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 1
Hello cute,
For question 1, both 1 and 3 are correct -- which is better depends on the situation. Most books would probably say 3 is the correct one.
For question 2, 1 is correct.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sir,
what is the indirect speech of this sentence?
He said, “let it rain ever so hard, I shall go”.
Hello abhay,
I'm not completely sure I fully understand what 'he' intends by saying this, but you could say something like 'He said he would go however hard it rained'. A structure like this one requires a little creativity!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
She promised me that she(will-would) help me in the training tomorrow.
hello. I have a doubt, please could you help me?
If in the direct speech I use the time adverb " The next Friday" , is it right to replace it with the form " The Friday after"? In my opinion it is wrong, but I have read many explanation about the replacement of next and now I'm a little bit confused. Thanks
ex. "I'm going to stay out later next Friday"
She said she was going to stay out later the Friday after.
Hello Barbarap70,
Yes, that's correct. It is context-dependent in the sense that we don't know when 'next Friday' is when we are reporting the speech as we may be reporting it a few moment after it was said or a few days or even longer. However, in general we change 'next week' (etc) to 'the week after' or 'the following week' when reporting speech.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi, can you help me with this. Why don't we backshift the 2nd clause? I thought the 2nd clause must be "when she had retired".
'She had worked for that school for 40 years when she retired.' → He told me that she had for that school for 40 years when she retired.
Thank you.
Hello jaydeptrai,
Both forms are possible here but I think the past simple is better because it makes clear that the 40 years preceded the retirement. If you use 'she had retired' then the sequence is not clear and it could mean that she first retired (from a different job) and then began working for the school, which she did for 40 years. The past simple removes this potential ambiguity.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
hi
could you please help me with this question
she said "I had to come back fast because it was very crowded"
she said that she had to come back fast because it was very crowded is this right or she said that she had had to come back fast because it was very crowded is right?
and explanation, please!
Hello eloee100,
Normally we apply the 'backshift' to the reported action, so the past simple 'had to' is normally backshifted to the past perfect 'had had to' (that is, your second sentence).
In informal speaking, though, sometimes people don't backshift a verb if it won't cause any confusion.
If you're writing for an English exam or English teacher, I'd recommend you use the backshifted form. It's probably also better to use it in your informal speaking, too.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team