というのは
The meaning of X is…
Plain form verb/word というのは
An application of という is with のは, which leaves the Y part unsaid. というのは explains the meaning of a word or action. Because of this, it is narrower than は.
You can think of this phrase as meaning “means” if it helps.
Like という、というのは is frequently written as かな。
というのは is frequently used with ことだ.
Generally, the の in のは will mean “thing“, but it may also mean “reason“.
Examples
Thing:
- 忍者というのは耐え忍ぶ者だ – A ninja is someone who endures.
- 覚悟というのは、結果を受け入れる心構えだ – Resolve is the mental readiness to accept the consequences.
- はちみつといのは、蜂という虫がつくる甘い液体のことだ – Honey is a sweet liquid made by insects called bees.
- 物を盗むのは自分のことしか考えていないことだ – Stealing is only thinking about yourself.
Reason:
- 彼が学校に行けないというのは、いじめられているからだ
The reason he’s saying he can’t go to school is because he’s being bullied. - 猫が嫌いだ。というのは、子供の時にトラウマがあるんだ
I hate cats. The reason I say that is because I had some trauma when I was a kid.
Abbreviations
とは
The most common abbreviation of というのは is とは. this is very, very common.
This is also how you should search in Japanese for the meaning of a word.
- 辞書とは何ですか？ – What is “辞書”
- 彼とは何者ですか – Who exactly is he?
- 猫とは、可愛い動物のことだ – A cat is a cute animal.
って
As mentioned in という, the と particle in Japanese very commonly gets abbreviated to って when used as a direct quotation particle, such as with いう or 思う. In the case of いう、いう also tends to be dropped. This applies here as well, leading to these other variations:
- っていうのは
- ってのは
- って (yeah, just って）