Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 6: 24/24

で言(い)うと

In, Of, According to

Lit. “if you were to say... in (terms of)/as”

Structure

Noun + で言(い)うと

Details

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    Standard

  • 使用域

    一般

About で言うと

でいうと is an expression in Japanese that is commonly used to ask questions, or to give information about how one thing corresponds with another. It is a combination of the case marking particle で meaning 'with', and 言(い)うと meaning 'if said', or 'if we say'.
This structure will be seen after nouns, and can be translated as 'if said with (A), (B)'.
  • このバイクは、車(くるま)で言(い)うとランボルギーニみたいなものだ。
    If we say it's a car, this bike is something like a Lamborghini.
  • 日本(にほん)で言(い)うとパンみたいなもの？
    If we say Japan, is it something like bread? (Would this be considered bread in Japan)
  • 一言(ひとこと)で言(い)うと彼(かれ)は本当(ほんとう)に凄(すご)い人(ひと)だ。
    If said in a word, he is an amazing person.
でいうと will often be seen in sentences with に当(あ)たる 'to be equivalent to', another common grammar structure used for drawing connections between things.
  • 「What's up」は日本語(にほんご)でいうと、「元気(げんき)」に当(あ)たる。
    If said with Japanese, 'what's up' is equivalent to 'Genki'.
  • コンピューターでいうとRAMに当(あ)たる。
    If we say it's a computer, it is equivalent to Ram.
Fun Fact
一言(ひとこと)で言(い)うと is a set expression that means 'to put it in a word', 'in short', or 'to sum up'.
  • 一言(ひとこと)で言(い)うと彼(かれ)とはもう会(あ)わないことにした。
    To sum it up, I have decided to never see him again.

Examples

  • 西暦(せいれき)の２０１９年(ねん)は、令和(れいわ)で言(い)うと元年(がんねん)に当(あ)たります。

    The year 2019, on the western calendar, corresponds to the first year of Reiwa.

  • そのテレビは５０インチです。メートル法(ほう)で言(い)うとおよそ１２７センチです。

    That TV is 50 inches. This is about 127 centimeters in the metric system.

  • バイナリの１００１は十進数(じっしんすう)で言(い)うと、9に当(あ)たります。

    The binary 1001 corresponds to 9 in decimal.

    十進数 can also be read じゅっしんすう, and is especially used in spoken language.

  • 魚(さかな)のえらというのは人(ひと)で言(い)うと肺(はい)にあたる器官(きかん)だ。

    Fish gills are organs that correspond to lungs in humans.

  • 統計(とうけい)で言(い)うと、客(きゃく)の70%が観光客(かんこうきゃく)だ。

    According to statistics, 70% of customers are tourists.

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