14

I know that "tant'è che" means "so much that" or "moreover", but this translation doesn't fit in this passage:

"[...]E lei invece si chiama Maria, è mia cugina. Ci andavo d'accordo da piccola, ora la trovo molto antipatica. Ma tant'è...

Comunque...[...]"

What does "ma tant'è" mean here?

1
  • I am not sure that "tant'è che" means "so much that".
    – mario
    Nov 22, 2022 at 23:31

5 Answers 5

13

"Tant'è" literally means "so much it is". If that is all that you can say about a situation it probably means that there is really little worth adding. You just accept the situation as it is, whether it be nice or ugly.

12

I think you received pretty good explanations of what "ma tant'è" is suppose to mean but the translations are quite literal and don't sound right to me.

The best translation I can come up with is: "but yeah.. It is what it is", which is something I've heard from native English speakers.

6

Used like this, tant'è is just an idiom meaning “what's the good?” or “...and there's an end to it”, i.e., when one acknowledges a situation one more or less disapproves of and that apparently cannot be changed.

1

When used at the end of the phrase the exact translation should be "but so be it."

e.g:

"Oggi è brutto tempo, ma tant'è". "Today the weather is bad, but so be it".

-1

It appears to mean 'in any event'/'in any case'.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/italian-english/tanto

there they have 'tanto è'

1
  • Thanks! could you please elaborate on how is it different? Jun 21, 2022 at 22:15

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