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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Sometimes, people say things better than we ever could. So, we quote them. Or, maybe you’re spreading a bit of juicy gossip and want to say, “She said she has a crush on him!” The Japanese language is much more fun and precise if you know how to properly quote others.

This beginner Japanese lesson shows you the right way to quote and paraphrase what others have said. Learn how itte imashita is the basis of forming direct quotes and a number of other ways to report on what people talk about. This lesson is fun, but it also ensures that you give credit where it’s due!

indirect speech in Japanese, learn Japanese



This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Season 4 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

37 Responses to “Beginner Lesson S4 #46 - Don’t Quote Me on This…”

JapanesePod101.com says:

みなさん、こんにちは~!
Uh oh, is Shimoyama-san in trouble this time? What do you think will happen?

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angelito says:

im a filipino kenshuusei here in japan ,i like to register and pay the premium fee,but i dont have any bank account here,can pay the premium fee in cash?

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graeme. says:

こんにちは。みなさん。

ok. so in the dialog the phrase was:
母は僕たちは似ていなかったと言っていました.
so, indirect quote right? then it could have been:
母は「あなたたちは似ていなかった」と言っていました.
if this is correct then does 1 usage have preference over the other?

ナオミ先生の声が好きですよ。うそじゃありません。 :oops: hehe.

:twisted:

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JKid says:

Angelito-san,
Based on the accepted forms of payment listed on the site, payment by cash is unfortunately not accepted. You can see the accepted forms of payment at http://www.japanesepod101.com/help-center/subscription-information/

Sorry for the inconvenience.

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メー says:

こんにちは、

質問があります。 :dogeza:

From the audio,「~と言っていました。」means “..WAS SAYING that..”,

but from example in PDF
「田中さんは東京が大好きだと言っていました.」means “Mr. Tanaka SAID
that he liked Tokyo very much”

in this case,Why dont we use 「~と言いました」?

If I wanna say “My mom said that..” (She said only once in the past)
⇒「母は。。。~と言いました。」 言えますか?

By the way,私も直美先生の声が好きです。 :kokoro: Sweet voice(甘い声?)
That’s how a language teacher is !!! :mrgreen:

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渋いオービー says:

すいません、ちょっと気になりましたが

付き合うって言う意味は恋人の関係だけですか?
友達だけじゃない倍しかこの言葉を使わないですか?

Just a quick question for clarification,

Does the word “tsukiau” always refer to a romantic relationship?
Can you use it in any other context?

よろしくお願いいたします!

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Jessi says:

angelitoさん> Please take a look at the link Jkid provided, and if you still have more questions, please email contactus@japanesepod101.com :grin:

graemeさん>
That’s right, that’s how you could write it if you wanted to use a direct quote. :smile: In my experience, indirect quotes are used a lot more in conversation.

JKidさん> Thanks :wink:

メーさん> Great question, I’ll leave it to our expert 先生 :wink:

渋いオービーさん>
No, 付き合う does not always refer to a romantic relationship :smile: It can also be used with the meaning of “to accompany someone (somewhere)” or “hang out with”. You could ask a friend to go somewhere with you with 「付き合って!」(”Come with me!”) or say that you’ll go with your friend using 「付き合うよ」 (”I’ll go with you”) or something like that.

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Naomi says:

メー-san
We usually translate “He said…” as “—to itteimashita”.
You can also use “to iimashita.”
However they are slightly different. If you say “to iimashita,” it sounds like someone said something ONLY ONCE.
Whereas “to itteimashita” can be used for something said once or regularly.

So… your question,
>> “My mom said that..” (She said only once in the past)「母は。。。~と言いました。」 言えますか?
→ はい!言えます。
I hope that make some sense. :wink:

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メー says:

直美先生、

勉強になりました!!ありがとうございました。 :dogeza: :dogeza:

「~と言っていました」と言ったほうがいいですね。いつでも使えますから。 :mrgreen:

Is this the way same as 「~と思いました」&「~と思っていました] ?

