I've noticed だと showing up after verbs for a while now in various forms of
media, such as blogs, anime, regular TV shows & also when speaking to Japanese
people. However, I was originally told that this grammar is incorrect, as だと
can only be used after nouns - so what is going on here?

An example from a manga/anime called Prince of Tennis: Character realises he
is about to get beaten up by another character - in a bid to stop it happening
he says: なんでもします! To which the other character replies (angrily) なんでもするだと！？
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2014-03-26T09:45:22.553
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2019-11-09T01:22:21.443
2016-02-13T08:19:53.857
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question
grammar meaning verbs
Usage (correctness) of だと after verbs
Your confusion appears to come from the fact that there are **two completely
different** 「だと」's.

1) When 「だと」 is used as the **colloquial form of 「であると」** , only nouns can
directly precede it. Here, the na-adjective stems are naturally included as
well.

> 「[花子]{はなこ}さんはとてもきれい **だと** [聞]{き}いている。」 = "I hear that Hanako is very
> pretty."
>
> 「[日本]{にほん}で[最]{もっと}も[住]{す}みやすい[町]{まち}は[横浜]{よこはま} **だと** [思]{おも}う。」 = "I
> think the town that is easiest to live in in Japan would be Yokohama."

2) 「だと」 as an **exclamatory quotative sentence-ender**. With this, you quote
basically the exact words that were said to you that you find surprising,
unexpected, etc. Since what someone says can end in any part of speech, all
kinds of words can directly precede the 「だと」. The best "translation" that I
could think of for this 「だと」 would be **"?!"** without any words.

> A:「なんでもします。[許]{ゆる}してください！」 = I'll do anything; Please forgive me!
>
> B:「なんでもする **だと** ？ なら[小指]{こゆび}よこせっ！」 = You'll do anything?! Gimme your
> pinky, then!

（なんちゅう会話やねん・・）
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2014-03-26T12:56:14.060
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2019-11-09T01:22:21.443
2019-11-09T01:22:21.443
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answer