Reported speech: statements

Reported speech: statements

Do you know how to report what somebody else said? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person said.

direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said.
indirect speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films.

direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said.
indirect speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a chef.

direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said.
indirect speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel.
indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked) than the tense originally used (e.g. work). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that were used, for example pronouns.

Present simple, present continuous and present perfect

When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.

'I travel a lot in my job.'
  • Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job.
'The baby's sleeping!'
  • He told me the baby was sleeping.
'I've hurt my leg.'
  • She said she'd hurt her leg.

Past simple and past continuous

When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.

'We lived in China for five years.'
  • She told me they'd lived in China for five years.
'It was raining all day.'
  • He told me it had been raining all day.

Past perfect

The past perfect doesn't change.

'I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.'
  • He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine was great.

No backshift

If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. This might happen when the speaker has used a present tense.

'I go to the gym next to your house.'
  • Jenny told me that she goes to the gym next to my house. I'm thinking about going with her.
'I'm working in Italy for the next six months.'
  • He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him!
'I've broken my arm!'
  • She said she's broken her arm, so she won't be at work this week.

Pronouns, demonstratives and adverbs of time and place

Pronouns also usually change in indirect speech.

'I enjoy working in my garden,' said Bob.
  • Bob said that he enjoyed working in his garden.
'We played tennis for our school,' said Alina.
  • Alina told me they'd played tennis for their school.

However, if you are the person or one of the people who spoke, then the pronouns don't change.

'I'm working on my thesis,' I said.
  • I told her that I was working on my thesis.
'We want our jobs back!' we said.
  • We said that we wanted our jobs back.

We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and place if they are no longer accurate.

'This is my house.'
  • He said this was his house. [You are currently in front of the house.]
  • He said that was his house. [You are not currently in front of the house.]
'We like it here.'
  • She told me they like it here. [You are currently in the place they like.]
  • She told me they like it there. [You are not in the place they like.]
'I'm planning to do it today.'
  • She told me she's planning to do it today. [It is currently still the same day.]
  • She told me she was planning to do it that day. [It is not the same day any more.]

In the same way, these changes to those, now changes to then, yesterday changes to the day before, tomorrow changes to the next/following day and ago changes to before.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 2

Language level

Average: 4.2 (157 votes)
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Hello K.kh,

Both forms are possible. If you keep the verb in the present tense ('...is a musician') then you are making it clear that the son is still a musician now.
If you move the verb back into the past tense ('...was a musician') then we do not know if the son is still a musician; we know only that he was a musician when his mother spoke.

Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Bahri amal on Wed, 24/03/2021 - 02:37

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This explanation is so good for me, It really helped me to understand the topic

Submitted by sisi on Fri, 19/02/2021 - 17:28

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Hello, can you tell me why in the last question the answer is before and not ago? Thanks

Hello sisi,

This is explained in the last part of the grammar explanation:

In the same way, these changes to those, now changes to then, yesterday changes to the day before, tomorrow changes to the next/following day and ago changes to before.

This is because the direct speech sentence was spoken a week ago. If the reported speech sentence said 'ago', it would refer to a time after the time the direct speech was said.

For example, if today is 21 February, the direct speech sentence was said on 14 February. If the reported speech sentence said 'ago', it would refer to 18 February instead of 11 February.

Does that make sense?

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by BobMux on Thu, 11/02/2021 - 15:30

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Hello The LearnEnglish Team, I would appreciate it if you could help me report these words below, i mean, how do we report imagined conditional sentences? John said" if my mom was alive, how proud she would have been"

Hi BobMux,

I'd probably say this:

  • John wondered how proud his mom would have been, if she had been alive.

The reporting verb wonder shows John's imagining well here. The past simple verb (was) is backshifted to the past perfect (had been). 

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Stellaaa on Tue, 22/12/2020 - 01:27

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Hello Sir told us that if you want to know something just mention him,then he will answer us Is that correct?
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Submitted by Peter M. on Tue, 22/12/2020 - 09:20

In reply to by Stellaaa

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Hello Stellaaa,

That's almost correct. You should say 'mention it to him':

Sir told us that if you want to know something just mention it to him, and he will answer us.

Obviously, we can't see the context in which you are using this, but I think this is what you intend.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Timothy555 on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 13:08

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Hi! You mentioned that "The past perfect doesn't change". Is this referring to the past perfect simple tense? What about the past perfect continuous tense? Thanks!
Profile picture for user Peter M.

Submitted by Peter M. on Fri, 04/12/2020 - 08:06

In reply to by Timothy555

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Hi Tim,

This refers to both simple and continuous forms. If the original sentence (direct speech) contains a past perfect form, simple or continuous, it does not change when reported. 

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team