In the song "光るなら" there is a lyric that is:

"君だよ、君なんだよ"

When I translate it, it translates to: It was you, It was you!

Another example is in this lyric from the song "Centimeter" :

"運命なんて言えない"

Which translates to: I can't tell fate. But without the "なん" it seems like the
same thing.

I think that it's changing the delivery of the sentence rather than the
meaning, like ね or よ.

Thanks ☺️
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2023-03-01T18:36:44.863
98754
2023-03-02T03:15:45.007
55914
question
meaning usage
What does the "なん" mean in: "君なんだよ"?
なんだ and なんて are different things.

  * This なんだ is an informal variant of なのだ, which is explained in this answer: [What is the meaning of ～んです/～のだ/etc?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5398/5010)

Grammatically, it's made of three words, な + ん + だ, where な is the attributive
form of the copula だ, ん is the noun called "explanatory-no", and だ is another
copula. The literal translation of "君だよ、君なんだよ" is "It is you, it is that it is
you".

  * As for this なんて, see: [Usage of なんて and なんか as emphasis](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/421/5010)
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2023-03-02T00:54:52.230
98762
2023-03-02T00:54:52.230
5010
98754
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This question is difficult even if I am Japanese...

In the first expression, なん is used to enphasize the phrase with strong
feeling like anger, sadness, expectation and so on. If I translate, "It is
you. It is really you！" However, we do not usually use this type of enphasis.

Speaking of the second one, difficult. We can say 運命とは言えない, 運命などと言えない instead,
but why we choose one of these? I do not know, either. lol Anyway, I think we
donot use this type of phrase as the first one. Only used in songs, literature
and so on. Normally, we say 運命とは言えない or 運命とは思わない instead. translate: I cannot
say it is fate.
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2023-03-02T02:27:04.933
98764
2023-03-02T02:27:04.933
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If you are a beginning student of Japanese, I suggest that, for now, you think
of these as two different " _nans_ " and learn them separately.

The first _nan_ is common and is used for emphasis. K-Yuuma's translation is
very good. In other words, "It's you. It's _really_ you." This _nan_ is used
commonly when there's an expectation that the people talking share the same
information. So, another way to translate it might be "It's you. It's _you_
[You know that's how I feel--I've demonstrated it or told you before]. Here's
another example: think of a song where a women says she's going to leave a
man. The man says "You can't leave me. I love you. You _know_ I love you!"
That is the function of _nan_ in the your first example—to emphasize the
speaker's emotions. Both of us _know_ I love you! (or that _**you**_ are the
_**one**_ for me!)

The second case is different. In this case, the _nan_ still conveys emotion.
But it carries a sense of disbelief or dismissiveness.

"I can't say it's fate" might be a way to translate it, but this fails to
convey all of the nuance.

What they mean is "It _might_ be fate, but I [just can't believe it]. Or [You
might think it's fate, but I'm not so sure]. Or [People might call it fate,
but who the heck are they to say? I don't really know the reason, but it
_ain't fate_ , that's for sure].
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2023-03-02T03:15:45.007
98766
2023-03-02T03:15:45.007
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98754
answer