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渋いオービー says:

I didn’t realize 汚い had the connotation of “playing dirty” or something as being “dirty business”. ためになりました :dogeza:

I also noticed 汚いやり方 as “dirty trick” at jisho.org

cool! cool! :grin:

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プチクレア says:

Well…. If 下山さん happened to be 大空春夜さん’s long lost twin brother, as both of today’s lesson サラリーマン could very well be working for 天道社長’s company, and as 春夜さん is now 天道社長’s son-in-law…. I guess 三門さん could really be in trouble…

お医者さんは私に「薬を十分に飲んでください!」と言っていましたのに。。。 :oops:

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ニナ says:

私の一番上と二番目の兄も双子です!下山さんとお兄さんのみたいに顔は似ていないんです。英語でfraternal twinsと呼ばれています。でも、時々他人は「似ている!どちかどち全然知らない」と言っていました。

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プチクレア says:

I have a weird question… in the dialog, 下山 uses お兄さん to talk about his twin brother. Why ? Is that always the case or would 弟 be OK too ? Otherwise, is there some general term to say “brother” (not “brothers”, 兄弟) regardless of seniority ?

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Naomi says:

プチクレア-san
>>in the dialog, 下山 uses お兄さん to talk about his twin brother
→Actually, it wasn’t Shimoyama who said “Oniisan” but it was his boss. :wink:

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プチクレア says:

Naomi先生,

true, but in the previous lesson 下山 uses 兄. So should one’s twin sibling always been thought of as senior (ie 兄、姉、お兄さん、お姉さん) or are 弟 and 妹 also Ok ?

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Naomi says:

プチクレア-san
Oh, now I know what you meant. :grin: I thought you were asking about the usage of お兄さん and 兄. Sorry! :dogeza:
The person who is delivered first becomes “兄” or “姉”, and the person delivered next becomes “弟” or” 妹.”
I hope this makes sense. :wink:

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ラウリ says:

私もなおみ先生の声が好きですよ。 :oops:

I also like this website a lot :mrgreen:
ありがとうございました。

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Naomi says:

ラウリーさん
ありがとうございます! :oops:

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Dariat says:

The word アルバイト is quite interesting. The German word “Arbeit” it is derived from doesn’t specifically refer to a part-time job, but a job in general. In most instances it actually refers to one’s main job. The German word for part-time job would be “Teilzeitarbeit” (teilzeit = part-time). Are there historical reasons for this change in meaning or is this a mistake that occurred when the word crossed the language barrier?

I love the podcasts! :kokoro: Keep up the great work!

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Naomi says:

Dariat-san
According to the dictionary, the katakana wordアルバイト was originally used among college students meaning “paper”"essay”"scholarly attainment”…etc. And they started using this word also referring tutoring job or their part-time job.
We don’t use the アルバイト for scholarly attainment anymore though. :wink:

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Dariat says:

I see. That makes perfect sense, because “Arbeit” can also mean “a piece of work” and “Hausarbeit” means “homework”.

Thanks for this very interesting information. ありがとうございます。

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Jessi says:

That’s interesting how the meaning of アルバイト seemed to change when it came into the Japanese language :grin:

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Tako says:

私もNaomi先生の声がだぁぁいすき!
やさしいお母さんの声と似ていますよね!
俺の母と絶対違いますよね!  :mrgreen:
あっ、ママの足音聞こえます!こえええ!  :cry:

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Mayumi says:

Tako-san,

Naomi先生のような、やさしい声のお母さんは、多分、いないと思います! :mrgreen:
I think there is no mothers who are speaking in such a gentle voice as Naomi-sensei.! :wink:

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チィ says:

この文法は手伝いますよね。
今日、主人は「来年、日本に行きましょう!!」と言っていました。

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Naomi says:

チィ -san
正しいですよ。 :grin:  That’s a correct sentence!

However it’s unlikely that the husband uses polite form to his own wife… (Well…at least among the people around me. :wink: ) so maybe 主人は「来年、日本に行こう!」といっていました sounds more natural. :razz:

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Robin says:

こんにちわ、
Is the usage of と言っていました restricted to this pattern or can I use verbs like 頼む as well? And thus obtain something like:
母は僕の部屋を掃除すると頼んでいました。

正しいですか?

答えることがありがとうございます

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Naomi says:

Robin-san
Unfortunately, you can’t apply this usage to 頼む :sad:

“Person A asked Person B to do something” would be ように言う or ように頼む.
Your sentence should be 母は僕に部屋を掃除するように言いました or 頼みました。
This grammar is covered in Lower Intermediate season 2 Lesson 12 and season 4 Lesson 13.
So please check those lessons. :wink:

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wael says:

if we use
Subject wa +++++++to itte imashita
To what someone else has said

what different about to itte imasu and to itte imashita
rajio wa taifuu ga kuru to itteimasu
and that mean i must use “verb”+”te iru” when someone said or says something
but i Can’t use “verb”+”te iru” to mean I Said or I say
beacuse it just for third person
and use to iimasu and to iimashita to refer to what i say or said

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Motoko says:

wael-san,
itte imasu is the present/non-past form and itte imashita is past form so facts which each form describes would be different depending on the situation.
ex) Rajio wa taifuu ga kuru to itteimasu.
The radio says that a tayphoon is coming.(Fact: A typhoon is coming.)

