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The sentence in question:

借金が雪だるま式に増えてってるって噂だよ

My best guess is that the first って is a contracted from of いる. Whatever it is that we're addressing seems to be suffering from a financial crisis. Then why not put it like 「増えているって噂だよ」, rather than what it is?

1 Answer 1

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This 増えてってる is a contraction of 増えてってる (or 増えてってる).

Here いって(い)る is the progressive of the subsidiary verb いく. (This verb derives from 行く, but being a subsidiary verb is usually written in kana.)

Attaching to a main verb (here 増える) it characterizes the action described by this verb as ongoing or as getting stronger.

借金が雪だるま式に増えてってるって噂だよ

people say that debt keeps on multiplying like a snowball effect, but that's not true


For more general information about subsidiary verbs see What is a subsidiary verb?

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  • Thanks for a quick and clear reply! That subsidiary いく totally slipped my mind, and now I got it under my belt.
    – grandpha
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 8:08

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