Lesson 7. A/V-더라고(요)

• Used to tell or report the speaker’s past experience about the situation he/she happened to witness (seeing, discovering, hearing, finding, etc) during a moment in the past.
• Equivalent to “Based on my experience” or “I noticed that”

1) A/V-네요 VS A/V-더라고요

지금 도서관에 있는데 사람이 정말 많네요. – I am at the library now, and there are many people. 

어제 도서관에 갔는데 사람이 정말 많더라고요 – I went to the library and there were many people.

-네요 is used when you are telling or reporting what you are experiencing, witnessing, or feeling right now, whereas 더라고 is used to report what the speaker experienced / witnessed / felt in the past.

2) 더라고(요) Construction Rules

To use 더라고요 in a sentence, simply attach it to the verb stem.

–더라고요
Adjective/Verb	하다 To do 좋다 To be good	하더라고요 좋더라고요
Noun 이다	학생 Student 의사  Doctor	학생이더라고요 의사더라고요

Example Sentence:

A: 혹시 오늘 민주 씨를 봤어요? Did you see Minjoo today?

B:  네, 아까 도서관에서 공부하더라고요. Yes, I saw her studying at the library a while ago.

A: 인터넷으로 쇼핑하는 사람이 많아요? Are there a lot of people who shop online?

B: 생각보다 많더라고요. There were more than I thought.

A: 방금 영화관에 들어간 사람이 담임 선생님이더라고요. The person who just entered the movie theatre was my homeroom teacher.

B:  정말요? Really?

 

3) When talking about what had already happened and were completed in the past, A/V- 았/었더라고(요) can be used.

집에 들어왔는데 비가 오더라고요 It was raining when I arrived home.	집에 들어왔는데 비가 왔더라고요 It had rained when I arrived home. (I realized it had rained upon my arrival home.)
The phrase 비가 오더라고요 refers to the recollection of the speaker seeing the rain falling, while 비가 왔더라고요 refers to the recollection of the rain had already stopped at the moment of being observed by the speaker.

Example Sentence:

1. 도와주려고 했었는데 애들이 빨리 끝냈더라고요. I was going to lend a hand, but they had already wrapped it up fast.
2. 일어나보니까 도착을 했더라고요. As soon as I woke up, we had already arrived. 

4) 더라고(요)’s Specific usages

A. 더라고요 is used when the speaker know/learned something new. It cannot be used to state speaker’s already known fact. For example:

1. 우리 집 거실 크더라고요.  (Incorrect – unless you realized just recently how big your living room is.)
   우리 집 거실이 커요. (Correct) – We have a big living room in our house.

2. 제 고향은 강이 많더라고요. (Incorrect)
   제 고향은 강이 많아요. (Correct).
   My hometown has many rivers.

B. The subject of the sentence cannot be the first person or speaker him/herself since it refers to something the speaker saw or heard.

1. 저는 처음으로 한국에 가더라고요. (Incorrect)/
   저는 처음으로 한국에 갔어요. (Correct)
   I went to Korea for the first time.

2. 아이스크림 먹었는데 차갑더라고요. (Correct)
   I ate ice-cream, and it was cold. (Even though the sentence starts with I as a subject, the subject of the second clause is ice cream. Hence, -더라고요 is applicable. )