Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 3: 17/22

についてConcerning, About, Regarding

Structure

Noun + について
Noun + について + の + Noun

Details

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  • Rare Kanji

    付いて

About について

について is a combination of the case marking particle に, the verb う - Verb 就(つ)く 'to assume a position', and the conjunction particle て. It is most often translated as 'about (A)', or 'concerning (A)', with the literal translation being closer to 'taking the position of (A)', or 'assuming the topic of (A)'.

について may be used after nouns, or noun-phrases (phrases that use こと, の, etc).

について may also appear before の + noun. In this use, it means '(A) that is about (B)'.

Caution

It is rare to see について actually using the kanji 就(つ). について itself is regularly considered as a single compound word, rather than a combination of its parts.

Examples

--:--

    この問題(もんだい)について、誰(だれ)かに話(はな)しましたか。

    Have you talked to anyone about this problem? (concerning)

    火災(かさい)について、訓練(くんれん)をするべきです。

    There should be training regarding fires. (about)

    震災(しんさい)についての情報(じょうほう)を教(おし)えてもらった。

    I was taught information regarding earthquake disasters. (concerning)

    原因(げんいん)についてはまだ調査中(ちょうさちゅう)です。

    Regarding the cause, we are still investigating. (concerning・about)

    明日(あした)の持(も)ち物(もの)についてお伝(つた)えします。

    You will be informed about what to bring tomorrow. (regarding)

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について – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (20 in total)

  • amph1ptere

    amph1ptere

    Also the first question I asked myself when I saw this grammar point. Does anyone have any insight into the nuance between は and について specifically? I don’t think it’s been answered elsewhere in this thread.

  • simias

    simias

    「について」と「は」について：

    Hopefully someone with deeper knowledge of the language will chime in but I think this confusion only arises because sometimes people translate Japanese は as “regarding X” or “concerning X” etc… which are also translations for について.

    But that’s kind of misleading in this case because we only translate は that way when we want to emphasize the grammatical role of は in a sentence. It’s rarely the proper way to translate it into English. For instance you would only translate 彼は日本人です as “regarding him, he’s Japanese” if you were looking to really break down the grammar, it’s not a correct and natural translation of the Japanese. A more natural translation would simply be “he’s Japanese”.

    On the other hand 彼について、日本人です would actually mean “on the topic of him, he’s Japanese” or something to that effect. It’s a lot more “forceful” and literal as a way to set the topic.

    As an example you look at the titles for this podcast for beginners:

  • simias

    simias

    I just encountered this sentence in the wild that showcases both について and は:

    ことみくんは私について何か言っていたかね

    If you translate very literally:

    As for (は) kotomi-kun, on the subject of (について) me, did he say something?

    But in a less literal translation you’d probably just say:

    Did kotomi-kun say something about me?

    The は kind of disappears in this translation and kotomi-kun becomes the grammatical subject, but the について is still present in the “about”.

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