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In the past few lesson, we have looked at various ways of making reported speech sentences. In this lesson, let us take a look at the verb ending -(ㄴ/는)다잖아요/-라잖아요. We introduced a similar ending, -잖아요, in Level 5 Lesson 27, which is used to express “Don’t you see that …”, “Come on, isn’t it …”, etc. By adding the -(ㄴ/는)다/-라 before -잖아요, you add a ‘reported speech’ function to it.

Review of -잖아요
1. 석진 씨 지금 여기 없어요. = Seokjin is not here now.
→ 석진 씨 지금 여기 없잖아요. = Don’t you see that Seokjin is not here now?

2. 오늘 일요일이에요. = Today is Sunday.
→ 오늘 일요일이잖아요. = Come on, it’s Sunday.

Usage of -(ㄴ/는)다잖아요/-라잖아요
The construction is the same as in other structures that have -(ㄴ/는)다 or -라. In the present tense, you add -ㄴ/는다 for action verbs and just -다 with descriptive verbs. With nouns, you add -이 from 이다 and add -라.

The meaning of this structure is the combination of -(ㄴ/는)다고/-라고 (reported speech, quotation) and -잖아요. Therefore, you can use this structure when you want to say “Don’t you see that...” or “Come on …” while quoting someone.

Ex)
좋아요. = It’s good.
좋잖아요. = Come on, it’s good. / Isn’t it good?
좋다잖아요. = Come on, they say it’s good. / Come on, they say they like it.

여기 없어요. = He’s not here.
여기 없잖아요. = Don’t you see he’s not here?
여기 없다잖아요. = Didn’t you hear them say he’s not here?

혼자 가요. = I go there by myself.
혼자 가잖아요. = You know I go there alone.
혼자 간다잖아요. = Don’t you hear me saying that I’m going there alone?

친구 만날 거예요. = He will meet a friend.
친구 만날 거잖아요. = You know he will meet a friend.
친구 만날 거라잖아요. = Come on, he says he will meet a friend.

Sample Sentences
1. 싫다잖아요. 하지 마세요.
[sil-ta-ja-na-yo. ha-ji ma-se-yo.]
= She says she doesn’t like it. Don’t do it.

2. 효진 씨 지금 바쁘다잖아요.
[hyojin ssi ji-geum ba-ppeu-da-ja-na-yo.]
= Come on, Hyojin says she is busy now.
= Don’t you hear Hyojin saying she’s busy now?

3. 실수였다잖아요. 용서해 줘요.
[sil-su-yeot-da-ja-na-yo. yong-seo-hae jwo-yo.]
= He says it was a mistake. Forgive him.

4. 아니라잖아요. 왜 그 사람 말을 안 믿어요?
[a-ni-ra-ja-na-yo. wae geu sa-ram ma-reul an mi-deo-yo?]
= Don’t you hear him saying it’s not true? Why do you not believe what he says?

5. 맞다잖아요!
[mat-da-ja-na-yo!]
= You see? He says it’s true!