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だろう and だった

Woahify

窶堙銀?堙ア窶堙??堙ォ窶堋「窶堙
27 Jan 2013
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I need help understanding だって. Please help! My grammar book is confusing. It gives two different confusing definitions. Here,
「だって」
because, but
「だって」
also, even
I need help understanding because doesn't 「でも」 and 「も」 both mean the same thing? Please help! :mad:

One more thing, isn't 「だろう」 like 「でしょう」, but less formal?
 
Japanese has a lot of words with the same or similar meanings. The key is learning where and when to use them. I'm not very familiar with だって so I can't give you in-depth advice on how it might differ slightly from でも in usage. There are several words for "but" or "however", my personal favorite being しかし.

Technically だろう is simply the volitional form of でしょう. So it's usable anywhere the volitional form of a verb is usable in a construction. Often this may be less formal situations, but not always.

EDIT: Also, "because", "but", "also" and "even" actually are somewhat similar in meaning if you think about it.
 
This だって is exactly like でも or も, meaning and all. So yes, "even", "although", "but" etc.

だって is just, from what I believe, a more childish and sort of, "complaining" type of "but" or an emphasized "even"

E.g
Used in place of でも or も ("even"). 私でもそれが分かる = 私だってそれが分かる = "even I know/understand that". それが would most likely be omitted.

2. Used as a more complaining "but". A: そこにぜったいに行かせない B:だって!= A: I absolutely won't let you go there. B: But why!?

I believe what I stated is correct. Alas, I am a learner. So like always, some pro conformation is needed.
 
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I have big grief with だって. I was advised once that, in most cases, if it's used after a noun like a particle, think of it as "too"; if it's used at the beginning of a sentence, it's "but". There are also cases when I find it clearer to think of it as ordinary だ + suffix って indicating hearsay, insistence or some other nuance. I believe I was told once that all uses of だって have fundamentally the same etymology, but I am not yet able to "see" that.
 
It's better to differentiate between だって/でも as a particle and だって/でも as a conjunction, as eeky-san pointed out.

particle
彼だってできる。/彼でもできる。
Even he can do it.

彼もできる。
He can do it, too.


conjunction
あそこには行っちゃだめだよ。だって危ないからね。
You shouldn't go there, because it's dangerous.

あそこには行っちゃだめだよ。でも友達と一緒ならいいよ。
You shouldn't go there, but it's OK when with friends.


Thus, だって and でも are basically the same as a particle, but they are usually not interchangeable as a conjunction.

EDIT:
Oh, there is another だって as hearsay, of course.


One more thing, isn't 「だろう」 like 「でしょう」, but less formal?
だろう and でしょう are both "presumptive", so basically yes.
 
だって has a nuance of "even", as same as でも, でさえ, so it could sound rude/insulting for him. も doesn't have this nuance.
 
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