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I've had a teacher flatly tell me that とっても is incorrect, but I do see it
written here and there and I'm pretty sure I hear it as well. Is it just so
informal relative to とても that I should never use it in a classroom or on
schoolwork?
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2011-06-08T12:17:41.997
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2012-07-01T19:15:45.810
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word-choice pronunciation spelling adverbs
とっても versus とても
とっても is a spoken variant of とても, just like すんごい is a spoken variant of すごい and
あんまり is a spoken variant of あまり. If you're writing a paper or speaking in a
formal setting, it's better to use とても.
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2011-06-08T12:21:42.357
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とっても is just a strong form of とても according to
[大辞泉](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%82%82&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=0&pagenum=1&index=16191913370900),
so both are correct.

It has similar pronunciation (may be a bit different intonation) with 取っても, so
may be it could confuse some.

But usage of とっても can be found since 昭和３０年（1955) (at least) from this song
called

> [月がとっても青いから](http://duarbo.air-nifty.com/songs/2007/08/post_5c1e.html) by
> [菅原
> 都々子](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8F%85%E5%8E%9F%E9%83%BD%E3%80%85%E5%AD%90)
> (すがわら つづこ)

So, I believe you can use it most of the time but if the place you are going
to use demand too formal, you may need to use non-strong one とても. But I doubt
most people would not care or even notice it unless they are tracking you like
in your case.
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2011-06-08T12:23:54.963
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2011-06-08T14:35:26.287
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It's like the difference between really and reeeeally. とっても is not incorrect,
but it might be a little colloquial to use in a classroom, depending on the
teacher. It's even in my dictionary with a couple of examples. In the
dictionary it says 「とても」を強めていう語, it makes とても stronger.

> とってもおいしい - reeeallly tasty!  
>  だめだなんて僕にはとっても言えない - There's no way I could say that!

**Bonus** Here's an episode from an anime called
[とっても！タッキーマン](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tottemo!_Luckyman)
on YouTube  
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5mxNYnimE>
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2011-06-08T12:29:31.810
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2011-06-08T13:22:58.077
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Generally, とっても gives a stronger emphasis to what you're describing, but it
can be "too strong" in certain situations, such as formal and semi-formal
situations(even with new friends) and real writing.

On the other hand, it's generally A-OK to use とても in any situation, though for
more formal situations, you might want to substitute the word out with
大変（たいへん）.
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2011-06-08T13:41:54.297
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