REPORTED SPEECH

ESTILO INDIRECTO
What is reported speech?

We use reported speech to speak about what

someone has said.

• For example:
 
Lisa: “I like Beyonce”
 
 
• Reported speech
 
Lisa said (that) she liked Beyonce.
How do we use reported speech?

1. We usually change what the person said in the

present into the past tense:

Lisa said: “I LIKE Beyonce”

 
Lisa said (that) she LIKED Beyonce
There are two main reporting verbs:
SAY and TELL.
o Say has only one object:
She said that she liked Beyonce

o Tell has TWO objects:

She told Karen that she liked Beyonce.
She told her that she liked Beyonce.

(note that we use the object pronouns: told me, told

you, told him, told her, told us, told them)
 How to transform a reported speech sentence.

oPresent →past
E.g. I’m happy →
She said that she was happy
oPast simple → past perfect
e.g. I bought a t-shirt →
She said that she had bought a t-shirt
oPresent perfect →past perfect
e.g. Susan has lived in Madrid since 1998→
He said that Susan had lived in Madrid since 1998

oPresent continuous→past continuous

e.g. I’m cooking spaghetti→
She said that she was cooking spaghetti
oFuture simple →would + infinitive
e.g. I’ll go to the beach →
She said she would go to the beach
ocan→could
e.g. I can play the guitar →
He said he could play the guitar
oMust→had to
e.g. I must go→
He said he had to go
 o Sometimes you have to change the pronouns:
I→ he, she
We →they
!!! You must use common sense here. If you are
transforming a sentence you said yourself, of
course you don’t have to make this
transformation!
e.g. «You must write a composition» →
I said that you had to write a composition.
(I’m the same person)
BUT if you tell this to your mum:
Elena/She said that we had to write a composition
oSame problem when using time references:
Tuesday:
«You have to write the composition tomorrow»→

She said I had to write the composition tomorrow .

(still Tuesday)

She said I had to write the composition the next day.

(NOT on Tuesday)
 Other common transformations:
This, these That, those
Now Then
Today That day
Yesterday The day before
The day before yesterday Two days before
Tomorrow The next day
The day after tomorrow Two days later
Next week/month/year The following week/month/year
Last week/month/year The previous week/month/year
Two days/three hours ago Two days/three hours before