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オレは泳いでだって行くぜ

This sentence is from episode 9 of Digimon Adventure.

The character's brother is supposedly lost on another island and he says that.

The prior sentence for context:

空も飛べないのにどうやってさがしに行くんだよ

I want to know if that is equivalent to 泳いでも.

1 Answer 1

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It is rather equivalent to 泳いででも(te-form of 泳ぐ + でも).

Specifically, the だって means:

[係助]《断定の助動詞「だ」に係助詞「とて」の付いた「だとて」の音変化という》名詞・副詞、一部の助詞に付く。「でも」に似るが、語調がより強い。 1 ある事柄を例示し、それが他と同類、または、同様であるという意を表す。…もやはり。…でも。「鯨―人間の仲間だ」「ここから―見える」


I think, at least in most cases, 'te-form+だって' is translatable to even by/even if (subj) have to ....

  • 泳いでだって行く I'll go even if I have to swim (even by swimming).
  • 一万円払ってだって食べる価値がある It is worth eating even if I have to pay 10000 yen.
  • 人を殺してだって生き延びたい (I) want to survive even by committing murders

All だって can be replaced by でも.

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