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
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.''The baby's sleeping!'
- Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job.
'I've hurt my leg.'
- He told me the baby was sleeping.
- 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.''It was raining all day.'
- She told me they'd lived in China for five years.
- 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.''I'm working in Italy for the next six months.'
- Jenny told me that she goes to the gym next to my house. I'm thinking about going with her.
'I've broken my arm!'
- He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him!
- 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.'We played tennis for our school,' said Alina.
- Bob said that he enjoyed working in his garden.
- 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.'We want our jobs back!' we said.
- I told her that I was working on my thesis.
- 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.''We like it here.'
- 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.]
'I'm planning to do it today.'
- 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.]
- 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
Hello Sebastian,
When direct speech is reported we can shift the verb form back in time to show that we are talking about the time of speaking, or we can leave the verb form as it is if the information is still true at the time of reporting. Thus we often have a choice.
The first reported speech sentence tells us that at the time when she spoke to us, the teacher was intelligent. It does not tell us anything about the present. The teacher may have changed in some way, or may have died.
The second version tells us that the teacher was intelligent at the time she spoke to us, and is still intelligent today.
As intelligence is a characteristic which is considered inherent and unchanging for the most part, unless the teacher has died there is no reason not to use the second version, and it would clarify any ambiguities regarding whether or not the teacher is still with us. However, grammatically speaking, both versions are correct.
Imperatives are usually reported using tell with an infinitive. As the second clause is not an imperative a second reporting structure is required or a linker of some kind:
It seems highly unlikely that the speaker is reporting this during the race (though not impossible, of course), so versions 1 and 2 would be more likely. However, if the race were still ongoing (imagine two teammates talking during the race) then versions 3 and 4 would be possible.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter,
I'm in confusion regarding how the imperative sentence "Don't stop, we can win the race" has been reported. If these words are uttered by any third person speaker, shouldn't we then change the pronoun 'we' to 'they'? Like for instance-- He told us not to stop as they could win the race. But if it is said by first person figure, then the one mentioned in the above reply is correct. The reported version of the speech should be then--I told not to stop as we could win the race. If I haven't been able to get the context considering which you changed the speech, please do let clarify.
With regards
Sandeep Mandal
Hello smandal973,
It really depends on the details of the context. We could have a situation in which there are many people involved, such as in a team sport. Then it would be possible to have someone who is part of the team but who was not the speaker.
Team member 1: "Don't stop, we can win the race."
Team member 2: "What did he say?"
Team member 3: "He told us..."
I was actually thinking about a team coach giving instructions to a team, but you could imagine all sorts of contexts which would give rise to different pronoun choices.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Via,
Well spotted, and it is correct! Actually, there are two past events. The second event is the act of speaking (Alina told me). The past perfect event (they'd played tennis) happened earlier than that act of speaking.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi NataliaVarela,
You are correct that we often have a choice when reporting what people said. Both of these are possible:
The first, as you say, tells us that the person reporting the statement believes that it is still true today; the second does not give any indication of this.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team