[Learn Korean E49] “-는다고 하다 (-는대요)”

안녕하세요. 토미입니다.

The theme of today’s lesson is 몇 시에 온대요? “What time did he say he would come?”

Today is the second lesson on indirect quotations!

We will learn -는다고 하다  “It is said that/I heard +(someone) does” and -는대요, which is the shortened version of -는다고 해요.

When you master these, you can easily solve all the TOPIK quizzes, so let’s go forward and be the super master of Korean!

그럼 시작할게요！

Listen to the Conversation

The topic of today’s conversation is 몇 시에 온대요? ”What time did he say he would come?”

Tammy arrives early in the morning in her office and does the cleaning.
Let’s guess while listening to the conversation.

그럼 들어보세요！

• 상민：좋은 아침이에요, 토미 씨. 오늘은 정말 일찍 나왔네요. 근데 무슨 청소를 그렇게 열심히 하세요?
  Sangmin： Good morning, Tammy. You came very early today. By the way, why are you cleaning so hard?
• 토미：오늘 웹 디자이너가 우리 회사 홈페이지에 올릴 사진을 찍으러 온다고 해요. 그래서 정리 좀 하려고요.
  Tammy： The web designer says he will come for a photo shoot on our homepage today. So, I’m trying to tidy up the office.
• 상민：토미 씨는 정말 부지런하네요. 그런데 왜 혼자 하세요? 다른 직원들이 온 다음에 같이 해요.
  Sangmin： You are such a hard worker, Tammy. But why are you doing it all by yourself? Let’s do it together after the other workers come.
• 토미：괜찮아요. 지난번에는 제가 감기 때문에 못 했으니까 오늘은 제가 할게요.
  Tammy： It’s OK. Last time I couldn’t do it because I caught a cold, so I will do it today.
• 상민：그 디자이너는 몇 시에 온대요? 저도 도와줄게요.
  Sangmin： What time did the designer say he would come? I will help you.
• 토미：네, 고마워요. 9시 반부터 찍는다고 했으니까 9시 쯤에는 올 거예요.
  Tammy： Oh, thank you. He said he would start shooting at 9:30, so he would come around 9:00.

Vocabulary and Phrases

• 토미：오늘 웹 디자이너가 우리 회사 홈페이지에 올릴 사진을 찍으러 온다고 해요. 그래서 정리 좀 하려고요.

웹 디자이너 means a “web designer,” and 패션 디자이너 means a “fashion designer.”
홈페이지 is a “homepage,” and 웹사이트 is a “website.”

정리 means “tidying up,” and 정리하다 is “to tidy up.”
정리 좀 하려고요 shows your willingness to do the cleanup.
So you translate it as, “I’m trying to tidy up.”

• 상민：토미 씨는 정말 부지런하네요. 그런데 왜 혼자 하세요? 다른 직원들이 온 다음에 같이 해요.

부지런하다 means “diligent.”
부지런한 사람 is a “diligent person,” and 부지런하게 일하다 is “to work diligently.”

직원 is an “office worker,” 직장 is an “office,” and 직장 생활 is a “working life.”

• 토미：괜찮아요. 지난번에는 제가 감기 때문에 못 했으니까 오늘은 제가 할게요.

감기 means a “cold.”
So, 감기약 means a “medicine for cold,” and 감기 증세 is “symptoms associated with cold.”

감기에 걸리다 means “to catch a cold,” and 감기가 낫다 is “to recover from a cold.”

• 토미：네, 고마워요. 9시 반부터 찍는다고 했으니까 9시 쯤에는 올 거예요.

반 means a “half,” so 아홉 시 반 means “nine and a half,” which is 9:30.

Grammar

-는다고 하다 “It is said, I heard”

You can use –는다고 하다 to quote what someone said to you.

In English, you can translate it as “It is said/(someone) said/I heard (someone) does something.”

-는대요 is the shortened version of -는다고 해요 and Korean people use it a lot in conversations.

You can use this grammar for verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

You use -ㄴ/는다고 하다 for present tense verbs,
-다고 하다 for present tense adjectives and 있다/없다,
and -았/었다고 하다 for past tense verbs and adjectives.

You use -(이)라고 하다 for nouns in the present tense and -이었/였다고 하다 for nouns in the past tense.
We already learned nouns, so that I will skip this part.

First, we will kick off with verbs in the present tense.
There are 2 major patterns.

First:  A verb with a final consonant, you add -는다고 하다.
For example, 먹다 becomes 먹는다고 하다 “I heard (someone) eats.”

Second: For a verb without a final consonant, you add -ㄴ다고 하다.
For example, 하다 becomes 한다고 하다 “I heard (someone) does.”

For adjectives and 있다/없다, you add –다고 하다 regardless of a final consonant.
For example, 좋다 (good) becomes 좋다고 하다 “I heard (someone) say it is good.”

아프다 “painful” becomes 아프다고 하다 “I heard (someone) say it is painful.”
As you can see, 좋다 has a final consonant, and 아프다 does not have a final consonant, but they change in the same way, just attaching -다고 하다 in their stems.

Ex.1)
웹 디자이너가 사진을 찍으러 온다고 해요.
The web designer says he will come for a photo shoot.

In this sentence, let’s pay attention to 온다고 해요.
The verb 오다 “to come” does not have a final consonant, so you add -ㄴ다고 해요 and make 온다고 해요 “says that (a web designer) will come.”

