BEST IS TO GO HERE AND LEARN FROM HERE: https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/define

Using 「いう」 to describe anything

Vocabulary

主人公【しゅ・じん・こう】 – main character

犯人【はん・にん】 – criminal

一番【いち・ばん】 – best; first

面白い【おも・しろ・い】(i-adj) – interesting

日本人【に・ほん・じん】 – Japanese person

お酒【お・さけ】 – alcohol

弱い【よわ・い】(i-adj) – weak

言う【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say

本当【ほん・とう】 – real

独身【どく・しん】 – single; unmarried

嘘【うそ】 – lie

リブート – reboot

パソコン – computer, PC

こう – (things are) this way

そう – (things are) that way

ああ – (things are) that way

どう – how

再起動【さい・き・どう】 – reboot

あんた – you (slang)

いつも – always

時【とき】 – time

来る【く・る】 (exception) – to come

困る【こま・る】 (u-verb) – to be bothered, troubled

人【ひと】 – person

結婚【けっ・こん】 – marriage

出来る【で・き・る】 (ru-verb) – to be able to do

幸せ【しあわ・せ】 – happiness

なる (u-verb) – to become

思う【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think

大学【だい・がく】 – college

行く【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go

意味　【い・み】 – meaning

Examples

独身[dokushin]だというのは、嘘[uso]だったの？ It was a lie that you were single?

主人公[shujinkou]が犯人[hannin]だったというのが一番[ichiban]面白[omoshiroi]かった。 The most interesting thing was that the main character was the criminal.

日本人はお酒[osake]に弱い[yowai]というのは本当[hontou]？ Is it true that Japanese people are weak to alcohol?

SUPER USEFUL SUPER EXPRESSIVE

We can abstract it even further by replacing the relative clause with a generic way of doing something. In this case, we use 「こう」、「そう」、「ああ」、and 「どう」, which when combined with 「いう」 means “this way, “that way”, “that way (far away in an abstract sense)” and “what way” respectively.

List

「いう」+

「こう」 - kou = this way

「そう」 - sou = that way

「ああ」 - aa = that way more abstract

「どう」 - dou = what way

To + tte

Direct quote

TO vocabulary

iu kiku sakebu - to scream yobu - to call, to summon[doctor] tsubuyaku - to mutter

Interpreted quote

to iu changes meaning here (only translated to english, still the same in japanese)

これは、日本語で何と言いますか。 - What do you call this in Japanese? (lit: About this, what do you say in Japanese?)

私は、アリスと言います。 I am called Alice. (lit: As for me, you say Alice.)

Vocabulary

to omou, to kangaeru

カレーを食べようと思ったけど、食べる時間がなかった。I thought about setting out to eat curry but I didn’t have time to eat.

!!!!!!!

今、どこに行こうかと考えている。Now, I’m considering where to set out to go.

Usage of copula

彼は、これは何だと言いましたか。
What did he say this is?

彼は高校生だと聞いたけど、信じられない。
I heard that he is a high school student but I can’t believe it.

Notice how 「だ」 was added to explicitly declare the state-of-being that is highlighted in the English translation. You can really see how important the 「だ」 is here by comparing the following two sentences.

これは何だと言いましたか。
What did (he) say this is?

何と言いましたか。
What did (he) say?