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In a recent question, we talked about using sentence-ending 〜だと after a verb, quoting something you found surprising. The example given in the linked question is as follows:

Ａ「なんでもします！」
Ｂ「なんでもするだと!?」

I'm curious what variations だと can take with this usage. I can think of four, substituting です for だ and substituting って for と:

  • だと
  • だって
  • ですと
  • ですって

Which of these variations are possible with this usage? Did I leave any variations out?

(Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to look this up. For some reason, dictionaries don't seem to list だと, even though its usage seems to be different from a simple combination of だ and と.)

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  • I think all of the 4 are possible with the context, though the last one would usually be used by a woman. :)
    – hello all
    Apr 20, 2014 at 13:52
  • @GreekFellows: ですって might be said by a male or female quoting someone in polite form: 『「....です」って』
    – Tim
    Apr 28, 2014 at 6:11

2 Answers 2

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You can add the standalone "～だ!?" or "～だぁ!?" to the list. It's even rougher than "～だと!?", and it's used almost exclusively in fiction.

何でもするだぁ!?

"～だと!?", "～だって!?", and "～ですって!?" are very common, at least in fiction. "～ですと !?" exists but it's rather rare and sounds a bit comical to me.

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「なんでもするの!?」can fit as well.

When you use these variations, you send a message that what you've just found is just too hard to believe and you want some kind of additional information or assistance that helps you accept it. They're almost like a question.

Therefore, not only「なんでもするの!?」 but also phrases like 「なんでもするんですか!?」「なんでもするって本当!?」can replace all the variations.

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