んだって

んだって is a casual, conversational expression used to report hearsay – something you heard from someone else. It translates to "I heard that…", "they say that…", or "he/she said that…" in English. It is the informal equivalent of ～んだそうだ or ～だそうです.

How to form it

• Verb (plain form)
  • んだって:
    たなか田中さん、らいしゅう来週ひっこす引っ越すんだって。

    I heard Tanaka is moving next week.
• い-adjective
  • んだって:
    あのみせ店のらあめんラーメン、すごくおいしいんだって。

    I heard the ramen at that shop is really good.
• な-adjective + な
  • んだって:
    あのせんせい先生、ゆうめい有名なんだって。

    I heard that teacher is famous.
• Noun + な
  • んだって:
    かれ彼、いしゃ医者なんだって。

    I heard he's a doctor.

For past tense verbs and adjectives, simply use the past plain form before んだって:

Usage notes

This expression is very casual and used primarily in spoken Japanese among friends and family. It is not appropriate for formal situations – use ～そうです or ～とのことです instead.

んだって is used when you are relaying information you just heard to a third person, like passing along gossip or news:

It can also carry a tone of surprise or interest about what you heard.

Difference from だって (alone)

Be careful not to confuse んだって with だって used at the beginning of a sentence, which means "but" or "because". In んだって, the んだ is the explanatory のだ (casual ん form), and って is the casual quotation particle (short for と言っていた).