Reported Speech - Grammar

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If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.



Reported Statements

Tense
Direct Speech
Reported Speech
present simple
I like ice cream
She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present continuous
I am living in London
She said (that) she was living in London.
past simple
I bought a car
She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she bought a car.
past continuous
I was walking along the street
She said (that) she had been walking along the street.
present perfect
I haven't seen Julie
She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.
past perfect*
I had taken English lessons before
She said (that) she had taken English lessons before.
will
I'll see you later
She said (that) she would see me later.
would*
I would help, but..”
She said (that) she would help but...
can
I can speak perfect English
She said (that) she could speak perfect English.
could*
I could swim when I was four
She said (that) she could swim when she was four.
shall
I shall come later
She said (that) she would come later.
should*
I should call my mother
She said (that) she should call her mother
might*
I might be late
She said (that) she might be late
must
I must study at the weekend
She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend

* doesn't change.

Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):

  • Direct speech: The sky is blue.
  • Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.


    Reported Questions
    So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?

  1. Direct speech: Where do you live?
    How can we make the reported speech here?

    In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A bit confusing? Maybe this example will help:
  2. Direct speech: Where do you live?
  3. Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
    Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a present simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then I need to change the verb to the past simple.

    Another example:
  4. Direct speech: Where is Julie?
  5. Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.
    The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.
    Here are some more examples:

Direct Question
Reported Question
Where is the Post Office, please?
She asked me where the Post Office was.
What are you doing?
She asked me what I was doing.
Who was that fantastic man?
She asked me who that fantastic man had been.


So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any question words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':

  1. Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
  2. Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.
    No problem? Here are a few more examples:


Direct Question
Reported Question
Do you love me?
He asked me if I loved him.
Have you ever been to Mexico?
She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.
Are you living here?
She asked me if I was living here.


Reported Requests

What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

  1. Direct speech: Close the window, please
  2. Or: Could you close the window please?
  3. Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
    All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':
  4. Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.
    Here are a few more examples: 

Direct Request
Reported Request
Please help me.
She asked me to help her.
Please don't smoke.
She asked me not to smoke.
Could you bring my book tonight?
She asked me to bring her book that night.
Could you pass the milk, please?
She asked me to pass the milk.
Would you mind coming early tomorrow?
She asked me to come early the next day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

  1. Direct speech: Please don't be late.
  2. Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.
    Reported Orders
    And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:
  3. Direct speech: Sit down!
    In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask':
  4. Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Direct Order
Reported Order
Don't worry!
He told her not to worry.
Be on time!
He told me to be on time.
Don't smoke!
He told us not to smoke.



Time Expressions with Reported Speech

Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech.

Here's a table of some possible conversions:

now
then / at that time
today
yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June
yesterday
the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December
last night
the night before, Thursday night
last week
the week before / the previous week
tomorrow
today / the next day / the following day / Friday



Bibliography :

Seonaid. “Perfect English Grammar Plus.” 2015, http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/perfect-english-grammar-plus.html. Accessed 9 Dec. 2017.

Pahlow, Heike, et al. Reported Speech. 2017, https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech.

EF Education First Ltd. Tense Changes When Using Reported Speech | English Grammar | EF. 2017, https://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/tense-changes-when-using-reported-speech/.



GRAMMAR

GRAMMAR

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!
1. He said : They must finish their homeworks for tomorrow. ----- He said that they their homeworks for .
2. They said : We will visit our parents on holidays. ----- They said that they their parents on holidays.
3. She said : I have been to Paris twice. ----- She said that she to Paris twice.
4. She asked : What were you doing yesterday? ----- She asked me what I .
5. He asked : Do you like going to the cinema? ----- He asked me I going to the cinema.
6. She asked : Has he eaten all the food that was in the fridge? ----- She asked me I all the food that was on the fridge.
7. She asked : Could you bring my book tonight? ----- She asked me her book .
8. He asked : Would you mind to turn off the light? ----- He asked me off the light.
9. She said : Don´t be late this afternoon! ----- She told us late .
10. He said : Treat your brother kindly. ----- He told me my brother calmy
GRAMMAR

GRAMMAR

Quiz