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 Marc Lensly,
'tomorrow' is fine here if the meaning is correct. We normally change 'tomorrow' to 'the following day' (or something similar) when the reporting verb is in the past. This is because the change in time of the verb changes the timeline. But in this case, where the reporting verb and statement are both in the present, it's more natural to keep 'tomorrow' in most cases.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
Could you please help me write this sentence into indirect speech
Fiona complained: ,,They kept inviting their friends over when I had to study for my exams"
This is how I did it,is it correct?
Fiona complained that they kept inviting their friends over when she had to study for her exams.
Hello ninica,
Yes, that looks good to me. Well done!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
When it comes to the previously provided example:
Fiona complained: ,,They kept inviting their friends over when I had to study for my exams"
Isn't this sentence incorrect?
Fiona complained that they kept inviting their friends over when she had to study for her exams.
Shouldn't it be:
Fiona complained that they HAD kept inviting their friends over when she had to (or HAD had to?) study for her exams.?
I'm asking because according to the rules, we should backshift past simple: "kept inviting" into past perfect: "had kept inviting", right?
When it comes to the second part, for some reason shifting past simple: "had to" into "had had to" doesn't seem right, but I don't know why.
Could someone elaborate on this matter? Thank you in advance!
Hello Nortom,
You can backshift the verb forms but it's not necessary. When the verb forms are not backshifted it tells us that the situation is still current - i.e. that the problem has not been resolved and Fiona is still unhappy. If the verbs are backshifted then we don't know if it is still current or not:
Note that you have to backshift both of the verbs as the actions are simultaneous; if you backshift only the first (had kept inviting) then you change the actions to make them sequential.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
That's very helpful, Peter! Thanks a lot!
Hi. How can you transform these sentences into indirect/reported speech?
"He has never met us", he admitted.
"At one o'clock, he has been doing nothing", he said.
"They have closed down the previous year", she explained.
"He wishes he could be independent", Neil said.
"While he is sleeping, someone screamed in the garden", he claimed.
I was wondering, should I insert fictitious names? Doesn't seem right if I use "that person" phrase.
(He admitted that (that person) never met them.)
He said that at one o'clock, that person has been doing nothing.
Neil said that (that person) wishes he could be independent.
He claimed that while that person is sleeping, someone screamed in the garden.
Thank you very much.
Hello Roger3178,
Yes, it sounds awkward to say 'that person'. In a real situation, it's usually clear who a pronoun refers to, and in some of these cases it could be the speaker, so I'd just say use a pronoun. For example: 'He claimed that someone screamed while he was sleeping' or 'Neil said he wished he could be independent'.
In cases where there seem to be two different people, it's still OK to use a pronoun: 'He admitted that he [which refers to another person] had never met them/never met them'.
The second sentence sounds a little odd to me; I'm not sure why the present perfect continuous is used.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
1. Direct: " Columbus discovered America in 1492"
Indirect: Joe said Columbus discovered America in 1492
2. Direct: "Nick left this morning"
Indirect: She told me Nick had left that morning
Direct speech is past simple, but case 1 used in past simple, case 2 used in past perfect. Is there any difference between case 1 and case 2? Help me.
Hello Sandy Nguyen,
We use perfect forms when there is a connection of some kind between an earlier action and a past, present or future situation. For example, look at these two sentences:
The first sentence tells us about the sequence of events: first the bus leaves and after that Paul arrives. There's no reason to think the events are connected or influence on another. However, the second sentence is different. Here, we understand that there is some connection between the events – probably that Paul wanted to catch the bus and did not.
Now, if you think about your examples you can see that there is no connection between Joe's speech (Joe said...) and the discovery of the Americas by Columbus. However, there may well be a connection between Nick leaving and the situation of the second example. Perhaps the speaker (the person 'she' is talking to) wanted to speak to Nick, for example.
The choice of past perfect or past simple is not a black and white question. It's very much dependent on how the speaker sees the actions/states and what the context is. I hope the explanation has helped to clarify it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team