19594
I've been running into verbs such as 言わなくたって recently. I found [these
sentences](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6)
using a sample sentence search and it seems to be a stronger form of ～なくても

> 見てなく **たって** いいよ。 You don't have to stand over me.
>
> そんなトゲトゲしい言い方しなく **たって** いいだろう。 You don't have to use such a harsh tone with
> me.

Where can I find this in a dictionary? It doesn't seem to be [達て]{たって}, nor
the たって in 雨が降ったって出掛けるよ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2014-11-19T21:30:36.073
19593
2020-03-15T18:43:58.877
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
6820
question
verbs auxiliaries
How to parse ～なくたって?
This たって is the same as
[たって](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/137398/m0u/%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6/)
(≒even if, even though) in 雨が降ったって出掛けるよ. The difference is that なく (te-form of
ない) is inserted between the main verb (=言う) and たって. (And of course 言う is in
its nai-form before ない)

>   * 言わなくたって分かるよ。 Even if you don't say it, (I/he) can understand.
>   * 言ったって分からないよ。 Even if you say it, (I/he) can't understand.
>

The literal translation of 見てなくたって would be "Even if you are not seeing,
(it's) okay." The opposite is 見てたっていいよ, which is the contracted form of
見ていたっていいよ.

And the negated version of 雨が降ったって is 雨が降らなくたって.

> 雨が降らなくたって傘を持っていくよ。
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-19T22:06:56.240
19594
2014-11-19T22:13:52.093
2014-11-19T22:13:52.093
5010
5010
19593
answer
Here is a linguistic supplement to @naruto's answer:

This 「たって」 connects to the 連用形{れんようけい} (continuative form) of words. This is
not immediately clear because of the euphonic changes that take place.

This is what happens when 「たって」 connects to 「言う」:

> //iwu//の連用形＋//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { inflect }  
>  //iwi//＋//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { //i// in //wi// devoices; consonant-consonant sequence //wt// repairs
> to //tt// }  
>  //ittatte//

This is what happens when 「たって」 connects to 「言わない」:

> //iwanai//の連用形＋//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { inflect }  
>  //iwanaku//＋//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { combine; no devoicing or euphonic changes }  
>  //iwanakutatte//

So it's essentially the same construction from the agglutinative perspective,
just muddled a little by the euphonic changes which happen in the first case.

# Bonus Content

You may ask: "Why is it //iwanakutatte// instead of //iwanakattatte//?"

Basically, this comes down to the syntactic status of 「たって」.

「た」 is a 助動詞{じょどうし} (auxiliary), while 「たって」 is a 接続助詞{せつぞくじょし} (conjunctive
particle).

When you connect 助動詞 to 形容詞{けいようし} (i-adjective) (or a 助動詞 which inflects like
a 形容詞), you need to insert a dummy verb //aru// which handles the 助動詞.

> **形容詞「高い」 connecting to the 助動詞「た」**
>
> //takai//の連用形＋（//aru//の連用形＋//ta//）  
>  ⇒ { inflect //aru// }  
>  //takai//の連用形＋（//ari//+//ta//)  
>  ⇒ { //i// in //ri// devoices; CC sequence //rt// repairs to //tt// }  
>  //takai//の連用形＋//atta//  
>  ⇒ { inflect //takai// }  
>  //takaku//+//atta//  
>  ⇒ { //kua// compresses into //ka// }  
>  //takakatta//
>
> **助動詞「ない」 connecting to the 助動詞「た」**
>
> //iwanai//の連用形＋（//aru//の連用形＋//ta//）  
>  ⇒ { inflect //aru// }  
>  //iwanai//の連用形＋（//ari//+//ta//)  
>  ⇒ { //i// in //ri// devoices; CC sequence //rt// repairs to //tt// }  
>  //iwanai//の連用形＋//atta//  
>  ⇒ { inflect //takai// }  
>  //iwanaku//+//atta//  
>  ⇒ { //kua// compresses into //ka// }  
>  //iwanakatta//

However, with a 接続助詞 like 「て」 or 「たって」, there is no need for the dummy verb
//aru// with 形容詞:

> **形容詞「高い」 connecting to the 接続助詞「て」**
>
> //takai//の連用形＋//te//  
>  ⇒ { inflect }  
>  //takaku//+//te//  
>  ⇒ { combine }  
>  //takakute//
>
> **形容詞「高い」 connecting to the 接続助詞「たって」**
>
> //takai//の連用形+//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { inflect }  
>  //takaku//+//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { combine }  
>  //takakutatte//
>
> **助動詞「ない」 connecting to the 接続助詞「たって」**
>
> //iwanai//の連用形＋//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { inflect }  
>  //iwanaku//＋//tatte//  
>  ⇒ { combine }  
>  //iwanakutatte//
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-19T22:58:09.347
19595
2014-11-19T23:44:20.770
2014-11-19T23:44:20.770
3097
3097
19593
answer