〜と言う
Direct and indirect quotation: … says that …machine translation
Formation「Quoted speech」＋と言う / Plain form + と言う
To report what someone said, you mark the quoted speech with the particle と and add 言う. A direct quote repeats the words verbatim and puts them in 「」 brackets: 田中さんは「すぐ行きます」と言いました.
An indirect quote reports the CONTENT, so the part before と shifts to plain form: 田中さんはすぐ行くと言いました. When converting from direct to indirect, remember to also adjust pronouns and time references to match the moment of reporting — exactly as in Vietnamese.
The person spoken to is marked with に: 先生は学生に…と言いました. And when you pass along someone's message to a third person, Japanese prefers 〜と言っていました — see the separate lesson on that pattern.
Examples
田中さんは「すぐ行きます」と言いました。
Tanaka said, "I'm coming right away."
彼女は来月結婚すると言いました。
She said she's getting married next month.
先生は明日テストがあると言いました。
The teacher said there's a test tomorrow.