A 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.
Literally: "child + even + can do + よ."

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.
Literally: "even if (it's) cheap + won't buy."

Remember that?

If not, you're in trouble because...

 

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🔥  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.
Literally: "even if (I) am laughed at + don't care."

 

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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

 

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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.
Literally: "even if (I) am/was laughed at + don't care."

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.
Literally: "how much + even if (it is/was) cheap, + junk food + は + don't buy."

 

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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).
Literally: "that kind of + の + anyone + is knowing + よ."

↓　↓

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).
Literally: "that kind of + の + anyone + is knowing + よ."

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.

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