3 · Reported speech
Reporting a question: -냐고 하다
indirect questions
A reported question ends in -냐고, followed by 하다 or 묻다.
In everyday speech -냐고 goes straight onto any stem, verb or adjective: 가냐고, 먹냐고, 바쁘냐고, 있냐고. A noun with 이다 gives -(이)냐고: 학생이냐고, 누구냐고. The past is -았/었냐고: 갔냐고. Careful writing keeps an older pattern: -느냐고 for verbs (가느냐고, 먹느냐고) and -(으)냐고 for adjectives (작으냐고).
The verb that follows is 하다 or, more precisely, 묻다 or 물어보다, “ask”: 친구가 저한테 어디에 가냐고 물었어요. 묻다 is irregular: its final d becomes l before a vowel, so 물었어요, 물어봤어요.
Question words stay where they were: 언제 오냐고 했어요. A yes-no question needs no word for “whether” or “if”; the ending does it alone: 시간이 있냐고 물어봤어요, “she asked whether I had time”. As with statements, the quoted question keeps its own tense.
-냐고 on its own is plain, but the sentence ends in whatever level you use with your listener, with honorifics for the person who asked: 선생님께서 괜찮냐고 물으셨어요. The common mistake is to report a question with -다고, which turns it into a statement.
The form
| any verb or adjective, in speech | 가냐고, 먹냐고, 바쁘냐고 |
| a noun with 이다 | 학생이냐고, 누구냐고 |
| the past | 갔냐고, 먹었냐고 |
| verbs, in writing | 가느냐고, 먹느냐고 |
| adjectives, in writing | 작으냐고, 바쁘냐고 |
| with 묻다 | 어디 가냐고 물었어요 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
In speech, -냐고 goes straight onto any stem.
친구가 저한테 배고프냐고 물었어요.My friend asked me if I was hungry.
A noun with 이다 takes -(이)냐고.
직원이 제 이름이 뭐냐고 물어봤어요.The member of staff asked me what my name was.
Question words stay where they were, and a yes-no question needs no word for “whether”.
어머니께서 언제 집에 오냐고 물으셨어요.My mother asked when I was coming home.
In careful writing, verbs take -느냐고.
설문지는 하루에 몇 시간 일하느냐고 묻는다.The questionnaire asks how many hours a day you work.
The quoted question keeps its own tense.
선생님께서 숙제를 다 했냐고 물으셨어요.The teacher asked whether we had done all our homework.
A closer look
-냐고 or -는지?
-냐고 reports an act of asking: somebody put a question. When a question is only the object of knowing, wondering or telling — “I do not know where he lives” — Korean uses -(으)ㄴ지/-는지 instead: 어디 사는지 몰라요. Compare 어디 사냐고 물었어요, “he asked where I live”.
At the end of a sentence, -냐? is a blunt casual question used among close friends: 밥 먹었냐?. Inside a report, -냐고 carries none of that bluntness; it is simply the shape a question takes when it is passed on.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the verb of asking is 묻다
its final d becomes l before a vowel: 물어요, 물었어요, 물어보세요.
길을 몰라서 지나가는 사람에게 물었어요.I did not know the way, so I asked a passer-by.
묻다, “ask”, is irregular in the same way as 듣다. Its regular twin 묻다, “bury”, gives 묻었어요.
How to spot it
- -냐고
- -느냐고
- 묻다
- 물어보다
Example sentences
친구가 주말에 시간이 있냐고 물었어요.My friend asked if I had time at the weekend.
동생이 저한테 이 단어가 무슨 뜻이냐고 물어봤어요.My younger sibling asked me what this word means.
택시 기사님이 어디로 가냐고 하셨어요.The taxi driver asked where I was going.
할머니께서 밥은 먹었냐고 물으셨어요.My grandmother asked whether I had eaten.
사람들이 저한테 왜 한국어를 배우냐고 자주 물어봐요.People often ask me why I am learning Korean.
점원이 봉투가 필요하냐고 물었어요.The shop assistant asked whether I needed a bag.
8 more example sentences
엄마가 저녁에 뭐 먹고 싶냐고 물어보셨어요.Mum asked what I wanted to eat this evening.
의사 선생님이 어디가 아프냐고 물으셨어요.The doctor asked where it hurt.
친구가 그 영화가 재미있었냐고 물었어요.My friend asked whether the film had been good.
직원이 혼자 오셨냐고 물어봤어요.The member of staff asked whether I had come alone.
선배가 저한테 졸업 후에 무엇을 할 거냐고 물었어요.An older student asked me what I would do after graduating.
모르는 사람이 저한테 역이 어디냐고 물었어요.A stranger asked me where the station was.
아이가 저한테 몇 살이냐고 물어봤어요.The child asked me how old I was.
면접에서 왜 이 회사에 지원했느냐고 물었습니다.At the interview they asked why I had applied to this company.
Worth knowing (1)
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Asking someone to ask
To have someone pass a question on, combine -냐고 with 물어봐 주세요: 언제 오냐고 물어봐 주세요, “please ask when she is coming”.
민수 씨한테 몇 시에 오냐고 물어봐 주세요.Please ask Minsu what time he is coming.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
-다고 reports a statement, so the sentence says the friend asked “I have time” — which makes no sense. A question keeps its question ending in the report: -냐고.
A reported question ends in -nyago, and no word for "whether" is needed.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.