Reported Speech
പരോക്ഷ വാക്യം (എന്ന്)
Reporting what someone else said is one of the tightest structural matches on this whole site — German's dass and Malayalam's quotative എന്ന് do almost identical jobs.
Grammar Comparison
വ്യാകരണ താരതമ്യം
dass ≈ എന്ന്, the universal quote-marker
Er sagt, dass er müde ist. (He says that he is tired — dass introduces the quote, verb goes to the end)
അവൻ ക്ഷീണിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു. (he-tired-is എന്ന് said — എന്ന് closes the quote, placed AFTER it)
Both languages mark reported speech with a small word whose entire job is 'what follows/precedes is someone's words'. The difference is position: German's dass sits at the front of the reported clause, with the verb pushed to the end (the familiar subordinate-clause pattern). Malayalam's എന്ന് sits at the very end of the quoted material, right before the reporting verb (പറഞ്ഞു, 'said'). Once you're comfortable with dass as 'a spoken-word marker', mentally flip its position from the end (Malayalam) to the front (German) and the sentence falls into place.
Formal written German also shifts the verb form (Konjunktiv I)
Er sagt, er sei müde. (formal/news register — sei instead of ist)
മലയാളത്തിൽ മേൽക്കുറിപ്പ് കൊടുക്കുമ്പോൾ ക്രിയാരൂപം മാറില്ല
In news reports and formal writing, German often swaps the ordinary verb for a special reporting form (Konjunktiv I: sei instead of ist, habe instead of hat) to signal 'this is someone else's claim, not necessarily a fact I'm confirming'. Malayalam's എന്ന് doesn't require any change to the quoted verb's form — it stays exactly as the speaker said it. You'll mostly meet Konjunktiv I in written news German; everyday spoken German usually just uses dass with the ordinary verb, as in the first example above.
Vocabulary
വാക്കുകൾ
- Malayalam
- അവൻ ...എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞുavan ...ennu paranju
- English
- He says that...
- Malayalam
- അവൾ ...എന്ന് വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നുaval ...ennu vishwasikkunnu
- English
- She believes that...
- Malayalam
- അവൻ ആണ് എന്ന് (ഔപചാരികം)avan aanu ennu (aupachaarikam)
- English
- he is (reported, Konjunktiv I of sein)
- Malayalam
- അവന് ഉണ്ട് എന്ന് (ഔപചാരികം)avanu undu ennu (aupachaarikam)
- English
- he has (reported, Konjunktiv I of haben)