Reported Speech

REPORTED SPEECH/INDIRECT SPEECH

Direct speech: refers to reproducing another person’s exact words. Quotation marks (“…”) are used.

Ex: Ann said:”I’m hungry.”

Tom said: “I’m feeling ill.”

Reported speech: Refers to reproducing the idea of another person’s word. Not all of the exact words are used. Verb form and pronoun may change.

Ex: Ann said that she was hungry.

Tom said that he was feeling ill.

When we used reported speech, the main verb of the sentence is usually past. The rest of the sentence is usually past too.
In general, the present form in direct speech changes to the past form in reported speech.
The simple past tense can usually stay the same or you can change it to the past perfect (had verb3).

Compare direct speech and reported speech below!

TENSES	DIRECT SPEECH	REPORTED SPEECH
Simple present	He said, ‘I want to buy a new car.’	He said that he wanted to buy a new car.
Present continuous	She said, ‘I’m learning Spanish.’	She said she was learning Spanish.
Simple past	He said, ’I woke up feeling ill.’	He said that he had woken up feeling ill.
Present perfect	She said,’ I’ve missed the train.’	She said that she had missed the train.
Past continuous	He said,’ I was staying with a friend.’	He said that he had been stayed with a friend
Will	She said.’ I will call you.’	She said she would call me.
Can	He said,’ I can run fast.’	He said that he could run fast.
May	She said,’ we may go on vacation.’	She said they might go on vacation.
Must	He said,’ I must get up early every day.’	He said that he had to get up early every day.
Must not	She said, ‘you mustn’t smoke.’	She said that I mustn’t smoke.
Offer	She asked, ’would you like some coffee’	She offered me some coffee.
Let’s	He said, ‘Let’s sit under the tree.’	He suggested that we should sit under the tree.

Change the following direct sentence into indirect sentence!

Susi said, ’My friend wants to invite me to the party.’
Donnie says, ‘I can’t do the jobs with you.’
He said, ‘you didn’t call me last night.’
My mother asked, ’why are you angry with me?’
The teacher said to his friend,’ My students are finishing these jobs well now.’
He asked his mother,’ Does my friend call me today?’
The teacher said to the students,’ have you study hard?’
She said,’ I passed my examination.’
She said to them,’ your teacher will be absent tomorrow.’
He said,’ switch off the lamp after studying!’