-자고 하다 in Korean: “suggested that (let's)”

-자고 하다 (-jago hada) means "(someone) suggested that we" or "said let's." It reports a "let's" sentence in your own words: 친구가 영화 보자고 했어요 means "My friend suggested we watch a movie."

How to form it

How to use it

Take the casual "let's" form -자, add 고, then 하다 (to say). The final verb carries tense and politeness: 가자고 했어요 (suggested going), 가자고 해요 (is suggesting going).

It always involves the original speaker doing the action together with someone else. If someone told only you to do something, use -(으)라고 하다 instead.

In speech, -자고 해요 is often shortened to -재요: 같이 가재요 (she says let's go together). Like other quoting forms, it only works with verbs.

Examples

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Don’t mix it up with

-(으)라고 하다: Reports a command or request to someone else: 가라고 했어요 (told me to go). -자고 하다 includes the speaker: 가자고 했어요 (suggested we go).

-자: The direct casual "let's": 가자! -자고 하다 is how you tell someone else about that suggestion.

Common mistakes

Using it with adjectives. You can't suggest "let's be pretty" this way; -자고 하다 goes with action verbs.

Confusing it with -자마자 (as soon as). 먹자고 했어요 is "suggested eating," while 먹자마자 is "as soon as (I) ate."