と言っていた details
write + said that — relaying words a named person actually spoke
kaku to itte ita
(someone) said that — relaying words a named person actually spoke
田中さんが、今日は来られないって言ってたよ。
tanaka-san ga, kyou wa korarenaitte itteta yo.
Tanaka said he can't make it today. casual
先生は、来週までに出せば大丈夫だと言っていました。
sensei wa, raishuu made ni daseba daijoubu da to itte imashita.
The teacher said it would be fine as long as we hand it in by next week. neutral
- dictionary form
- past
- negative
- negative + past
- na-adjective
- noun
- contraction
- formal
- formal
- polite
- still saying it now
Examples
(someone) said that — relaying what a particular person said, on one occasion or as something they always said
田中さんが、今日は来られないって言ってたよ。
tanaka-san ga, kyou wa korarenaitte itteta yo.
Tanaka said he can't make it today. casual
先生は、来週までに出せば大丈夫だと言っていました。
sensei wa, raishuu made ni daseba daijoubu da to itte imashita.
The teacher said it would be fine as long as we hand it in by next week. neutral
母は昔から、朝ごはんが一番大事だと言っていた。
haha wa mukashi kara, asagohan ga ichiban daiji da to itte ita.
My mother always used to say that breakfast matters most. neutral
田中は本日三時頃伺うと申しておりました。
tanaka wa honjitsu sanji goro ukagau to moushite orimashita.
Tanaka said he would be calling on you around three today. formal
Formation
{P}と言っていたattaches to plain form{NA-stem}だと言っていたattaches to na-adjective{N}だと言っていたattaches to noun
Variant notes
- って言ってた — both halves relax in speech — と to って and ている to てる, giving 明日来るって言ってたよ.
- とおっしゃっていました — honorific 言う, for relaying what someone above you said — 部長は延期するとおっしゃっていました.
- と申しておりました — humble 言う, for relaying your OWN side's words to an outsider — 田中は伺うと申しておりました.
Notes
reports the act of speaking (そう言ったのは私です). A ます left
inside the quote (明日来ますと言っていました) is direct
quotation; the indirect report takes the plain form.
Related patterns
Similar
って is the same relay stripped down for speech — it drops the 言う and the ている both (来るって), so it reports the content without marking who said it or when; と言っていた keeps the verb, which is what lets a subject and a topic attach (田中さんは…と言っていた).
そうだ passes information on without naming where it came from and takes forecasts and rumour equally (天気予報によると…そうだ); と言っていた pins the words on a person the speaker could name, so it is the one a listener can challenge as a misquotation.
という states the content as established and often has no speaker in view (値上げするという話); と言っていた reports one occasion of one person speaking, which is why it takes a time adverb (さっき言っていた) where という does not.
Both move words through a third party, in opposite directions — と言っていた delivers to the listener what someone else already said, while と伝えていただけませんか asks the listener to carry the SPEAKER's words on to someone who is not there.
Lookalikes
Identical frame, identical quotative と, and only the verb tells you who owns the content — 言っていた puts it in the other person's mouth and commits them to it, 思っていた keeps it inside the speaker's head, where nobody can be held to it.