(이)라는: The Attributive 'Called / That Says' | Korean Grammar

(이)라는 is a workhorse of intermediate Korean, and it is really just a contraction: (이)라고 하는 with the middle squeezed out. It sits directly in front of a noun and modifies it, doing two jobs that English keeps separate. First, it labels a noun with a name or title — 사랑이라는 것 ("the thing called love"), 기생충이라는 영화 ("the movie called Parasite"). Second, it caps a whole reported statement onto a head noun — 온다는 소식 ("the news that he's coming"). Both come out as a prenoun modifier ending in -는, because Korean has no relative pronoun "that / which" to hang a clause on; everything piles up before the noun instead. This page pulls the two jobs apart and shows why they share one shape.

The compression: (이)라고 하는 → (이)라는

Start from the naming construction you already know, N(이)라고 하다 ("to be called N"). Put its 하다 into the attributive form 하는 so it can modify a noun, and you get (이)라고 하는 N ("an N that is called …"). In real usage, that four-syllable stretch 라고 하는 collapses to a tidy 라는:

(이)라고 하는 → (이)라는 (name / label)
-다고 하는 → -다는 (reported statement)

The form is 라는 after a vowel and 이라는 after a 받침, mirroring the copula's reported form exactly.

사랑이라는 게 참 어려워요.

sarang-iraneun ge cham eoryeowoyo

This thing called love is really hard.

‘기생충’이라는 영화 봤어요?

gisaengchung-iraneun yeonghwa bwasseoyo

Have you seen the movie called “Parasite”?

행복이라는 단어를 자주 생각해요.

haengbogiraneun daneoreul jaju saenggakaeyo

I often think about the word “happiness.”

In each of these, the noun (것, 영화, 단어) is being named or labelled. 사랑이라는 것 is literally "the thing [that people] call 'love'" — the naming report, compressed and turned into a modifier.

💡

Whenever your English is "the N called / named X" or "the N that [someone] says …," reach for a -는 modifier ending in 라는 or 다는 — never a separate "that / which" word. Korean stacks the whole clause in front of the noun; there is nothing to translate "that" with.

The second job: reported content onto a noun (-ㄴ/는다는)

The same compression applies to full reported statements. Take 온다고 하는 ("that is said [he] comes") and squeeze it to 온다는; now it can modify a head noun like 소식 ("news") or 말 ("remark, word"). This is how you attach "the news that …," "the rumour that …," "the fact that …" onto a noun.

그가 온다는 소식을 들었어요.

geuga ondaneun sosigeul deureosseoyo

I heard the news that he's coming.

시험이 어렵다는 말을 들었어요.

siheomi eoryeopdaneun mareul deureosseoyo

I heard the remark that the exam is hard.

꼭 가겠다는 사람이 많아요.

kkok gagetdaneun sarami manayo

There are lots of people who insist they'll go.

The verb reshapes for sentence type and tense exactly as in ordinary reported statements — action verb 오다 → 온다는, adjective 어렵다 → 어렵다는, future/volitional 가겠다 → 가겠다는 — and then attaches to the noun. The full family of reported endings all compress this way: -냐고 하는 → -냐는 (question, 뭐 하냐는 질문 "the question of what I'm doing"), -(으)라고 하는 → -(으)라는 (command, 오라는 문자 "a text telling me to come"), -자고 하는 → -자는 (proposal, 같이 가자는 제안 "the suggestion to go together").

The minimal pair that shows the two sources

The clearest way to feel the difference between name-labelling (이)라는 and reported-content -다는 is a near-identical pair built on 사랑:

사랑이라는 노래를 들어 봤어요?

sarang-iraneun noraereul deureo bwasseoyo

Have you heard the song called “Love”?

사랑한다는 노래를 들어 봤어요?

saranghandaneun noraereul deureo bwasseoyo

Have you heard the song that says “I love you”?

사랑이라는 노래 is "a song named 'Love'" — from the copula 사랑이다, so it uses 이라는. 사랑한다는 노래 is "a song that says 'I love [you]'" — from the full sentence 사랑한다, so it uses 한다는. One labels the title; the other reports the content. Same head noun, two completely different modifiers, distinguished only by whether the source was a name (이다 → 이라는) or a statement (verb → -ㄴ다는).

Source	Full form	Contraction	Meaning
이다 (name/label)	사랑이라고 하는	사랑이라는	called "love"
action verb (statement)	사랑한다고 하는	사랑한다는	that says "I love you"
adjective (statement)	어렵다고 하는	어렵다는	that [it]'s hard
question	뭐 하냐고 하는	뭐 하냐는	(asking) what [I] do
command	오라고 하는	오라는	telling [me] to come

Register: contraction is the norm

In spoken and most written Korean, the contracted (이)라는 / -다는 is the default — the full (이)라고 하는 / -다고 하는 sounds heavy and deliberate, reserved for careful, emphatic, or very formal delivery. So this is not an optional flourish; a fluent speaker contracts by reflex, and leaving it uncontracted in casual speech sounds oddly laboured.

Common Mistakes

1. Leaving it uncontracted where a native contracts. Grammatically fine, but 라고 하는 in ordinary speech sounds clunky; contract to 라는.

❌ 사랑이라고 하는 게 참 어려워요.

Not wrong, but unnaturally heavy in speech — natives contract to 사랑이라는.

✅ 사랑이라는 게 참 어려워요.

sarang-iraneun ge cham eoryeowoyo

This thing called love is really hard.

2. Dropping the copular 이 after a 받침. A consonant-final noun takes 이라는, not bare 라는.

❌ 사랑라는 노래.

Wrong — 사랑 ends in a 받침, so it's 사랑이라는.

✅ 사랑이라는 노래.

sarang-iraneun norae

a song called “Love”

3. Regularising the copula to ×이다는. The label form is the irregular 이라는, borrowed from the copula's reported shape — never 이다는.

❌ 사랑이다는 것.

Wrong — the copula-based label is irregular: 사랑이라는, not 사랑이다는.

✅ 사랑이라는 것.

sarang-iraneun geot

the thing called love

4. Putting the label form on a verb statement. To report "he's coming," the verb needs -ㄴ다는 (from 온다), not the copula-based 이라는.

❌ 그가 온이라는 소식.

Wrong — a reported verb statement uses -ㄴ다는: 온다는 소식.

✅ 그가 온다는 소식.

geuga ondaneun sosik

the news that he's coming

Key Takeaways

(이)라는 = (이)라고 하는 contracted — a prenoun modifier. Form: 라는 after a vowel, 이라는 after a 받침.
It does two jobs: labelling a noun with a name (사랑이라는 것, 기생충이라는 영화) and, in its -다는 shape, capping reported content onto a noun (온다는 소식).
The whole reported family contracts the same way: -ㄴ다는 / -다는 (statement), -냐는 (question), -(으)라는 (command), -자는 (proposal).
Watch the minimal pair: 사랑이라는 노래 (a song called "Love," from 이다) vs 사랑한다는 노래 (a song that says "I love you," from the verb).
Korean has no "that / which" — the modifier stacks before the noun. Contraction is the everyday norm; the full 라고 하는 sounds heavy in speech.

Now practice Korean

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Korean→