# 다는 것을 vs 다고



## iiVii

안녕하세요!

I wanna know what's the difference  between these two sentence's meanings:

어제보다 더 많이 사랑하지만 내일 보다 훨씬 덜 사랑한*다고* 약속합니다.
*And*
어제보다 더 많이 사랑하지만 내일 보다 훨씬 덜 사랑한*다는 것을* 약속합니다.

In the translator they both mean " I love you more than yesterday, but I promise that I love you much less than tomorrow."

While from what i know 사랑한다는 것 is an abbreviation of 사랑한다고 하는 것 which indicates that it's a quotation so how would the 2nd sentence mean the same thing i got really confused. 

Also there isn't much context i just saw the 2nd sentence in a comment from a fan who was saying this to an idol. And i thought that it should be written as the 1st sentence to have the meaning that the translator gave.


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## pcy0308

Virtually, there is no difference between the first and the second unless you really want to translate things literally, word by word.
So the translation is fine.

The second one, if you absolutely have to translate it literally, would mean, "I [...] yesterday, but I promise *the fact that* I [...] tomorrow."
I used "the fact that" because using "the thing that" (because "것" in its literal sense means "thing," "object") or any other alternative for that matter would make the sentence sound rather strange.

So basically, "*~(다)는 것*" allows nominalization of any context that precedes it (syntactically). That is to say, a verbal context that comes before it becomes a gerund when translated literally into English.
"사랑한다는 것" is not necessarily an abbreviation of "사랑한다고 하는 것" and does not have to be understood as a quotation.
Instead, you could understand it as nominalization of the context it refers to (making a parallel between a noun - "the fact" - and the context - "I [...] tomorrow." So when I am promising "the fact," I am basically promising that "I love you much less than tomorrow."), and there is no significant change in what both sentences mean.

Take for instance a verb, "먹다" or "to eat" (instead of "사랑하다"). 
We can come up with a sentence like...
"먹는*다는 것*은 행복입니다," or "Eating is happiness."
So here, a verb ("먹다," to eat) changes to a noun/gerund ("먹는다는 것," eating/an act of eating) when translated into English.
"먹을 수 있*다는 것*은 행복입니다," or "Being able to eat is happiness."
The verb now is "be able to eat," which becomes "being able to eat."

Hope this (convoluted) explanation was helpful!


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## iiVii

Thank you very much! 
There's still one small thing i can't get. What does the ㄴ/는다 adds to the meaning, can't we just say 먹는 것 or 사랑하는 것 ؟


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## pcy0308

"먹는 것" and "먹는다는 것" could mean the same thing depending on how or in what sense the former is used.

If "먹는 것" is used to refer to "something to eat," "something we eat" or basically food, snacks, etc., then, they are not the same.
This is so because *"~다는 것"* underlines an action. So the "먹는다는 것" refers to "an act of eating," not what we eat (food).
"먹는 것" can mean two things: either food (what we eat) or the very act of eating. In a literal sense, it has a broader meaning.

The same goes for "사랑한다는 것," which means "to love," so the very action of loving.
The same goes for "사랑하는 것," which could mean either "to love," so the very action of loving _or_ "the thing(s) we love," so the object of our affection.

Hope this clarifies things.


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## iiVii

You helped me a lot! 진짜 감사합니다


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