Quoting in Japanese?

[TheThird]

I wrote kind of a mini-lesson, but could someone check to see if it's correct? It's just meant to barely scratch the surface.

Using と for Direct Quotations
In English, we use a comma (,) and quotation marks ( “Words here” ) to signify what someone is saying.
In Japanese, we use quotation marks (「Words here」) followed by と to signify what someone is saying.

For direct quotes, this is often paired with "言います" (いいます).
- 田中さんは「ねこが好き」と言いました。
- Mr. Tanaka said, "I like cats."

When saying a quote, use plain form inside the quotations
- Speaker は 「Plain form sentence」 と言いました。
When writing a quote, it's okay to use the full quote.

We also used this to ask how to say things in Japanese.
これは、日本語で何と言いますか。

---end lesson---

I have one question, though: One source used the example
"Speaker が 「Plain form sentence」 と言って。"
instead of
"Speaker は 「Plain form sentence」 と言いました。

Are these both correct?

[jim.schuler]

Your lesson is very ~ます focused. Keep in mind, always being formal is like keeping everyone around you at arm's-length, which might even wind up being rude in certain situations. So, you cannot neglect the plain form: 言う

田中さんは「猫が好きだ」と言った。

If you are quoting reported speech, you may use the ~ます form even if your speech is otherwise plain.

田中さんは「猫が好きです」と言った。

And, although you qualify "paired" with the word "often," you're not giving と justice with the amount of words it can be used with. Just a few for example:

と聞いた/と聞きました (heard)
と思った/と思いました (thought)
と怒鳴った/と怒鳴りました (shouted)
と叱った/と叱りました (scolded)

と probably works with all the Japanese equivalents for said bookisms.

As for the endings, keep in mind everything after 言 is just the conjugation of the verb, and all these examples happen to be past tense: "said." But, it can be "will say" (言う), it might be "can say" (言える), or "won't say" (言わない), or "even if said" (言っても), or--in the case of 言って--"please say." Although, to be honest, I think I'm missing something with the て form as I often see it ending sentences where it makes no sense as an imperative and is not connecting to anything else (the て form basically adds "and" to the end of the verb, and if nothing follows, it's assumed to attach to ください, making an informal but still somewhat polite imperative).

That said, in casual speech the whole thing can actually be replaced with just って:
田中さんは「猫が好きです」って。

[TheThird]

Wow, thank you! In our Beginners' Japanese class, we usually only focus on ~ます, but my group is actually past that, so your information is very helpful.

For the example I found:
"Speaker が 「Plain form sentence」 と言って。" 。

Do you know why they used "Speaker が" instead of ""Speaker は"?

Thank you again,
TheThird

[jim.schuler]

は and が both perform similar functions. The short answer is that は marks the topic of discussion while が marks the indirect object (You'll notice in your sentences that Mr. Tanaka can be both of those things), and you can actually swap them to add emphasis. Don't worry so much about it. You will pick the nuances as you go almost without realizing it. There are two rules of thumb, though: only use one は in a sentence (there are exceptions), and when in doubt, use が.

[community.japanese]

jim.schulerさん、TheThirdさん、
Konnichiwa.
You two have had a good discussion.
If you still have questions, please feel free to ask us.
Yuki 由紀
JapanesePod101.com