Learn how to use the sentence pattern "[Someone] said that..."
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, I'm John. |
| Risa: And I'm Risa. |
| John: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 40. Using Reported Speech. |
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for reporting something said by someone else. |
| PATTERN |
| John: For example, |
| John: "Mr. Tanaka said that he's going to take tomorrow off." |
| Risa: 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| Risa: [slow] 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| John: The pattern for reporting something said by someone else has four elements. First, "Mr. Tanaka" followed by the topic-marking particle. |
| Risa: 田中さんは (Tanaka-san wa). |
| John: Second, a sentence in informal form, meaning "to take tomorrow off." |
| Risa: 明日休む (ashita yasumu). |
| John: Third, a quotation marker. |
| Risa: と (to). |
| John: And last, te-form of the verb "to say" in past tense, meaning "was saying." |
| Risa: 言っていました (itte imashita). |
| John: Altogether, we have... "Mr. Tanaka said that he's going to take tomorrow off." |
| Risa: 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) [slow] 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) [normal] 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| John: The sentence pattern to report what someone has said, is a subject followed by the topic-marking particle, plus a quote sentence in the informal form, followed by the quotation marker, and finally the te-form of the verb "to say" in past tense. |
| Again, "Mr. Tanaka said that he's going to take tomorrow off." is... |
| Risa: 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| John: So remember, to report something said by someone else, first comes the subject, followed by... |
| Risa: は (wa) |
| John: then the quote sentence in informal form, followed by... |
| Risa: と (to) |
| John: and finally... |
| Risa: 言っていました (itte imashita) |
| John: which means "was saying," at the end. |
| John: Here is another example meaning, "John said he would like to see sumo wrestling." First, "John" plus the topic-marking particle. |
| Risa: ジョンは (Jon wa). |
| John: Second, a sentence in informal form, meaning "want to watch sumo wrestling." |
| Risa: 相撲を見たい (sumō o mitai). |
| John: Third, a quotation marker. |
| Risa: と (to). |
| John: And last, te-form of the verb "to say" in past tense, meaning "was saying." |
| Risa: 言っていました (itte imashita). |
| John: Altogether we have... |
| Risa: ジョンは、相撲を見たいと言っていました。 (Jon wa, sumō o mitai to itte imashita) [slow] ジョンは、相撲を見たいと言っていました。 (Jon wa, sumō o mitai to itte imashita) [normal] ジョンは、相撲を見たいと言っていました。 (Jon wa, sumō o mitai to itte imashita) |
| John: "John said he would like to see sumo wrestling." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: ジョンは、相撲を見たいと言っていました。 (Jon wa, sumō o mitai to itte imashita) |
| John: How do you say, "My brother said that he borrowed a book from his friend." To give you a hint, "to borrow a book from a friend" is... |
| Risa: 友だちに本を借りる (tomodachi ni hon o kariru) |
| John: Since it refers to the past, this should be... |
| Risa: 友だちに本を借りた (tomodachi ni hon o karita) [slow] 友だちに本を借りた (tomodachi ni hon o karita) |
| John: "My brother said that he borrowed a book from his friend." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 兄は、友だちに本を借りたと言っていました。 (Ani wa, tomodachi ni hon o karita to itte imashita.) [slow] 兄は、友だちに本を借りたと言っていました。 (Ani wa, tomodachi ni hon o karita to itte imashita.) [normal] 兄は、友だちに本を借りたと言っていました。 (Ani wa, tomodachi ni hon o karita to itte imashita.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 兄は、友だちに本を借りたと言っていました。 (Ani wa, tomodachi ni hon o karita to itte imashita.) |
| REVIEW |
| John: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go. |
| John: "Mr. Tanaka said that he's going to take tomorrow off." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| John: "John said he would like to see sumo wrestling." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: ジョンは、相撲を見たいと言っていました。 (Jon wa, sumō o mitai to itte imashita) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: ジョンは、相撲を見たいと言っていました。 (Jon wa, sumō o mitai to itte imashita) |
| John: "My brother said that he borrowed a book from his friend." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 兄は、友だちに本を借りたと言っていました。 (Ani wa, tomodachi ni hon o karita to itte imashita.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 兄は、友だちに本を借りたと言っていました。 (Ani wa, tomodachi ni hon o karita to itte imashita.) |
Outro |
|---|
| John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for reporting something said by someone else, as in... |
| Risa: 田中さんは、明日休むと言っていました。 (Tanaka-san wa, ashita yasumu to itte imashita.) |
| John: meaning "Mr. Tanaka said that he's going to take tomorrow off." |
| John: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! |
| Risa: またね！(Mata ne!). |
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