Ask-a-Teacher Question

ISSUE 1: Quoted ideas and phrases are always better in informal sentences. It is the last verb in the total statement that decides it's formality. Always crunch quotes and what you think and heard etc into an informal version. So let's first fix that.


私のお父さんは「犬が好きじゃないだと言った」と思います。

ISSUE 2: When you use JANAI or adjectives in the quoted or heard or said or thought thing, then DA (DESU) is completely removed. If you hadn't used 好きじゃない and instead said きらい, which might be too strong to say, then you would need the だ. But since you used じゃない isn't needed.

私のお父さんは「犬が好きじゃないと言った」と思います。

ISSUE 3: And the last issue is just me being picky... I know when you say お父さん that it is your dad. And even if you were talking about my dad I would know you meant it. Having 私の is just really not needed. SO in the interest of sounding more "cool" and natural let's remove it. Here is the finished sentence:

お父さんは「犬が好きじゃないと言った」と思います。

But other than that you made a pretty good sentence. Keep up the good work!