verbs - How to parse ～なくたって?

I've been running into verbs such as 言わなくたって recently. I found these sentences using a sample sentence search and it seems to be a stronger form of ～なくても

見てなくたっていいよ。 You don't have to stand over me.

そんなトゲトゲしい言い方しなくたっていいだろう。 You don't have to use such a harsh tone with me.

Where can I find this in a dictionary? It doesn't seem to be [達て]{たって}, nor the たって in 雨が降ったって出掛けるよ

Answer

This たって is the same as たって (≒even if, even though) in 雨が降ったって出掛けるよ. The difference is that なく (te-form of ない) is inserted between the main verb (=言う) and たって. (And of course 言う is in its nai-form before ない)

• 言わなくたって分かるよ。 Even if you don't say it, (I/he) can understand.


• 言ったって分からないよ。 Even if you say it, (I/he) can't understand.

The literal translation of 見てなくたって would be "Even if you are not seeing, (it's) okay." The opposite is 見てたっていいよ, which is the contracted form of 見ていたっていいよ.

And the negated version of 雨が降ったって is 雨が降らなくたって.

雨が降らなくたって傘を持っていくよ。