Reported speech (sometimes called indirect speech) is how you tell someone what another person said, without using their exact words. She said she was tired. He told me he’d be late.
The main thing to get right is the tense shift, plus a couple of clean rules around pronouns and time words.
The basic shift: one step into the past
When the reporting verb (said, told, asked) is in the past, shift the tense one step further back:
- Present simple to past simple: “I’m tired.” becomes She said she was tired.
- Present continuous to past continuous: “I’m working.” becomes He said he was working.
- Past simple to past perfect: “I went home.” becomes She said she had gone home.
- Present perfect to past perfect: “I’ve finished.” becomes She said she had finished.
- Will to would: “I’ll call you.” becomes He said he would call me.
Pronouns and time words shift too
You’re now reporting from a different point of view, so update the words that depend on it:
- I to he/she, my to his/her, we to they
- tomorrow to the next day
- yesterday to the day before
- now to then
- here to there
- this to that
“I’ll see you here tomorrow.” becomes She said she’d see me there the next day.
When NOT to shift
Don’t move the tense back if the statement is still true now.
- He said Malta is in Europe. (still true, so no shift needed)
- She told me her name is Anna. (still her name)
And modal verbs already in their past form (would, could, might, should) don’t shift. They’re already as far back as they go.
Reporting questions
Two changes when reporting a question:
- Word order goes back to statement order (subject + verb).
- Yes/no questions get if or whether.
- “Where do you live?” becomes She asked where I lived. (not where did I live)
- “Are you ready?” becomes He asked if I was ready.
Said vs told
Both are common, but they take different patterns:
- Tell + person: She told me she was tired. (object required)
- Say (+ to person): She said she was tired. or She said to me…
You can’t say she told she was tired, because told needs a person.
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