N5

Saying What Someone Said or Thought

Move beyond exact quotation and report speech or thoughts naturally with と言う and と思う.

Report what someone said with と言う.Express thoughts and opinions with と思う.Recognize quoted statements and thoughts inside longer sentences.

Guided study

Reporting speech with と言う

と言う lets you report words, information, or a short message. The speaker may quote exact words or summarize them in natural Japanese.

田中さんは今日は休むと言った。

Tanaka said that he would be absent today.

休む is plain form before と言った, even though the meaning is reported speech.

Interactive word chips will appear once token metadata is added.

父は七時に帰ると言っています。

My father is saying that he will come home at seven.

と言っています reports what the father is saying now.

Interactive word chips will appear once token metadata is added.