93056
In Takagi-san, Chapter 141 (Volume 16), when they are having the graduation
ceremony, I came across the following panel:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5jbe.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5jbe.jpg)

I believe I understand most of this. In order:

  * "How was the graduation ceremony"
  * (This is the sentence I'm having trouble with)
  * "I guess it's already been a year since we became middle school students, that kind of feeling"
  * "Oh, I know what you mean"

I suppose the remaining two panels are of little impact to my question, which
is: what does どうっていわれてもな mean here? I believe the individual parts of the
sentence are:

どうって "how was it you say" 言われても "even if (I? you?) were told" (passive) な
sentence-ending particle

but I don't understand what this is supposed to mean? The english translation
given is "that's a hard question" (on MangaDex), but that makes no literal
sense to me either.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I couldn't find anything about this
as a specific expression, and I don't understand what this grammar means when
it stands alone.
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2022-01-22T00:46:42.923
93055
2022-01-22T01:02:45.567
48969
question
expressions particle-も passive-form
言われてもな as a standalone sentence
Yes, the literal translation is, "Even if I am told 'how (was the
ceremony)'...". Something like どう答えればいいか分からない or 返答に困る is omitted after this.
So "that's a hard question" correctly reflects the implied part.

In general, ～と言われても is kind of a set phrase used when the speaker is baffled
by some question/request.

  * 好きに生きろと言われても。  
I was told to live as I wish, but... (I'm helpless and at a loss)

  * そう言われましても…。  
Even if you say so... (I don't know what to do)
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-22T01:02:45.567
93056
2022-01-22T01:02:45.567
5010
93055
answer