How do you say 'I said that she was happy' in Korean: using ~는 다고

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In Korean, to include a quote in a sentence, we can use the construction "~ㄴ/는 다고" (~n/neun dago). 

For example, if someone wanted to quote someone's statement that "He likes music," they could say it as "그는 음악을 좋아 한다고 했어요".

For a more detailed explanation, let's start learning now!

Quoting in Korean (~ㄴ/는 다고)

In Korean, quoting a word or sentence can be done using the ~는 것 principle. For example, if I say:

I know (that) he went to the park

For that, we can use the principle of ~는 것 to make this sentence in Korean:

나는 그가 공원 에 간 것을 알았다 

I know (that) he went to the park

If I changed the word "know" to "say", people would think I would write it like this:

나는 그가 공원 에 간 것을 말했다

(I said he went to the park)

However, this is not the correct way of quoting in Korean. The way to write the quoted sentence is still the same as the sentence ~ 는 것, but ~ 는 것 is not used. Let's look at an example:

나는 그가 공원 에 가 ???? 말했다

I think he went to the park to ???? said

Before going any deeper, let's remember the grammatical principles of the most basic conjugate form (low respect formal form). The basic conjugation forms for verbs are as follows:

• 한다 / 간다 / 먹는다
• 했다 / 갔다 / 먹었다
• 하겠다 / 가겠다 / 먹겠다

If we want to quote someone else's sentence, then after the person's sentence is conjugated to the base form, we must add "고" at the end of the sentence. For example:

• 한다고
• 간다고
• 먹는다고

Let's look at the following explanation:

나는 그 여자가 공항에 간 것을 말 했다

I said that woman went to the airport 

VS

나는 그여자가 공항 갔다고 말했다

I said that woman went to the airport

Keep in mind that 가다 in the quoted part of the sentence will be conjugated into the past tense. This is done because the sentence is "I said he went to the airport." See a comparison of the following two sentences:

나는 그녀가 미국에 간다고 말했다

I said she goes to America

VS

나는 그녀가 미국에 가겠고 말했다

I said she will go to America

Note also that we can change 말했다 to the present or future tense which means "to say" or "to say":

Sentence that make meaning 'I'll tell him you'll come' in Korean

Actually, because adding ~ ㄴ / 는다고 to this sentence shows that the sentence is a quotation, therefore we don't need to say "말하다", instead we can say "하다" at the end of the sentence like the example below:

그는 먹지 않았다고 했어요

(He said he didn't eat)

저는 울지 않았다고 했어요

(I said I didn't cry)

Quoting with Adjectives: ~ 다고

There are a number of things that need to be considered before addressing the subject of this discussion:

• 좋아 하다 (Not 좋아 한다)
• 슬프다 (Not 슬픈 다)

When connecting adjectives in this tense into the past tense, what we need to do is the following:

• 피곤 했다
• 멈췄다
• 지었다

So, when quoting a sentence that ends with an adjective, we are using the same basic conjugations. Let's look at a few examples:

슬기 씨 는 올해 데뷔 했을 때 너무 행복 했다고 했어요

(Seulgi said that she was very happy when she made her debut this year)

저는 밥 을 먹었을 때 엄마 가 제 차 알람 이 울린다 고 했어요

(While I was eating, my mom said my car alarm went off).

You can learn what the 때 function is and how to use it here.

What you should also remember is that 있다 / 없다 and 싶다 act as adjectives, and therefore, have to be conjugated as such. As an example:

나는 새로운 가방 을 사고 싶다고 했어
(I said that I wanted to buy a new bag)

나는 공항 에 있다고 했지만 아무도 안 왔어
(I said I was at the airport, but nobody came)

Also note that when using ~ ㄹ 수 있다 / 없다 and 있다 / 없다, where 수 is "ability". Therefore, this form must also be conjugated as an adjective:

예지 는 춤춤 할 수 있다고 했어요
(Yeji said he can dance)

저는 차 를 운전할 수 없다고 했어요
(I said I can't drive the car)

Quote the sentence in a future tense

We can use the ~ ㄹ 것이다 form. The word ~ 것이다 is the conjugation of the noun 것 and 이다. Let's look at the following example sentences:

나는 떡뽁이 를 요리 할 것이다

"이다" can be quoted by doing the following:

나는 떡뽁이 를 요리할 것이라고 했다

(I said that I will cook rice cakes)

Or

나는 떡뽁이 를 요리할 거라고 했다

(I said I'll eat)

Note that "것" can be shortened to "거", and is often done when using this future conjugation. Also note that "이" is omitted when the attached noun (in this case, "거") ends with a vowel. Another example:

저는 밖에 갈 수 없을 거라고 했어요

(I said I can't get out / can't get out)

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