について - Grammar Discussion

I just encountered this sentence in the wild that showcases both について and は:

ことみくんは私について何か言っていたかね

If you translate very literally:

As for (は) kotomi-kun, on the subject of (について) me, did he say something?

But in a less literal translation you’d probably just say:

Did kotomi-kun say something about me?

The は kind of disappears in this translation and kotomi-kun becomes the grammatical subject, but the について is still present in the “about”.

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