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I came across the sentence, ともだちがいるってすてきだなあ. If someone could explain the いるって part, dictionary form+って, I'd appreciate it.

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「ともだちがいるってすてきだなあ。」

In this context,

「~~って」=「~~というのは」

In informal speech, 「~~って」 is used to present a word/phrase/sentence as a topic. Here, 「ともだちがいる」("that one has friends") is being presented as a topic (and the speaker is saying that 'it is nice').

Attention: This is not the quotative 「って」.

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  • So it is interchangeable with は and considered as informal? As in ともだち が いる は すてきだなあ。。。why we need が いる? What additional meaning it hold?
    – Alice28
    May 27, 2016 at 12:27
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    @Alice28 No, it's not. は following terminal forms of verbs has another function (though the standard orthography is わ) and in this case the sentence doesn't make sense. I think this って is still quotative and the nature of a topic marker mostly comes from the null marker after it. ともだちがいる means "there are friends / you have friends".
    – user4092
    May 27, 2016 at 17:01
  • True, my Japanese teacher said that って following a dictionary form can be used to present a word/phrase/sentence as a topic; however, it is not entirely equivalent to the regular topic particle は。 Now, って as a topic indicator is only used when the topic phrase has been mentioned by your opponent speaker, and the use of って is trying to remind the opponent speaker that I'm addressing something that you just said earlier.
    – user12028
    Sep 7, 2017 at 12:40

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