He said: "Hush."

[navi tasan]

1) He said:"Hush."
2) He said:"Shush."

Did he necessarily say those words, or could he just have made the 'sh' sound?

I think in
3) He shushed me.
or
4) He hushed me.

He could have said shush/hush, or made the 'sh' sound, or just put his finger on his lips to indicate to me that I have to be silent. But It seems to me that in '1' and '2' he's really said those words.

Gratefully,
Navi

 

[Rover_KE]

In 1 and 2 he said those words (delete the colons).

 

[emsr2d2]

As they're given as a direct quote, I assume he said the words. Otherwise, it would have been written as 'He said "Shhh".'
In the indirect quotes, we don't know exactly what he said/did.

 

[Tdol]

Isn't it more about the nature of the instruction than the exact sounds?

 

[Skrej]

If the speaker is making noises, but not actual words, then you can enclose an approximation of the sounds within the quotes.

"Sshhhh", she whispered.
"Gahh", he spluttered.
"AHHH!" Tom screamed.

Note that you can suggest the relative length of the noise by how many final letters you use. "Ssh" = short hushing noise, "Shshhhhhhh" = prolonged hushing. Using complete capitalization suggests yelling or loudness.