Two separate things happen the moment you repackage someone's words as reported speech. First, all the words that point from the original speaker's here-and-now — 여기 ("here"), 오늘 ("today"), 나 ("I") — have to be recomputed from your point of view, exactly as English shifts "I'll come here today" into she said she'd go there that day. Second, in everyday speech the full reporting frame …고 해요 almost never survives intact: it contracts into a small family of endings — -대요, -냬요, -래요, -재요 — that you will hear in every Korean conversation, drama, and podcast. These endings do double duty as a casual "I heard that ~," so mastering them is less about grammar drills and more about unlocking how Koreans actually pass information around.
Part 1 — Deixis and reference shifts
A quoted sentence is anchored to the person who first said it. When you relay it, that anchor moves to you, and every deictic element re-anchors with it.
| In the original | In the report | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| 여기 (here) | 거기 / 그곳 (there) | place |
| 오늘 (today) | 그날 (that day) | time |
| 지금 (now) | 그때 (at that time) | time |
| 나 / 저 (I) | 자기 / 그 사람 (himself / that person) | person |
| 이거 (this) | 그거 (that) | object |
On top of that, politeness and honorifics neutralize. The addressee-directed -요/-ㅂ니다 endings and the softening -세요 all collapse to plain form inside the reported clause, because the report is filtered through your stance toward your listener, not the original speaker's. So a teacher's polite request "내일 오세요" ("please come tomorrow"), reported later, becomes:
선생님이 다음 날 학교에 오라고 하셨어요.
seonsaengnimi daeum nal hakgyoe orago hasyeosseoyo
The teacher told me to come to school the next day.
Two shifts are visible at once: 내일 → 다음 날 (today's "tomorrow" becomes "the next day" from your later vantage point), and the polite command 오세요 → 오라고 (neutralized to a plain reported command). The subject-honorific 하셨어요 remains because you still honor the teacher as you speak.
민수가 그날 너무 바빴다고 했어요.
minsuga geunal neomu bappatdago haesseoyo
Minsu said he was really busy that day. (his 오늘 → your 그날)
친구가 그때는 시간이 없었다고 했어요.
chinguga geuttaeneun sigani eopseotdago haesseoyo
My friend said he didn't have time at that moment. (his 지금 → your 그때)
Part 2 — The spoken contractions
In real speech, nobody says the full 비가 온다고 해요 when 비가 온대요 will do. The …고 해(요) machinery fuses onto the quotative ending, giving one compact suffix per speech-act type. Learn this table and half of spoken reported speech falls into place.
| Speech act | Full form | Contraction | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statement (verb) | -(느)ㄴ다고 해요 | -(느)ㄴ대요 | 온대요, 먹는대요 |
| Statement (adj / past) | -다고 해요 | -대요 | 예쁘대요, 갔대요 |
| Statement (copula) | -(이)라고 해요 | -(이)래요 | 학생이래요 |
| Question | -냐고 해요 | -냬요 | 가냬요 |
| Command | -(으)라고 해요 | -(으)래요 | 오래요 |
| Proposal | -자고 해요 | -재요 | 가재요 |
Hearsay statements: -대요
The statement contraction is the workhorse — it is the spoken face of -다고 하다. A present-tense verb keeps its -ㄴ다/-는다 base before -대요 (온대요, 먹는대요), while an adjective, the past tense, and the copula take a bare -대요/-래요.
내일 비 온대요.
naeil bi ondaeyo
I hear it's going to rain tomorrow.
요즘 그 식당이 정말 맛있대요.
yojeum geu sikdang-i jeongmal masitdaeyo
I hear that restaurant is really good these days. (adjective)
어제 첫눈이 왔대요.
eoje cheonnuni watdaeyo
I hear it snowed for the first time yesterday. (past)
저 사람이 꽤 유명한 배우래요.
jeo sarami kkwae yumyeonghan baeuraeyo
They say that person is a pretty famous actor. (copula)
Reported questions, commands, proposals
The other three contractions relay a question, an order, or a suggestion respectively — and this is where -대요/-냬요/-래요/-재요 line up as a neat set.
