Example:
The hijackers were said to demand the plane to fly to Iran
The only think I could think of was 有人告訴 (somebody said), and putting it at the beginning, like:
有人告訴劫機者...
Is this right? Or is there a better option?
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1告訴 means to tell; 说 means to say. 据说 would be a better word.– 杨以轩Commented Jan 18, 2014 at 3:43
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3 Answers
X were said to do Y
can be translated to
据说X想做Y
PS.
The hijackers were said to demand the plane to fly to Iran
is equal to
It is said that hijackers demanded the plane to fly to Iran.
I think @Question Overflow tells the different.
告訴 means to tell
e.g. You are told to bring your book to classroom.
When in a passive voice, 告诉 has the mean of request. Therefore last sentence means you are request to bring your book.
说 means to say.
When in a passive voice, 说 is same as 'somebody said' or 'it is said'. Therefore 说 is a better choice for your case. When the person who tell the message is not important, we say 据说 or 据传, which is the same as 'it is said' in English.
有人告訴劫機者...
Is actually the opposite to the original meaning. Instead it is
（有人）告诉（其他人）劫机者...
Which is equivalent to
据说，劫机者...