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 trick is the tense shift, and 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 → past simple: “I’m tired.” → She said she was tired.
- Present continuous → past continuous: “I’m working.” → He said he was working.
- Past simple → past perfect: “I went home.” → She said she had gone home.
- Present perfect → past perfect: “I’ve finished.” → She said she had finished.
- Will → would: “I’ll call you.” → 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 → he/she, my → his/her, we → they
- tomorrow → the next day
- yesterday → the day before
- now → then
- here → there
- this → that
“I’ll see you here tomorrow.” → 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 — 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?” → She asked where I lived. (not where did I live)
- “Are you ready?” → 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 — told needs a person.
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