Rajio wa taifuu ga kuru to itteimashita.
The radio said that a typhoon was coming.
(Fact: A typhoon was coming but it might have gone somewhere else.)
When we talk about someone’s conversation/comments, we use “itte imasu” because we cannot directly speak for someone else.
Instead, we use quoting”itte imasu” in Japanese.
For ourselves, we use “iimasu” and “iimashita.”
ex) Watashi ga/wa taifuu ga kuru to iimashita.
I said that a typhoon is coming.
I hope this helps.

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wael says:

if i use “to iimasu” to refer to I Say something
so why “to iimashita” can be use as someone said
and that mean the past of “to iimasu” and “iiteimasu” they are use when talk about someone’s said and to “itteimasu ” use whenuse when talk about someone’s says somthing

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Motoko says:

wael-san,
I apologize my confusing answer.
As you said in the third last comment, we use iimasu/iimashita for what the speaker says and itte imasu/ itte imashita when we quote what the other people say.

whose comment? mine other pepople’s
——————————————————————————-
present(say/s) to iimasu to itte imasu
past (said) to iimashita to itte imashita

You can see “to iimasu” when the speaker describes someone’s talk, mainly in novels, but we basically use “to iimasu” for ourselves and “to itte imasu” for others’ comments.
The relationship is the same even when these verbs become past forms.
Please feel free to ask me again, if it is not clear :smile:

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weak5300 says:

thank very much… Motoko sensei.
the Confusing is here .because at this sentence
tarou wa ohayou gozaimasu to iimashita
so why here use “to iimashita” instead of “to itte imashita “or “to itte imasu”
and this sentence true or wrong.
I apologize for the large number of my questions

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Motoko says:

weak5300-san,
Don’t worry about it because you can ask us as many questions as you need.
This page, comment space, is made for Q&A.
We welcome your any questions :wink:
So, I finally understand your confuse.
That “to iimashita” is different from “to itte imasu.”
As I mentioned in the previous comment, that “iimashita” is for describing the action and you’ll see lots of “iimashita” for others in novels.
“to itte imasu” which is covered in this lesson is used when you quote someone’s talk.
ex) Describing;
カーミットは「晩ごはんにちょうちょが食べたい」といいました。でもちょうちょが見つかりませんでした。
Karmit said “I want to eat butterflies for dinner!” but he couldn’t find them.
Quoting;
ピギーさん 「カーミットさんは”晩ごはんにちょうちょが食べたい”と言っていました。」
Miss Piggy; ”Karmit said that “I want to eat butterflies for dinner!”.”
I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask questions :grin:

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weal5300 says:

sorry it’s more complicated for me when use “to iimashita ” for third person
instead of “to itte imashita “or “to itte imasu”
sensei wa watashi ni “ohayou gozaimasu” to iimashita.
sensei wa watashi ni “ohayou gozaimasu” to itte imashita.
so mybe to solve this problem i suggest when i’m the speaker i use “to imasu or to imashita”
when third person is speaker use “to iimashita or to itte imashita or itte imasu”
i’m right
if i’m right
i can use this Structure for any verb like “kiku- to ask,kotaeru -to answer”

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Motoko says:

weal-san,
Sorry for my confusing examples.
How about thinking like this;
When you are talking about what you say before, you use “to iimasu/iimashita”
When you are talking about what someone say before, you use “to itte imasu/imashita”
ex)
In the morning, you said “Ohayo gozaimasu” but sensei said “kon’nichiwa.”
You can say
“Watashi wa “Ohayo gozaimasu” to iimashita.”
,and also “Sensei wa “Kon’nichiwa” to itte imashita.”
This usage is a basic idea of the difference between them.

If it is clear for you, let’s go to the next step.
This is an exception I told you before that you can use “to iimasu/iimashita” for third person’s comment.
But please note that this usage is often used in writing, like in a novel.
When you describe what someone says in a novel, you can use “to iimasu/iimashita.”
I hope this brings you a clear idea.

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wael says:

if i want pass massge from person to another what’s perfect phrase.
or if i want say that someone ask me to tell to someone another “somthing”
sato sensi ask me to tell to you that”somthing”
sato sensi ask me to tell yamada sensei that”somthing”
sato sensi ask yamada sensei to tell me that”somthing”
how i can say that

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