Reported Speech
Reported Speech
Reported Speech
We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I'
to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.
(As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it
in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use
'that'.)
But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported
speech:
present
I like ice cream She said (that) she liked ice cream.
simple
past I was walking She said (that) she had been walking
continuous along the street along the street.
I had taken
She said (that) she had taken English
past perfect* English lessons
lessons before.
before
will I'll see you later She said (that) she would see me
later.
I would help,
would* She said (that) she would help but...
but...
I shall come
shall She said (that) she would come later.
later
* 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
Reported Questions
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:
Direct speech: Where do you live?
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:
Direct speech: Where is Julie?
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.
Where is the Post Office, please? She asked me where the Post Office was.
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':
Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.
No problem? Here are a few more examples:
Reported Requests
There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:
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.
Reported Orders
And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in English,
In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell'
instead of 'ask':
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
For example:
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was said.
yesterday the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December