Reported Speech

If the Reporting verb is in the present tense,

Example:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

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 (that) she liked ice cream.

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.
How to Use 'Say' and 'Tell'

In reported statements, we can use either 'say' or 'tell'. The meaning is the same, but the
grammar is different. For example:

Direct speech:

John: "I'll be late".

Reported speech:

John said (that) he would be late.

OR

John told me (that) he was going to be late.

With 'tell' we NEED the object (e.g. 'me', 'you', 'her').

With 'say' we CAN'T use the object (e.g. 'me', 'them', 'us').
Examples:

Julie said (that) she would come to the party.

I said (that) I was going to bed early.
He told me (that) he loved living in London.
They told John (that) they would arrive at six.
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 had 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 had 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 had tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.'

He said he had 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.]
this that
here there
today that day
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.

these those
now then
yesterday the day before
tomorrow next/following day
ago before
Reported Questions
Wh Questions

Direct speech: Where do you live?

The tense changes are the same

Keep the question word

Once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. (So we need to
change the grammar to a normal positive sentence.)

Direct speech: Where do you live?

Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.

Reported Questions
Direct speech: Where is Julie?

Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'.

We make the question form of the present simple of be by inverting (changing the
position of)the subject and verb.

So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.
Examples

Direct Question Reported Question

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

What are you doing? She asked me what I was doing.

Who was that fantastic man? She asked me who that fantastic
man had been.
'yes / no' question

We don't have any question words to help us. Instead,

we use 'if':

Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?

Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

Examples

Direct Question Reported Question

Do you love me? He asked me if I loved him.

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 speech: Close the window, please
Or: Could you close the window please?
Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when
we tell another person about it.
We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':
'ask me + not to + infinitive': (negative request)

Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Reported Requests
To report a negative request, use 'not':

Direct speech: Please don't be late.

Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Direct Speech: Could you please help me to do my homework?

Reported Speech: She asked me to help her do her homework./ He asked me

to help him do his homework.
Examples

Direct Request Reported Request

Please help me. She asked me to help her.

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

Could you bring my book tonight? She asked me to bring her book
tonight.

Would you mind coming early She asked me to come early the
tomorrow? next day.
Reported Orders
Direct speech: Sit down!

We make this into reported speech in the same way as a request.

We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask':

Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech
Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time expressions
too.
We don't always have to do this, however.
It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech.
For example:

It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".

If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
Examples

now then / at that time

today that day

yesterday the day before yesterday / the day before

last week the week before / the previous week

last night the night before

tomorrow today / the next day / the following day