Lesson 31 of 36 · advanced
Reported Speech
Report what someone else said without quoting them directly.
Basic shift
When reporting, tenses usually shift one step back into the past.
- Direct: "I am tired." → Reported: She said she was tired.
More tense shifts
Present simple → past simple, present perfect → past perfect, will → would.
- Direct: "I will call you." → Reported: He said he would call me.
Reporting questions and commands
Use if/whether for yes/no questions, and 'to' for commands.
- Direct: "Are you coming?" → Reported: She asked if I was coming.
- Direct: "Close the door." → Reported: He told me to close the door.
Time and place words also change
Words like 'now', 'today', 'here', and 'tomorrow' usually shift when reporting, since the context has moved.
- now → then
- today → that day
- tomorrow → the next day
- here → there
- "I'll see you tomorrow." → He said he would see me the next day.
More examples in context
Reported speech is used constantly to retell conversations.
- She said she was tired.
- He told me he had already eaten.
- They said they would be late.
- She asked why I was crying.
- He asked if I had ever visited Italy.
- The teacher told the students to be quiet.
Common mistakes to avoid
These are frequent reported speech errors, and how to correct them.
- ✗ She said that she is happy. → ✓ She said that she was happy. (shift the tense back)
- ✗ He asked me where do I live. → ✓ He asked me where I lived. (no question word order in reported questions)
- ✗ She told to me she was busy. → ✓ She told me she was busy. ('tell' takes no 'to')
- ✗ He said me he was leaving. → ✓ He told me he was leaving. (use 'tell' with an object, not 'say')
Quick practice
Rewrite each sentence as reported speech, then check your answer.
- Direct: "I am busy today." → She said ___ (answer: she was busy that day.)
- Direct: "Where is the station?" → He asked ___ (answer: where the station was.)
- Direct: "Don't touch that." → She told me ___ (answer: not to touch that.)
- Direct: "I will call you tomorrow." → He said ___ (answer: he would call me the next day.)
- Direct: "Have you eaten?" → She asked ___ (answer: if I had eaten.)