Reported Speech
పరోక్ష వాక్యం (అని)
Reporting what someone else said is one of the tightest structural matches on this whole site — German's dass and Telugu's quotative అని do almost identical jobs.
Grammar Comparison
వ్యాకరణ పోలిక
dass ≈ అని, 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)
వాడు అలసిపోయాడు అని అంటాడు. (he-tired-became అని says — అని closes the quote, placed AFTER it, right before the reporting verb)
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). Telugu's అని sits at the very end of the quoted material, right before the reporting verb (అంటాడు, 'says'). Once you're comfortable with dass as 'a spoken-word marker', mentally flip its position from the end (Telugu) 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)
తెలుగులో అని ఉపయోగించినప్పుడు క్రియ రూపం మారదు
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'. Telugu's అని doesn't require any change to the quoted verb's form — it stays exactly as the original speaker said it, whether the context is casual or formal. 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
పదజాలం
- Telugu
- వాడు ...అని అంటాడుvaadu ...ani antaadu
- English
- He says that...
- Telugu
- ఆమె ...అని నమ్ముతుందిaame ...ani nammuthundi
- English
- She believes that...
- Telugu
- వాడు ఉన్నాడు అని (సాధారణ రూపం)vaadu unnaadu ani (saadhaarana roopam)
- English
- he is (reported, Konjunktiv I of sein)
- Telugu
- వాడికి ఉంది అని (సాధారణ రూపం)vaadiki undi ani (saadhaarana roopam)
- English
- he has (reported, Konjunktiv I of haben)