?
外国で暮らすって難しいね。: Living in a foreign country is hard, isn't it?
木が多いっていいものだね。: It's good to have many trees, isn't it?
家が広いっていいですね。: It's good to have a spacious house, isn't it?

Formation

Noun	って
	先生って	Speaking of the teacher
{V/Adjective い} informal nonpast	って
	話すって	To talk (topic)
	高いって	To be expensive (topic)

Notes

1. You should not use Adjective な stem って unless it is an Adjective な that can be used also as a noun as in: 健康 'healthy/heal', 孤独 'lonely/loneliness', 親切 'kind/kindness', etc.

a. 健康ってありがたいですね。
Health is a precious thing, you know.

b. *元気ってありがたいですね。
Health is a precious thing, you know.

2. You should not confuse って1 with って2 of hearsay. (⇨ って2) Consider the following sentences:

a. 山崎が医者になったって本当ですか。
I heard that Yamazaki has become a medical doctor, but is it true?

b. 日本の肉が高いって、どのぐらい高いんですか。
I heard that Japanese meat is expensive, but how expensive is it?

3. って1 tends to co-occur witn the sentence-final particles ね or よ.

【Related Expression】

When って is attached to a noun as in Key Sentence (A) and Examples (a) and (b), it is close in meaning to the topic marker は. When って is attached to a sentence as in Key Sentence (B) and Examples (c), (d) and (e), it is close in meaning to (という)のは. って, however, is more colloquial and emotive than は or (という)のは. In fact, if the predicate does not express the speaker's emotive judgment/evaluation って cannot be used. Thus,

[1]

a. 山口さんは/*って先生です。
Mr. Yamaguchi is a teacher.

b. 山口さんは/って変な人ですね。
Mr. Yamaguchi is a strange person, isn't he?