Japanese with Manga

Nearly turning to ash with 〜ってば

Grammar Explanation: Insisting with 〜ってば

In a bedroom, Kumada leans on a bed and looks around, unsure where he is. Akagi kneels on the floor beside the bed, next to a washbasin and towel.
くまぐらし » Volume 3 » Page 61

Kumada, a section chief who avoids other people, has spent the night being dragged into one subordinate’s home after another. Worn out, he slumped on the steps by the station, where Akagi, another of his subordinates, found him. He passed out, and he has just woken up in a bed he doesn’t recognize.

熊田(くまだ):
「…どこだここ？」
“…Where am I?”
赤城(あかぎ):
「私(わたし)の家(いえ)です　係長(かかりちょう)ってば駅前(えきまえ)で灰(はい)になりかけてたんですよ」
“My place. Honestly, sir, you were about to turn to ash outside the station.”

Key Points

1Person ＋ ってば before a comment
  • 係長(かかりちょう)ってば makes Kumada the topic, and the rest of the sentence comments on him. The tone is “honestly, you…”: Akagi is half scolding, half teasing.
  • Kumada is right there listening. Japanese often uses a title like 係長(かかりちょう) where English would say “you”, so the comment is aimed straight at him.
2灰(はい)になりかけてた, “about to turn to ash”
  • 灰(はい)になる is “turn to ash”. The masu-stem plus かける means “start to” or “be on the verge of”, so なりかける is “almost become”.
  • かけてた is the casual form of かけていた, “was on the verge of”. On the previous pages, Kumada is drawn crumbling away like ash, a manga way of showing total exhaustion.
3んですよ
  • んです explains the situation, and よ tells Kumada something he doesn’t know. He doesn’t remember how he got here, so Akagi fills him in.

Vocabulary

(Where)

どこ asks what place something is in.

(Here)

ここ is the place where the speaker is.

(I)

私(わたし) means “I” or “me”. It is the standard first-person pronoun in polite speech and is also common in casual speech among women.

(House)

家(いえ) is a building where people live.

(Ash)

灰(はい) is ash, the powder left after something burns.

(To become)

なる is to change into a different state or become something. It also means something turns out a certain way. It is also written 成(な)る.

(To hang)

かける is to hang something up or put it over something else. It also means to spend time or money, to cause someone trouble, to make a phone call, and more. It is also written 掛(か)ける.

See Also

くまぐらし © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.