Reported speech • Grammar Bachillerato 1

direct speech:

Annie said, "We are decorating our flat tomorrow."

(the speaker is using Annie's actual words)

reported speech: (a week later...)

Annie said (that) they were decorating their flat the following day.

(the speaker is using his/her own words to report what Annie said)

1 Verbal Changes. Use the tenses that are natural for the situation. As a

general rule these changes are as follow:

direct speech reported speech

do / does did

am/is/are doing was/were doing

did* did; had done

have/has done had done

was/were doing* was/were doing; had been doing

had done no change

future (shall/will) would

would no change

can could

may (possibility) might

may (permission) could

must (obligation) had to; must (if the obligation still applies)

could, might, should, ought to no change

* In written English past tenses usually change to past perfect but there are the

following exceptions:

1 Past tenses in time clauses do not normally change. The main verb of

such sentences can either remain unchanged or become the past

perfect:

"I often saw Ian when I lived in Paris," he said.

He said he often saw/ had often seen Ian when he lived in Paris.

2 A past tense used to describe a state of affairs which still exists when the

speech is reported remains unchanged:

She said, "I did not buy the house because it was old."

She said that she hadn't bought the house because it was old.

2 Non-verbal Changes. Some other words may have to be changed:

direct speech reported speech

here there

now then / at that moment

this the / that (time expression)

today that day

yesterday the previous day / the day before

tomorrow the following day / the next day

the day before yesterday two days before

the day after tomorrow two days later

last week the previous week

next week the following week

a week ago a week before

3 BASIC PATTERNS

1 Statements

… said (+ to + object)+ (that) + S + V …

… told + OBJECT

"I can't go to the party," he said. = He said (that) he couldn't go to the party.

"I'll phone you later," she said. = She told me (that) she'd phone me later.

2 Commands, requests...

… told

+ OBJECT + (not) to-infinitive …… asked

= pedir

"Don't shout," I said to Jim. = I told Jim not to shout.

"Will you open the door, Tom?" she said. = She asked Tom to open the door.

3 Questions

… asked

= preguntar ( + object )

wh-word (+S) + V …

if / whether + S + V …

"What do you do?" he said. = He asked (me) what I did.

"Who is there?" he said. = He asked who was there.

"Did you buy the book?" Sue said. = Sue asked (me) if I had bought the book.

*Note: In a few expressions we can use tell without a personal object, eg, tell a

story, tell the time, tell the truth, tell a lie.