to と= unquote

There's a to と meaning "unquote". It is used with verbs like "say" or "think" after the words said or thought:

dame to だめ と itta いった "dame" said said "dame" said no

shinu to しぬ と と omotta おもった "going to die" thought = I thought I was going to die

Note that in English, if you think "I'm going to die", and then later you tell me what you thought, you say "I though I was going to die", with "was", not "is". In Japanese the words you thought are unchanged. If you thought "shinu", then you say "I thought 'shinu'". Simple.

The quoted words may be literal words or not, as long as they have the same sense. When the final verb is itta いった "said", it can be omitted:

yatsu wa やつ は nann to なん と that sucker what unquote = what did he say?

shikaketa hann'ninn'ni houfukushita nnda しかけた はんにんに ほうふくした んだ to と shikaketa han'nin'ni houhukusita nda unquote he said "shikaketa hann'ninn'ni houhukushita nnda"

In manga, the contraction tte って often replaces "to itte" or "to itta".

to と= "if"
to と

Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/NET/manga/tocomilla.en.html
Last revised: 2008-10-02