Ex.2)
그 디자이너는 몇 시에 온대요?
What time did the designer say that he would come?

This is also 오다, but added the shortened version -ㄴ대요 to make 온대요 “say that (he will) come.”
As in this is a question, 온대요? means “Did he say he would come?”

Ex.3)
웹디자이너가 9시 반부터 찍는다고 했어요.
A web designer said that he would start shooting at 9:30.

In this sentence, the verb 찍다 “to shoot” has a final consonant, so you add -는다고 하다 to make 찍는다고 하다 “says that (he would) shoot.”

Next, I will give you a little bit of a difficult example. ㄹ irregular.

Ex.4)
아이들이 지금 어디서 논대요?
“Where do they say that the kids are playing?2

I will explain 논대요? from the sentence.
놀다 is “to play.” And you have to apply ㄹ irregular.
So, you remove ㄹ, and add -ㄴ대요 to make 논대요 “say that (they) are playing.”

Let’s also look at an adjective.
First, I will give you a sentence with an adjective and a final consonant.

Ex.5)
상민 씨가 시간이 없다고 했어요.
Sang-min said that he doesn’t have time.

In this sentence, 없다고 했어요 is the indirect quotation. 없다 is “to be not.”
You add -다고 했어요 to the stem to make 없다고 했어요 “said that (he) doesn’t have.”

Next, let’s look at an adjective without a final consonant.

Ex.6)
이 가게가 저 가게보다 더 싸대요.
I heard that this shop is much cheaper than that one.

싸대요 is the indirect quotation.
싸다 is “cheap.”
You add -대요 to the stem to make 싸대요 “I heard that (a store) is cheap.”

Quiz

・상민 씨가 오늘은 (     ) 했어요.
Sangmin said it would be cold today.

(1)덥다고 (2)춥다고

The answer is (2).
춥다 is “cold/chilly,” and this is an adjective.
So you add -다고 했어요 to the stem to make 춥다고 했어요 “(Sangmin said) it will be cold.”

The whole sentence would be 상민 씨가 오늘은 (춥다고) 했어요.

Conversation (Korean only)

I will give you only a Korean transcript.
I’m sure you can catch the indirect quotations we have just learned.
그럼 확인해 보세요！

• 상민：좋은 아침이에요, 토미 씨. 오늘은 정말 일찍 나왔네요. 근데 무슨 청소를 그렇게 열심히 하세요?
• 토미：오늘 웹 디자이너가 우리 회사 홈페이지에 올릴 사진을 찍으러 온다고 해요. 그래서 정리 좀 하려고요.
• 상민：토미 씨는 정말 부지런하네요. 그런데 왜 혼자 하세요? 다른 직원들이 온 다음에 같이 해요.
• 토미：괜찮아요. 지난번에는 제가 감기 때문에 못 했으니까 오늘은 제가 할게요.
• 상민：그 디자이너는 몇 시에 온대요? 저도 도와줄게요.
• 토미：네, 고마워요. 9시 반부터 찍는다고 했으니까 9시 쯤에는 올 거예요.

Conversation Practice

I’m sure you have understood the whole content of the conversation.
그럼 큰소리로 읽어 보세요！

• 상민：좋은 아침이에요, 토미 씨. 오늘은 정말 일찍 나왔네요. 근데 무슨 청소를 그렇게 열심히 하세요?
  Sangmin： Good morning, Tammy. You came very early today. By the way, why are you cleaning so hard?
• 토미：오늘 웹 디자이너가 우리 회사 홈페이지에 올릴 사진을 찍으러 온다고 해요. 그래서 정리 좀 하려고요.
  Tammy： The web designer says he will come for a photo shoot for our homepage today. So, I’m trying to tidy up the office.
• 상민：토미 씨는 정말 부지런하네요. 그런데 왜 혼자 하세요? 다른 직원들이 온 다음에 같이 해요.
  Sangmin： You are such a hard worker, Tammy. But why are you doing it all by yourself? Let’s do it together after the other workers come.
• 토미：괜찮아요. 지난번에는 제가 감기 때문에 못 했으니까 오늘은 제가 할게요.
  Tammy： It’s OK. Last time I couldn’t do it because I caught a cold so I will do it today.
• 상민：그 디자이너는 몇 시에 온대요? 저도 도와줄게요.
  Sangmin： What time did the designer say he would come? I will help you.
• 토미：네, 고마워요. 9시 반부터 찍는다고 했으니까 9시 쯤에는 올 거예요.
  Tammy： Oh, thank you. He said he would start shooting at 9:30, so he would come around 9:00.

Homework

You have two assignments, as usual.

First, please make two sentences using the grammar we learned today.
You can make a sentence using -ㄴ/는다고 해요 “I heard/it is said.”
For example,

• 오늘은 우리 엄마가 요리를 한다고 해요.
  I heard that my mother is cooking today.

For the second sentence, let’s use -는대요, a shortened version of -ㄴ/는다고 해요 “I heard/it is said.”
For example,

• 내일은 날씨가 좋대요.
  I heard that the weather will be good tomorrow.

The second homework is to memorize vocabulary.
Please memorize 40 words, from #1561 to #1600, on page 20 of the Words List for Beginners.
I have prepared the word quiz for these 40 words on this website.

That’s all for today.
그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요！ 한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅！！