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
Betty said, „If I knew the answer, I would tell you.”
= Betty said that if she had known the answer she would have told me/us.
hi, why isn't this "she would tell me/us."? Since would is a modal and tell is in present simple so it is supposed to be "would tell".
Thanks for answering
Hello 343463,
It's not always necessary to shift the verb form/tense back from past to past perfect in reported speech, so you could just say this:
In fact, this is the most common choice. It implies that Betty still does not know the answer and still cannot tell us.
If you want to emphasise that you are talking about a particular time in the past, and that perhaps the situation has changed (she did not know then but later found out, for example), then shifting the past to the past perfect is needed:
Here we do not know if Betty knows the answer now or not; the sentence is situated in past time and describes a situation in the past without telling us anything about the present.
Your question is really about whether we can mix these. It is possible in certain contexts where a past situation influences the present or future. For example:
Here, a past situation (not passing the test) is influencing a future action (applying for a job). However, I would say that this construction does not fit your example. The reason is that having the knowledge is something that stays with us, not something we do at a particular moment. If Betty is going to tell us that answer in the future it is not because she knew the answer in the past but because she knows the answer generally. To compare to my example above, having the answer is similar to having a driving license (a permanent state), not to passing the test (a single action). Just as we would not say 'If I had had a driving license', so we would not say 'If Betty had known the answer...' with future results.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
I said to my friend."can you pick me up after work."
Report this speech please! 🥺
Hello kamil2828,
On this site we provide explanations and help but we don't just provide answers to questions as we would end up just doing people's homework and tests for them! I can give you this help, however: the construction you need is ask + someone + to verb.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
In reported speech, your sentence would be:
"I asked my friend if they could pick me up after work."
Warm Regards,
Shri
Hello,
Could you please tell me how I should backshift in the following sentences?
Direct:
Since my hair grew too long, I went to the hairdresser's last week. My stylist was in a very good mood, and she cracked a few jokes about me reminding her of a neighbor's dog that she often sees when she goes to work.
Reported:
Jenny said that since her hair had grown too long, she had gone to the hairdresser's the week before. Her stylist was (state, don't think it needs backshifting) in a very good mood, and she had cracked a few jokes about Jenny's hair reminding her of a neighbor's fluffy dog that she often sees when she goes to work ('sees' and 'goes' are still true).
Thank you
Hello Tony_M,
The only change I would suggest is 'cracked' instead of 'had cracked', which would make the sequence within the story (her good mood leading to her cracking jokes) clearer. 'Had cracked' is fine, but I think past simple is a better option.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter,
Thank you very much.
Shouldn't we change 'had gone' to 'went' then?
Can we show that it's reported speech once at the beginning and then just use the past simple to stay within the story?
Jenny said that since her hair had grown too long, she went to the hairdresser's the week before. Her stylist was in a very good mood, and she cracked a few jokes about Jenny's hair reminding her of a neighbor's dog that she often sees when she goes to work.
Tony
Hello again Tony,
As you know, it's often a stylistic choice rather than a requirement to backshift into the past perfect. Here I think you could shift back but it's not necessary, especially as you have the time phrase 'the week before' to remove any ambiguity.
You could put all the verbs in the past perfect if you wish (had grown, had gone, had been, had cracked) but I think the passage reads much better with past simple forms after the initial had grown.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much, it's clear now.