connective N3 common casualpolitewritten
といえば — speaking of ~
といえば
Meaning
- speaking of ~ / when it comes to ~ — picks up a word just mentioned and brings up what it evokes
Key sentence
京都といえば、お寺が有名だ。
Speaking of Kyoto, the temples are famous.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun or plain-form clause | N / [clause(plain)] + といえば | 夏といえば / 行くといえば |
Variants
と言えば — Same word written with the kanji 言.
Examples
夏といえば、やっぱり花火だ。
When you think of summer, it's got to be fireworks.
田中さんといえば、最近全然見かけないね。
Speaking of Tanaka, I haven't seen him at all lately.
Easily confused with
というと Nearly interchangeable. といえば leans toward free association — the first thing a word brings to mind. というと leans toward confirmation or definition: 'when you say X, do you mean…?' といったら といえば is a neutral topic shift. といったら adds emotional emphasis, often leading into an extreme or exclamatory comment ('the sheer ~ of it!'). そういえば といえば develops a word someone just said. そういえば marks a sudden recollection — a new thought that pops up, often changing the subject entirely.
See といえば in real sentences
Jengo shows といえば the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.