Talking about talk
Words for handling what's said: quoting it, raising a related topic, naming the subject, summing it up.
-tte
(said / thought) that
って
Spoken quote marker after anything said, thought, heard or asked, followed by iu, omou, kiku and the like ('kuru tte itta'). Works the same in desu/masu speech; to is the written/formal quote marker. Sentence-final, it reports hearsay: 'ashita ame da tte' = 'I hear it'll rain'.
kuru tte itteta yo.
He said he's coming.
来るって言ってたよ。
kuru tte ittemashita yo.
He said he's coming.
来るって言ってましたよ。
After n it shrinks to te: 'nan te itta?' (nan + tte) = 'what did he say?'
sou ieba
oh yeah; come to think of it
そういえば
Brings up something that just came to mind, linked to the conversation or not; the natural way to switch topics mid-chat.
sou ieba, ashita yasumi?
Oh yeah, are you off tomorrow?
そういえば、明日休み？
sou ieba, ashita wa yasumi desu ka?
By the way, are you off tomorrow?
そういえば、明日は休みですか？
For a deliberate change of subject with no reminder, tokorode ('by the way').
Learn first: sou
-ni tsuite
about; concerning
について
Attaches to a noun to name the topic of talking, thinking, asking or knowing ('nihon ni tsuite kiku'); small talk often uses no koto instead.
sore ni tsuite, nanka kiiteru?
Have you heard anything about that?
それについて、なんか聞いてる？
sore ni tsuite, nanika kiitemasu ka?
Have you heard anything about that?
それについて、何か聞いてますか？
Before a noun it takes no: 'nihon ni tsuite no hon'.
tsumari
in other words; basically
つまり
Rephrases or sums up what was said; with '...tte koto?' it checks that you understood.
tsumari, konai tte koto?
So basically, you're not coming?
つまり、来ないってこと？
tsumari, konai tte koto desu ka?
So you mean you're not coming?
つまり、来ないってことですか？