Learn Korean: Active Verb + 다는 말

Let’s take a look at the Korean sentence pattern Active Verb + 다는 말. We use this to take out statements or specific words that someone has said and say something about it. That statement must have an active verb. For example, a female friend of mine misunderstood my actions towards her and interpreted it as love. She asked why I am not formally asking her out yet. I said I never said that I liked you. I never said the words I like you. The main verb is 좋아하다 (to like). We take the verb stem (좋아하) and attach ㄴ because it ends in a vowel. Otherwise, use 는. Then, we attach 다는 말. The full phrase is 좋아한다는 말. Then, we add 안 했다 to say that we didn’t do act of speaking. The actual sentence is 좋아한다는 말 안 했어. We can also say 좋아한다는 말 한 적 없어.

사랑한다는 말 진심이야.

I was serious when I said that I loved you.

강남에 산다는 말이 거짓말이었어.

He lied about living in Gangnam. (He said that he lived in that area)

나를 잘 안다는 말 하지마.

Don’t say that you know me very well.