Grammar: Reported Speech

Reported Speech

Reported Statements
When do we use reported speech? Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example "I'm going to the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the first person said.


Here's how it works:
We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'.If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: “I like ice cream”.
• Reported speech: She says she likes ice cream.

But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

• Direct speech: “I like ice cream”.
• Reported speech: She said she liked ice cream.

Tense	Direct Speech	Reported Speech
present simple	“I like ice cream”	She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present continuous	“I am living in London”	She said she was living in London.
past simple	“I bought a car”	She said she had bought a car OR She said she bought a car.
past continuous	“I was walking along the street”	She said she had been walking along the street.
present perfect	“I haven't seen Julie”	She said she hadn't seen Julie.
past perfect*	“I had taken English lessons before”	She said she had taken English lessons before.
will	“I'll see you later”	She said she would see me later.
would*	“I would help, but..”	She said she would help but...
can	“I can speak perfect English”	She said she could speak perfect English.
could*	“I could swim when I was four”	She said she could swim when she was four.
shall	“I shall come later”	She said she would come later.
should*	“I should call my mother”	She said she should call her mother
might*	"I might be late"	She said she might be late
must	"I must study at the weekend"	She said she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend

* doesn't change.
Sometimes it isn't necessary to change the present tense into the past tense if the information in direct speech is still true (only for things that are general facts,and also then it is typical to change the tense)

• Direct speech: “The sky is blue”.
• Reported speech: She said that the sky is/was blue.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech
Direct Speech        Indirect Speech
today                            that day
tonight                          that night
this week/month/year   that week/month/year
tomorrow                      the next day
next week/month/year  the following week/month/year
last week/month/year   the week/month/year before or the previous week/month/year
yesterday                      the day before/the previous day
now                               then/at that moment
here                               there
last night                       the night before


-Apart from Reported Speech we have Reported Questions,Reported Requests and Reported Orders, which work more or less in the same way. Here there are some examples of each one to see how hey work:

Reported Questions.

Direct Question                             Reported Question

Where is the Post Office, please?” - She asked me where the Post Office was.

“Who was that fantastic man?” - She asked me who that fantastic man had been.

“Have you ever been to Mexico?” - She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.

Are you living here?” - She asked me if I was living here.

Reported Requests.

Direct Request         Reported Request

“Please help me”. - She asked me to help her.

Could you bring my book tonight?” - She asked me to bring her book that night.

Please don't smoke”. - She asked me not to smoke.

Reported Orders.

Direct Order        Reported Order

Go to bed!” - He told the child to go to bed.

“Be on time!” - He told me to be on time.

“Don't smoke!” - He told us not to smoke.