걔 내일 떠난대, 너한테 꼭 전해 달래 — She's leaving tomorrow, apparently. She asked me to make sure I told you.

Word by word

The line, explained

Some of the biggest moments in K-drama happen secondhand. The lead is not there; a friend arrives out of breath and passes on the news. Korean has two compact endings for exactly this, -대 and -래, and today's line uses both in one breath: the news itself, and the message that came with it. Master them and you will understand gossip, weather forecasts, office rumours and lovers' relays, because Koreans quote other people far more often than they announce things directly.

걔 is a contraction of 그 아이, "that kid", and it is the everyday casual word for "he" or "she" when you talk about a friend or peer. 내일 is "tomorrow". 떠난대 is 떠나다, "to leave", turned into the plain statement 떠난다 and then given -대. That -대 is short for -다고 해, "says that". So 떠난대 means "she says she's leaving", or simply "she's leaving, apparently". The speaker is reporting, not vouching, which keeps a little emotional distance.

너한테 is 너, "you", with 한테, "to", the casual particle for giving something to a person. 꼭 means "definitely, without fail". 전해 달래 is the clever part. 전하다 means "to pass on, deliver a message"; -아 달라 is the quoted form of "please do it for me"; and -래 is short for -라고 해, "said to". So 전해 달래 is "she asked me to pass it on". One syllable, 래, holds the entire request she made before she left.

How to choose: statements take -대. That covers verbs (간대, 먹는대), adjectives (춥대, 예쁘대) and the past (갔대). Nouns take -래: 걔 학생이래, "she says she's a student". Commands and requests also take -래: 빨리 오래, "he said to come quickly", 기다려 달래, "she asked you to wait". Reported questions use -냬: 어디 가냬, "he's asking where you're going". In polite speech, just add 요: 떠난대요, 전해 달래요.

Watch the spelling trap. 떠난대 (ㅐ, she says she's leaving) and 떠난데 (ㅔ, she's leaving, and…) sound nearly identical in modern Seoul speech, and native speakers mix them up in texts too. Context sorts it out. Now swap the news: 걔 내일 온대 (she's coming tomorrow), 결혼한대 (she's getting married), 이사 간대 (she's moving away), 입대한대 (he's enlisting, a K-drama classic). Each keeps -대 because each is a fact passed along, and the message after it stays the same.

Grammar · -대 / -래

Hearsay: “they say…” and “she asked me to…”

-대 contracts -다고 해 and reports statements: verbs 간대/먹는대, adjectives 춥대, past 갔대. -래 contracts -라고 해 and is used for nouns (학생이래, "she says she's a student") and for commands and requests (빨리 오래, "he said to come quickly"; 전해 달래, "she asked me to pass it on"). Reported questions use -냬 (뭐 하냬). These are casual; add 요 for polite speech: 떠난대요, 달래요. Do not confuse 떠난대 (hearsay) with 떠난데 (background "-는데"), which sound almost the same.

민지 남자친구 생겼대.Apparently Minji got a boyfriend.
내일 비 온대.They say it's going to rain tomorrow.
엄마가 일찍 들어오래.Mom said to come home early.

Why it hits

Drama plots run on messages delivered secondhand: a best friend breathless in a hospital corridor, passing on what the departing lover could not say face to face. -대 and -래 are how that relay sounds in Korean. Gossip in group chats runs on the same endings, which is why 했대 and 이래 fill so many subtitles.

Practice

Make it yours

Swap one word and the line becomes your own.

걔 내일 떠난대, 너한테 꼭 전해 달래

She's leaving tomorrow, apparently. She asked me to make sure I told you.

Quick check

How do you report the command 빨리 와 ("come quickly")?