～と言えば

About

というと・といえば・といったら are all combinations of the と quotation marker and conditional forms of the verb 言いう, and have the following usages:

といえば in particular may be used to form "speaking of X"- type sentences:

E.g. 昨日きのうハンバーガーを作つくったよ。ハンバーガーといえば、駅えき前まえに新あたらしいShacky Shake ができたらしいよ。 "I made hamburgers yesterday. Speaking of hamburgers, apparently there's a new Shacky Shake in front of the station."

"X makes me think of Y"-type sentences:

E.g. 紅茶こうちゃといえばアールグレイですよね。 "If it's black tea (we're talking about) it's gotta be Earl Grey."

As well as "X is X, but Y"-type sentences:

E.g. お酒さけは飲のめるといえば飲のめるが、そんなに好すきではない。 "Yeah I can drink alcohol, but I don't really like it."

For this usage, ～といえば can be shortened to ～っちゃ in casual contexts:

E.g. 暑あついっちゃ暑あついけど、クーラーを点つけるほどじゃない。 "Sure it's hot, but it's not hot enough to turn the AC on."

Summary

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  といえば is a combination of the と quotation marker and the ば conditional form of the verb 言いう

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  といえば has usages: "speaking of X", "X makes me think of Y", and "X is X, but Y"

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  といえば's "X is X, but Y" pattern has the casual form「〜っちゃ」