-(느)ㄴ다고 하다
say that — reporting a statement
The first of Korean’s four reported-speech forms. Whatever politeness level the speaker used, the report strips it back to the plain form and adds 고 하다.
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When to use it
The rule has two steps. First, convert the sentence to plain style: verbs take -ㄴ다/-는다, adjectives stay as the dictionary form, and 이다 becomes -(이)라. Then add 고 하다.
So 가요 becomes 간다고 해요, 좋아요 becomes 좋다고 해요, and 학생이에요 becomes 학생이라고 해요. That last one is the irregular member of the family and the most commonly missed.
The politeness of the original disappears completely. Whether your friend said 가 or 갑니다, you report it as 간다고 했어요 — the politeness now attaches to 하다, aimed at whoever you are speaking to.
In speech it contracts: -대요 for present, -았/었대요 for past. 간대요, 좋대요, 갔대요.
How to attach it
| Word type | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb, vowel stem | -ㄴ다고 하다 | 가다 → 간다고 해요 |
| Verb, consonant stem | -는다고 하다 | 먹다 → 먹는다고 해요 |
| Verb, ㄹ stem | ㄹ drops | 만들다 → 만든다고 해요 |
| Adjective | -다고 하다 | 좋다 → 좋다고 해요 |
| 이다 | -(이)라고 하다 | 학생이라고 해요 |
| Past | -았/었다고 하다 | 갔다고 해요 |
| Spoken contraction | -대요 | 간대요 / 좋대요 |
In use
친구가 내일 부산에 간다고 했어요.
My friend said he’s going to Busan tomorrow.
동생이 배가 고프다고 해요.
My younger sibling says he’s hungry.
그 사람이 한국어 선생님이라고 했어요.
He said he’s a Korean teacher.
어머니가 김치를 직접 만든다고 하셨어요.
My mother said she makes kimchi herself.
뉴스에서 내일 비가 온다고 했어요.
The news said it’ll rain tomorrow.
그 영화 정말 재미있대요.
Apparently that movie is really good.
Compared with
-(이)라고 하다
The noun branch you met at level 1. It names things; this one reports whole sentences. They share the same 라고 shape for 이다, which is why 학생이라고 해요 can mean both “it’s called a student” and “he said he’s a student.”
이건 김치라고 해요. (it’s called kimchi) / 학생이라고 했어요. (he said he’s a student)
-(으)라고 하다
Statements take -(느)ㄴ다고; commands take -(으)라고. Confusing the two turns a report of what someone said into a report of what they ordered.
간다고 했어요. (he said he’s going) / 가라고 했어요. (he told me to go)
Direct quotation
To quote word for word, Korean uses -라고 하다 with the original sentence intact. This keeps the speaker’s politeness level.
“내일 갈게요”라고 했어요. (quoted) / 내일 간다고 했어요. (reported)
Watch out
동생이 배가 고프는다고 해요.
동생이 배가 고프다고 해요.
고프다 is an adjective, so it keeps the dictionary form. Only verbs take -ㄴ다/-는다.
그 사람이 선생님이다고 했어요.
그 사람이 선생님이라고 했어요.
이다 is irregular here: it becomes -(이)라고, not -이다고. This is the single most common slip in reported speech.
어머니가 김치를 만들는다고 하셨어요.
어머니가 김치를 만든다고 하셨어요.
Stems ending in ㄹ drop it before -ㄴ다, exactly as in the plain declarative.
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