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Lesson 23: だって

[Video Link]

Today we're going to talk about "datte" and some of the issues that raises about the use of "da" and "desu".

One of my commenters spoke about being confused by the "word" "datte" and I'm not surprised, because if you look at the Japanese-English dictionaries they tell you that "datte" means "because" and "but" and "even" and also "somebody said", which is quite a confusing pile of meanings for one so-called word.

And I say "so-called" word because "datte" isn't really even a word.

And the thing that never seems to get explained in dictionaries or anywhere else is what it really is, what it actually means, and therefore why it carries the range of meanings that it does.

So, let's start off with the most basic meaning, which is the last one on the list, "somebody said".

"Datte" is actually simply made up of the copula "da" plus -tte, which is not the te-form of anything, it's the -tte which is a contraction, as we've talked about before, of the quotation particle -to plus "iu".

So -tte means "-to iu", in other words, "says" a particular thing.

The -to bundles up something into a quotation and the "iu" says that somebody says it.

So it's really as simple as that.

"Ashita-wa hare datte" is simply "ashita-ga hare..."

"Hare" means "sunny" or "clear skies" – and as with most words where there's some doubt of what kind of word they are, they usually turn out to be nouns, "hare" is a noun.

So, "Ashita-wa hare da" simply means "Tomorrow will be sunny".

And when we add -tte, we're saying, "It's said that tomorrow will be fine".

We might be saying that someone in particular says it or we may just be saying "it's said" in general – "I hear tomorrow will be fine", we might say in English.

"They say tomorrow will be fine."

So that's very simple, and that's what "datte" is: it's "da" plus -tte, the "-to iu" contraction.

And that's what it is in all the other cases too, so let's see how it works.

How does it come to mean "but"?

Well, to begin with let's understand that when it's used on its own – and it means "but" when it's used on its own, not as the ending of a sentence as in the example we just looked at – it has a slightly childish and usually somewhat negative or argumentative feeling.

So if somebody says, "Sakura ga kirei da ne" – "Sakura's pretty, isn't it?"

And you say "Datte atama-ga yowai".

Now "atama-ga yowai" means literally "head is weak" – "She is not very smart".

So it would be like saying, "But she's not very smart".

But what you're actually doing here is taking the statement that the last person said and adding the copula "da" to it.

And in order to understand that let's look for a moment at something else.

Very often, when we're agreeing with something someone says, we might say "desu ne".

And literally that just means "is, isn't it?"

And how can it mean that, because really "da or "desu" on its own doesn't mean anything.

It has to join two other things together, and neither of them are stated here.

But what "desu" is by implication attached to is the thing the person just said.

And what it's joining it to is, by implication, something like "hontou" or "sou" – "sou desu ne".

So we're actually saying "That's true, isn't it?" or "That's the case, isn't it?" or "That's how it is, isn't it?"

We also do this when we say "da kara" or "desu kara", which really means "because".

Now, we know that "kara" means "because"; it means literally "from" and therefore also means "because".

From A, B. From Fact A we can derive Fact B. From Fact A, Fact B emerges.

So, "kara" – "because".

We may be tempted sometimes to say "sore kara", which is a literal translation of the English "because of that".

But in fact "sore kara" doesn't get used to mean "because of that".

"Sore" means "that" and "kara" can mean 'because", but "sore kara" usually means "after that" – "kara" in the more literal sense, "kara" meaning "from", and in this case "from" in point of time rather than space.

"From that forward/from that forward in time/after that"; "sore kara" – "after that".

To say "because of that", we say "desu kara" or "da kara", and this is really short for "sore wa sou desu kara" or "sore wa hontou desu kara".

We're saying "because that is the case", and if you think of it, this is more logical than what we say in English.

We're saying "because that is the case".

"Because of that" really means literally in English "because that is the case" but we just cut it down to "because of that", and in Japanese we just cut it down to "desu kara".

Now, when we understand this, we can understand "datte" in the sense of meaning "but".

"Da" refers back to whatever it was the last person said, and -tte simply states that they said it.

So, if someone says, "Sakura-ga kirei da ne" – Sakura's pretty, isn't it, isn't she?"

And you reply, "Datte atama-ga yowai".

Now, the "but" here is your saying "You said that...".

And "datte" is a rather childish and argumentative-sounding way of saying it, so the implication is that what comes next is going to be negating what was said.

And this works in just the same way as English "but".

If you think about it, "but" is not saying that what came before it is untrue.

In fact it is accepting that what came before it is true, but it's then adding some information that is contrary to the impression given by that statement.

So "Sakura-ga kirei da ne" – "Sakura is pretty" –

"Datte..."– "You said that and I'm not disputing that that is the case, BUT – she's not very smart".

So, how does it come to mean "because", which in some ways seems almost opposed to "but", almost an opposite kind of meaning?

Well, let's notice that one thing that "but" and "because" have in common is that they accept the first statement.

"But" goes on to say something which contrasts with that statement, while still accepting it.

"Because" says something that goes on to explain that statement.

And this can be a harmonious explanation which simply gives us more information about it, but it can also be a contradictory explanation.

So, for example, if someone says, "You haven't done much of your homework" and you reply, "Because you keep talking to me!"

This could be expressed by "datte" in Japanese.

Again, what it's really saying is "You say that and I don't dispute it, but here's something we can add to it which undermines the narrative that you are trying to put forward."

So you see, it doesn't literally mean either "but" or "because".

What it means is, "I accept your statement and now I'm going to add something a bit argumentative".

In English it could be translated as either "but" or "because" depending on the circumstances.

So, how can it come to have the meaning of "even"?

Well, let's understand that this is a slightly different use.

When we use it to mean "even", we're not using the "da" in the way we're using it when we say "da kara" or "datte" in the senses we've just talked about.

In other words, we are not simply using it to refer back to the last statement.

We're usually attaching it to something in particular within the statement we're making.

So, if you say, "Sakura-wa dekiru" – "Sakura can do that" and I say "Watashi datte dekiru", which is generally translated as "Even I can do that", what we're actually saying is "Say it's me", which means in both Japanese and English "Take the hypothesis that it's me" or "Take the case of me in this circumstance" and we're saying "Watashi datte dekiru"

"Say it's me, I can do that".

Now, this has a different implication from "Watashi-mo dekiru", which just means neutrally "I can do that too".

"Watashi datte", because it's very colloquial and becase it's associated with this slightly negative or contradictory implication, it means "Even I can do that".

And it doesn't have to be negative in the sense of contradicting anything.

Outside the context of Sakura, we might just say, "Watashi datte hottokeeki-ga tsukurareru" – "Even I can make hotcakes".

And in this case, we're not saying it negatively, but that "watashi datte" still has the implication of "even me".

It still has its slightly disparaging or negative ring, because what you're saying is here "Even someone like me, even me, who can't usually make very much, can make hotcakes".

So I hope this makes "datte" clearer and also the ways in which "da/desu" can be used to accept and affirm previous statements made by oneself or by someone else and add something to it.