English glues a whole proposition onto a noun with the appositive that: the *fact that he's coming, the **news that the store closed, the **idea that effort matters. The clause after *that is not describing the noun the way a relative clause does ("the book that I read") — it is the noun's content. Korean marks this content-of-a-noun relationship with a dedicated ending, -다는, placed right before the head noun (것, 사실, 소식, 생각, 말). And the beautiful part is where -다는 comes from: it is the plain indirect-quote clause plus 하는 ("saying"), contracted — the exact same reported-speech machinery you already know, minus the 하다. Learn to see -다는 as "the [claim/quote] that," and this construction stops being a separate rule and becomes an extension of quotation.
Where -다는 comes from
Start with a reported statement: 온다고 하다 ("says [he] is coming"). Now instead of finishing it with a sentence-ending 하다, modify a noun with its attributive form 하는 → 온다고 하는 소식 ("the news that says he's coming"). In real Korean that 온다고 하는 collapses to 온다는:
온다고 하는 소식 → 온다는 소식
So -다는 is literally -다고 하는 with the 고 하 squeezed out. That single insight tells you how to build it for every predicate type — you just need the correct plain quote form (the same one taught on reported statements with -다고) and then swap 고 하는 → ㄴ.
| Predicate | Plain quote | -다는 form |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Verb (오다) | 온다고 | 온다는 | 온다는 소식 |
| Verb (먹다) | 먹는다고 | 먹는다는 | 먹는다는 말 |
| Adjective (어렵다) | 어렵다고 | 어렵다는 | 어렵다는 것 |
| Copula (학생이다) | 학생이라고 | 학생이라는 | 학생이라는 사실 |
| Past (가다) | 갔다고 | 갔다는 | 갔다는 소식 |
Note the two shapes that trip people up: verbs take the full -(느)ㄴ다는 (온다는, 먹는다는), while adjectives take a bare -다는 (어렵다는), and the copula uses -(이)라는 (학생이라는), never ×학생이다는.
The everyday head nouns
-다는 attaches to a small set of "container" nouns whose content is a proposition — most commonly 것 ("the fact/thing"), 사실 ("the fact"), 소식 ("the news"), 생각 ("the idea/thought"), and 말 ("the saying/claim"). The verb of the main clause is usually one of knowing, hearing, realizing, believing.
한국어가 생각보다 어렵다는 것을 알았어요.
hangugeoga saenggakboda eoryeopdaneun geoseul arasseoyo.
I realized that Korean is harder than I thought.
그가 다음 주에 온다는 소식을 들었어요.
geuga daeum jue ondaneun sosigeul deureosseoyo.
I heard the news that he's coming next week.
담배가 몸에 나쁘다는 사실을 다들 알아요.
dambaega mome nappeudaneun sasireul dadeul arayo.
Everyone knows the fact that smoking is bad for the body.
저는 노력이 중요하다는 생각을 늘 해요.
jeoneun noryeogi jungyohadaneun saenggageul neul haeyo.
I always hold the belief that effort matters.
한국 사람들이 정이 많다는 말을 자주 들어요.
hanguk saramdeuri jeong-i mantaneun mareul jaju deureoyo.
I often hear it said that Koreans are warm-hearted.
The copula and past forms
The copula slots in as -(이)라는 — inherited from the copula quote 이라고, not from ×이다고. After a vowel-final noun the 이 drops (배우라는), after a consonant it stays (학생이라는).
저분이 우리 새 선생님이라는 게 사실이에요?
jeobuni uri sae seonsaengnimiraneun ge sasirieyo?
Is it true that that person is our new teacher?
그 배우가 결혼했다는 기사를 봤어요.
geu baeuga gyeolhonhaetdaneun gisareul bwasseoyo.
I saw an article that that actor got married. (past 했다 → 했다는)
-다는 것 vs the bare relative -(으)ㄴ 것
This is the heart of the page, and the distinction has no clean English mirror. Both 온다는 것 and 온 것 end in 것 ("the fact/thing"), but they package the clause completely differently:
- 온 것 — a relative clause on 것. It names a directly apprehended event: the (witnessed, factual) coming. 그가 온 것을 봤어요 = "I saw that he came" — you perceived the arrival itself.
- 온다는 것 — a quotative complement. It names the proposition "that he comes" — a claim you know, heard, or assert, not one you watched unfold. 그가 온다는 것을 알아요 = "I know (the fact) that he's coming."
그가 어제 온 것을 봤어요.
geuga eoje on geoseul bwasseoyo.
I saw that he came yesterday. (witnessed event — relative 온 것)
그가 곧 온다는 것을 알아요.
geuga got ondaneun geoseul arayo.
