～と言う【～という】

と言う reports what someone says: と marks the words, and ゆう言う is "say". The words can be a direct quote in 「 」, or reported speech in the plain form. The person who speaks takes は or が, and the person spoken to takes に.

Reported speech

Without 「 」, the words go into the plain form, and a noun or な-adjective needs だ before と: ×彼は学生と言いました. The tense is the one the speaker used, not shifted back as in English, so 学生だ stays 学生だ even though the sentence is in the past.

• × 彼は学生と言いました → 彼は学生だと言いました

Usage notes

These go beyond reporting what someone said.

Naming: AというB

という between two nouns means "called": the first noun is the name, the second what kind of thing it is. In this use it is written in kana. With the verb at the end of the sentence, と言います or といいます gives the name of something.

Hearsay

In writing, a sentence can end in という with no speaker named: "it is said", "according to the story". Conversation uses そうだ or らしい instead.