といったら・
An outcry about how extreme something is: the beauty, the heat, the mess. After といったら comes a detail that shows it. といったらない ends the sentence with no detail: "beyond words".
a detail follows
The beauty of the sunrise from the summit was beyond words.
the sentence ends there
A packed train in midsummer is unbearably hot.
With a detail after it
Noun + といったら、+ what shows how extreme it is
The noun names what struck you, often an adjective with さ: 美しさ, 寒さ. The detail often ends in ほどだ. In conversation: ったら.
Ending the sentence
Noun／い-adjective + といったらない
暑さといったらない and 暑いといったらない say the same. Past: といったらなかった. In conversation: ったらない.
- Tone
- Amazed, and a little theatrical. Pleased or fed up, either way.
- Where you'll meet it
- Telling someone about a thing you met for yourself: in conversation, an essay, a travel piece, a novel. Not in a report.
In use
You wouldn't believe how crowded the venue was yesterday. We could barely move forward.
The day before the deadline was so hectic that I didn't even have time for lunch.
That restaurant's curry was so spicy that my mouth still hurt after three glasses of water.
You've only just moved in, and it needs cleaning already?
You should have seen the mess the previous tenant left in the kitchen…
B stops at ったら, and the rest goes without saying.
といったらない ends the sentence
With ない on the end the outcry is complete. This ない denies nothing: 美しさといったらない says the beauty is beyond words, not that there is none.
The glow of the dawn sky from the summit was beautiful beyond words.
The wind by the sea in winter is bitterly cold.
The building work next door is unbelievably noisy.
About something that is over, といったらなかった tells it as a story. Plain ない works too: the outcry is made now, looking back.
I can't tell you how happy I was to see my friend again after ten years.
といったらありゃしない is blunter, and mostly a complaint.
How was yesterday's meeting?
Nothing but pointless talk. I can't tell you how boring it was.
Close neighbours
After a word that isn't a quality, such as a town or a festival, といったら has no outcry in it. It says what the word brings to mind: "speaking of…", "when it comes to…".
When it comes to this town's festival, the drumming at night is the best part.
ことといったらN3
The same outcry built on the adjective itself, with の and こと: 部屋の狭いこと, "how small the room is".
You wouldn't believe how small this room is. There isn't even space to open a suitcase.
ったらN2
After a person, ったら is a sigh about them, not an outcry about degree: "honestly, that …".
Honestly, Misaki's forgotten her wallet again.
Check yourself
1What does this mean?
一人で
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one fits?
昨日の
Choose an answer to see why.
More sentences
I was so embarrassed when I forgot my lines on my first night on stage that my face still burns when I think of it.
The train was so late this morning that it would almost have been quicker to walk from the station to the office.
I can't tell you how nervous I was on the day of the exam.
The stars seen from this inn's open-air bath are beautiful beyond words.