-자고
jago
Grammar · 1 sense
Quoting a suggestion
Examples
아빠가 밥을 먹자고 했어.
Dad suggested we eat.
이번 주말에 만나자고 말했다.
They suggested we meet this weekend.
남자 친구가 주말에 극장에서 영화를 보자고 해요.
My boyfriend suggested we watch a movie at the theater this weekend.
When you'd hear it
This pattern is especially common in conversation when reporting what someone proposed, and it also appears in casual messages and narrative writing. It is often followed by 하다 or 말하다, as in 먹자고 했어 and 만나자고 말했다.
What learners get wrong
Do not confuse -자고 with -자: -자 is the suggestion itself (“Let’s...”), while -자고 reports someone else’s suggestion (“suggested that we...”); -지 말자고 reports a suggestion not to do something.
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