친구가 언제 도착하냬요.
chinguga eonje dochakanyaeyo
My friend's asking when we arrive. (reported question)
엄마가 빨리 오래요.
eommaga ppalli oraeyo
Mom's telling me to hurry up. (reported command)
친구가 같이 가재요.
chinguga gachi gajaeyo
My friend's suggesting we go together. (reported proposal)
The -(으)래요 vs -(이)래요 collision
There is one overlap to watch. -(으)래요 contracts a command (오라고 해요 → 오래요), while -(이)래요 contracts a copula statement (학생이라고 해요 → 학생이래요). They can look identical, so context — specifically, whether a verb or a noun sits in front — does the disambiguating:
- 빨리 오래요 — "[Someone] says to come quickly." (verb 오다 → command)
- 저 사람 학생이래요 — "[Someone] says that person is a student." (noun 학생 → copula statement)
Native listeners resolve this instantly from the stem, and so will you once you stop expecting the ending alone to carry the meaning.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1 — Relaying hearsay with a flat statement. When you're passing on what a source said, a bare -아/어요 sounds like your own first-hand claim; use -대요.
❌ 일기예보에서 내일 비 와요.
Reads as your own assertion. To relay the forecast, use the hearsay 온대요.
✅ 일기예보에서 내일 비 온대요.
ilgiyebo-eseo naeil bi ondaeyo
The forecast says it'll rain tomorrow.
Mistake 2 — Carrying addressee-politeness into the reported clause. The -요/-세요 of the original must neutralize to plain form before -고/-라고; you never embed a -요.
❌ 선생님이 오세요라고 하셨어요.
Wrong — the polite 오세요 must reduce to plain 오라고 inside the report.
✅ 선생님이 오라고 하셨어요.
seonsaengnimi orago hasyeosseoyo
The teacher told me to come.
Mistake 3 — Dropping the -ㄴ다/-는다 in a verb-statement contraction. Present-tense verbs need the -ㄴ다/-는다 base before -대요; only adjectives, past forms, and the copula take a bare -대요.
❌ 동생이 지금 가대요.
Wrong — a present-tense verb keeps its -ㄴ다 base: 간대요, not 가대요.
✅ 동생이 지금 간대요.
dongsaeng-i jigeum gandaeyo
My sibling says he's leaving now.
Mistake 4 — Leaving deixis anchored to the original speaker. 여기, 오늘, 이거 have to move to your viewpoint when you report later or from elsewhere.
❌ 친구가 오늘 시간이 없다고 했어요.
If you're reporting on a later day, 'today' is wrong — from your vantage point it was 그날 ('that day').
✅ 친구가 그날 시간이 없다고 했어요.
chinguga geunal sigani eopdago haesseoyo
My friend said he had no time that day.
Key Takeaways
- Reporting recomputes deixis from your viewpoint: 여기→거기, 오늘→그날, 지금→그때, 나→그 사람, 이거→그거.
- Politeness neutralizes to plain form inside the reported clause (-요/-세요 drop), but Korean does not back-shift tense the way English does.
- The …고 해요 frame contracts to -(느)ㄴ대요 / -대요 / -(이)래요 / -냬요 / -(으)래요 / -재요 — statement, question, command, proposal.
- Present-tense verb statements keep -ㄴ다/-는다 (간대요, 먹는대요); adjectives, past, and copula take bare -대요/-래요.
- These endings all double as casual "I heard that ~." Watch the -(으)래요 (command) vs -(이)래요 (copula) overlap — the verb/noun in front tells them apart.
Now practice Korean
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- The Reported-Speech System: OverviewTOPIK 3 — A map of how Korean reports what someone said — direct quotation with 라고, and indirect quotation whose connector (-다고 / -냐고 / -(으)라고 / -자고) is chosen by the sentence TYPE of the original, with politeness neutralized and no English-style tense back-shift.
- 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.
- Reported Commands: -(으)라고 하다 (and 달라고 vs 주라고)TOPIK 4 — How Korean reports an order — -(으)라고 하다 'tell someone to' — and the uniquely Korean split between 달라고 (give to me/us) and 주라고 (give to a third party) that English collapses into one word.
- Reported Proposals: -자고 하다TOPIK 4 — How Korean reports a suggestion — -자고 하다 'suggested that we ~' — mapping the single propositive ending -자 straight onto reported speech, and why it must not be confused with the command -(으)라고.
- Reported Questions: -냐고 하다TOPIK 3 — Reporting a question in Korean — plain clause + 냐고 + 묻다/물어보다 — with modern Korean leveling verbs, adjectives and 있다/없다 all to bare -냐고; plus why a reported question (someone actually asked) differs from an embedded 'whether' clause with -는지.