Japanese with Manga

Not going camping with 〜ってば

Grammar Explanation: Insisting with 〜ってば

In an apartment living room, Kumada, a young man in glasses, stands and objects with his hands raised. His boss, an older man with slicked-back hair, sits on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, smiling with his eyes closed.
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Kumada’s boss has shown up at his apartment uninvited to ask him on a company camping trip next week. Kumada refuses on the spot, listing the risks involved. His boss just answers that camping is fun.

上司(じょうし):
「では熊田(くまだ)さくっとプランを決(き)めちゃうか」
“Well then, Kumada, let's hammer out the plan real quick.”
熊田(くまだ):
「俺(おれ)は行(い)きませんってば」
“I told you, I'm not going.”

Key Points

1Restating a refusal with ってば
  • Kumada has said no more than once, and his boss is moving on to planning anyway. Adding ってば turns the refusal into “I told you”.
  • ってば can follow a polite sentence. 行(い)きません stays polite toward his boss, but the impatience comes through.
2俺(おれ)は, “I’m the one not going”
  • は sets 俺(おれ) apart as the topic. Whatever the others do, Kumada is staying home.
3さくっと決(き)めちゃうか
  • さくっと means doing something quickly and without fuss.
  • 決(き)めちゃう is the casual contraction of 決(き)めてしまう, “go ahead and decide”. Ending with か turns it into a breezy “shall we?”, as if Kumada had already agreed.

Vocabulary

(Plan)

プラン is a plan or scheme for doing something, such as a trip, an event, or a project. It also names a package or plan offered by a business, like a phone plan.

(To decide)

決(き)める is to decide or settle something.

(I)

俺(おれ) means “I” or “me”. Men commonly use it in casual speech, and it sounds rougher and more masculine than 私(わたし) or 僕(ぼく).

(To go)

行(い)く means to go or move toward a place away from the speaker.

See Also

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