My Korean Grammar & Usage Note #11: -다고 하다 Reported Speech (I)

01 (Someone) said that…

For adjectives/있다/없다, we use -다고 하다 to convey someone’s speech to another.
It is added directly to the adjective stem, or ‘있다/없다’, regardless of whether the stem ends in a vowel or a consonant (with/without batchim).

Adjective/ 있다/ 없다 + 다고 하다

좋다 (to be good) 좋다고 하다
비싸다 (to be expensive) 비싸다고 하다
멀다 (to be far) 멀다고 하다
바쁘다 (to be busy) 바쁘다고 하다
피곤하다 (to be tired) 피곤하다고 하다
있다 (to have) 있다고 하다

 

려욱: “날씨가 추워요.”
→ 려욱 씨가 날씨가 춥다고 했어요.
ryeouk ssiga nalssiga chupttago haesseoyo
Ryeo Wook said that the weather was cold.

동해: “요즘 바빠요.”
→ 동해 씨가 요즘 바쁘다고 했어요.
donghae ssiga yojeum bappeudago haesseoyo
Dong Hae said that he was busy recently.

성민: “피곤해요.”
→ 성민 씨가 피곤하다고 했어요.
seongmin ssiga pigonhadago haesseoyo
Sung Min said that he was tired.

02 (Someone) says that…

We use the present tense ‘-다고해요’ to express general, well-known fact or rumor.

그 영화가 재미있다고 해요.
geu yeonghwaga jaemiitttago haeyo
Someone says that the movie is interesting.

김치가 건강에 좋다고 해요.
gimchiga geongange jotago haeyo
Someone says that Kimchi is good for health.

그 식당이 아주 유명하다고 해요.
geu sikdangi aju yumyeonghadago haeyo
Someone says that restaurant is very famous.

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