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.
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
We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.
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
Occasionally, we don’t need to change the present tense into the past if the information in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):
- direct speech: “The sky is blue”
- reported speech: She said that the sky is/was blue
Reported Questions
Okay, so now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?
- direct speech: "where do you live?"
How can we make the reported speech here?
In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, 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. Confused? Sorry, maybe this example will help:
So, to look again at the example:
- direct speech: "where do you live?"
- She asked me where I lived.
Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a present simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then I need to change the verb to the past simple.
How about another example:
How about another example:
- direct speech: "where is Julie?"
- 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.
Here are some more 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. |
So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any question word to help us. It's easy, instead use 'if':
- direct speech: "Do you like chocolate?"
- She asked me if I liked chocolate.
No problem? Here are a few more 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
There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:
- 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':
- reported speech: She asked me to close the window
