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)
Do you need to improve your English grammar?
Join thousands of learners from around the world who are improving their English grammar with our online courses.

Submitted by 343463 on Wed, 21/08/2024 - 14:13

Permalink

 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:

Betty said that if she knew the answer she would tell me/us.

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:

Betty said that if she had known the answer she would have told me/us.

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:

If I had passed my driving test last week I would apply for this job.

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

Submitted by kamil2828 on Sun, 18/08/2024 - 16:37

Permalink

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

Profile picture for user Tony_M

Submitted by Tony_M on Thu, 16/05/2024 - 23:54

Permalink

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