つまり結論をいうとね。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

This is the bottom line.

What is the breakdown of this sentence? Or, is it a common saying?

#2

@ericaw
The Japanese sentence sounds very natural.

  • (私は)結論を言う。= I tell you the conclusion.

  • ⇒ 結論を言うと(ね)、= Let me tell you the conclusion: that is… (Note: ね is a common interjection mainly to soften the tone in a casual way)

  • ⇒ つまり結論を言うと(ね)、= Let me cut the crap and tell you the conclusion:… (Note: つまり is a conjunction, and it means “in short”, “to rephrase this with shorter words”, or “so, my point is…”)

つまり結論を言うとね、isn’t a full sentence, but a clause. That’s why I used 読点（、）instead of 句点（。） My alternative translation in English is:

Well, the bottom line is that…

The connotation is “I’m now informing you of a bad thing in a straightforward way” (e.g. you are fired; your proposed idea won’t work out etc.)

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#3
English Translation

To cut to the chase…

Could I use the particle からinstead of を – would the sentence still make sense?

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