I know that he's coming soon. (proposition — quotative 온다는 것)
The rule of thumb: if the main verb is about perceiving (보다, 듣다 in the sense of physically hearing a sound), the relative -(으)ㄴ/-는 것 fits; if it is about knowing, being informed, believing, or asserting a claim, you almost always want the quotative -다는 것. This is why 알다, 깨닫다 ("realize"), 믿다 ("believe"), and 소식을 듣다 ("hear news") pull -다는. For the plain nominalizer side — 것 as a general "the act/fact of doing" without the quotative flavor — see the -는 것 nominalizer and -기 vs -음 vs -것.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1 — Using the bare relative -(으)ㄴ 것 where a proposition is meant. Knowing or hearing a claim about a future or general fact takes -다는 것, not the witnessed-event relative.
❌ 그가 다음 주에 온 것을 알아요.
Wrong — 온 것 is a past, witnessed coming; for the proposition 'that he's coming next week' you need 온다는 것.
✅ 그가 다음 주에 온다는 것을 알아요.
geuga daeum jue ondaneun geoseul arayo.
I know that he's coming next week.
Mistake 2 — Dropping the -다- (×온는 것). The quotative complement needs the plain quote base; a verb requires -ㄴ다는/-는다는, not a mangled ×온는.
❌ 그가 온는 것을 들었어요.
Wrong — there's no 온는; the verb quote base is 온다, giving 온다는 것.
✅ 그가 온다는 것을 들었어요.
geuga ondaneun geoseul deureosseoyo.
I heard that he's coming.
Mistake 3 — Adding -ㄴ다- to an adjective. Adjectives use a bare -다는 (they have no -ㄴ다/-는다 form); only action verbs take -(느)ㄴ다는.
❌ 이 문제가 어렵는다는 걸 알아요.
Wrong — 어렵다 is an adjective, so it's 어렵다는, never 어렵는다는.
✅ 이 문제가 어렵다는 걸 알아요.
i munjega eoryeopdaneun geol arayo.
I know that this problem is hard.
Mistake 4 — Using -다는 on the copula instead of -(이)라는. The copula's quote form is 이라고, so its -다는 shape is -(이)라는, not ×이다는.
❌ 그가 의사이다는 말을 들었어요.
Wrong — the copula takes 이라는: 의사라는 말.
✅ 그가 의사라는 말을 들었어요.
geuga uisaraneun mareul deureosseoyo.
I heard that he's a doctor.
Key Takeaways
- -다는 = -다고 하는 contracted — the quotative-derived way to hang a proposition onto a head noun (것, 사실, 소식, 생각, 말).
- Build it from the plain quote: verbs -(느)ㄴ다는 (온다는, 먹는다는), adjectives -다는 (어렵다는), copula -(이)라는 (학생이라는), past -았/었다는 (갔다는).
- Contrast with the plain relative: 온 것 = a witnessed event; 온다는 것 = the claim that he comes. Verbs of knowing/hearing/believing take -다는 것.
- The copula uses -(이)라는, never ×이다는; adjectives never take ×-는다는.
- It is the noun-complement cousin of the relative clause — same modifier slot, but the clause supplies the noun's content, not a description of it.
Now practice Korean
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- Reported Statements: -다고 하다 / -(느)ㄴ다고TOPIK 3 — How to report a statement in Korean — plain-form clause + 고 하다 — and the three-way allomorphy that trips everyone: action verbs take -ㄴ다고/-는다고, adjectives take bare -다고, and 이다 becomes -(이)라고.
- The -는 것 Nominalizer (the general-purpose one)TOPIK 2 — -는 것 is the everyday, all-purpose clause nominalizer — attach an attributive ending plus 것 to turn a whole clause into a noun phrase (운동하는 것이 중요해요), conjugating for tense on the attributive and contracting to 거/게/걸/건 in speech.
- Embedded Questions: -(으)ㄴ지 / -는지 / -(으)ㄹ지TOPIK 4 — How Korean folds an indirect question — 'whether / what / when / where…' — into a noun-like clause under 알다/모르다/궁금하다, and why -(으)ㄹ지 specifically flags a still-open future choice.
- Choosing -기 vs -(으)ㅁ vs -는 것TOPIK 3 — A decision guide for Korean's three nominalizers: -기 for unrealized activities and set frames, -(으)ㅁ for fixed written facts, and -는 것 for everything spoken and concrete — sorted by aspect and register.
- Past Verb Relative Clauses: -(으)ㄴTOPIK 2 — The past attributive -(으)ㄴ turns a verb into a modifier for a completed action (간 사람 'the person who went', 먹은 밥 'the rice I ate') — and the same shape that means PAST on a verb means PRESENT on an adjective, so you must read the word's class first.