Table of direct and indirect speech at times. Translation into indirect speech in English: playing Reported Speech

Direct indirect and speech Direct and indirect speech in English
Alternative name for indirect speech in English:
Reported speech

Direct speech expresses someone's speech, as it was delivered, without any changes. Direct speech in English is enclosed in quotation marks, which in English are superscripted on both sides.
Indirect speech does not convey someone's speech verbatim, but expresses the content of this speech in the form of a subordinate clause.

Rules for changing direct speech to indirect in declarative sentences

1. Quotation marks and a comma after words that introduce direct speech are omitted. In indirect speech, the conjunction that can be used, but it can also be omitted.
He said, "I know you from somewhere". - He said (that) he knew me from somewhere. He said, "I know you from somewhere." - He said (that) he knows me somewhere.
Note: If the verb say (to speak) is used in direct speech with the addition (1) and the preposition to (2), indicating the person being addressed, then say will change to the verb tell without the preposition to. In other cases, no changes are made.
He said to (2) me (1), "I know you from somewhere". - He told me (that) he knew me from somewhere. He told me: "I know you from somewhere." - He told me (that) he knew me from somewhere.
2. Personal and possessive pronouns change in meaning, depending on the context.
He said, " I(1) can bring you(2) a cup of tea." - Not said (that) he(1) could bring me(2) a cup of tea. He said, "I can bring you a cup of tea." He said he could bring me a cup of tea.
3. If the verb that introduces indirect speech (1) is in the present or future tense, then the verb in indirect speech (2) is preserved in the same tense as it was in direct speech.
He says(1), "I visit Lily every Saturday". - He says(2) (that) he visits Lily every Saturday. He says, "I visit Lily every Saturday." - He says he visits Lily every Saturday.
4. If the verb that introduces indirect speech is in the past tense, then tense agreement is observed.
Note: For a more conscious understanding of this rule, it is recommended to read the material "".
a. If in direct speech there was a present tense (1), then in indirect speech there will be a past (2).
He said, "I go(1) to driving lessons every day". - He said (that) he went(2) driving lessons every day. He said, "I go to driving lessons every day." He said that he goes to driving lessons every day.
b. If in direct speech there was Past Simple (1.1) or Past Continuous (1.2), then in indirect speech it will change to Past Perfect (2.1) or Past Perfect Continuous (Past Perfect Continuous). ) (2.2), respectively.
He said, "I did(1.1) my best". - He said (that) he had done(2.1) his best. He said, "I did my best." - He said he did his best.
He said, "I was trying(1.2) to help you". - He said (that) he had been trying(2.2) to help me. He said, "I tried to help you." He said he was trying to help me.
Note: If in direct speech there is an indicator of the time of the action, then the time in indirect speech does not change, except for such indicators as:
the day before
two months before five months ago
etc. when they are used, the time in indirect speech changes to the perfect form (Perfect).
He said, "I bought this car in 2004". He said (that) he bought this car in 2004. He said, "I bought this car in 2004." He said he bought this car in 2004.
the day before". He said (that) he had bought this car the day before. He said, "I bought this car the other day." He said he bought this car the day before.
in. If in direct speech there was a past perfect tense (Past Perfect) (1.1) or a past perfect continuous tense (Past Perfect Continuous) (1.2), then in indirect speech it will remain so.
He said, "I had read(1.1) this book by ten o "clock in the evening". - He said (that) he had read(1.1) that book by ten o "clock in the evening. He said: "I finished reading this book by ten o'clock in the evening." - He said that he had finished reading this book by ten o'clock in the evening.
d. If in direct speech there was one of the forms of the future tense (1), then in indirect speech it will change to the corresponding form of the future in the past (2).
He said, "I will have done(1) all work by Wednesday." - He said (that) he would have done(2) all work by Wednesday. He said, "I'll have finished all the work by Wednesday." He said he would finish all the work by Wednesday.
e. If modal verbs were used in direct speech, then those that have past forms will change and take on the past form, and those that do not have will remain unchanged in indirect speech.
He said, "I can show you out the Jungle." - He said (that) he could show us out the Jungle. He said, "I can take you out of the jungle." - He said he could lead us out of the jungle.
He said, "I should attend her more." - He said (that) he should attend her more. He said, "I should pay more attention to her." He said he should pay more attention to her.
5. If in direct speech there were adverbs of place and time, as well as demonstrative pronouns, then in indirect speech they will change to those that are appropriate in meaning.
this - that this - that
these - those
here - there
now - then now - then
ago - before ago - earlier
today - that day
tomorrow - the next day
yesterday - the day before
the day after tomorrow - two days later
the day before tomorrow - two days before
last morning - the previous morning
etc.
He said, "I will do it the day after tomorrow". - He (that) he would do it two days later. He said, "I'll do it the day after tomorrow." He said he would do it in two days.

The rule for changing direct speech to indirect in incentive sentences

An imperative action (1), expressed by an infinitive without a particle to in direct speech, will change to an infinitive with a particle to (2) in indirect speech. That is not added in such sentences.
Note: In the negative form, the particle not is used before the particle to.
He asked me, " Close the window(1)". - He asked me close the window(2). He will ask me: "Close the window." - He asked me to close the window.
or no indication of the face
He asked, " Close the window(1)". - He asked close the window(2). He asked: "Close the window." - He asked to close the window.

Rules for changing direct speech to indirect in interrogative sentences

Interrogative sentences in indirect speech are called indirect questions . The question mark in such sentences is not used, except when the main part is the interrogative in the indirect sentence.
1. Special question (1) (about special and other types of questions - in the material ") in direct speech, when changed to indirect, they become an additional subordinate clause (2), which is connected to the main part with interrogative words from the question directly.
He asked me, " Who(1) has brought the letter?" - He asked me who had brought the letter(2). He asked me: "Who brought the letter?" He asked me who brought the letter.
2. The general question (1) in direct speech is changed to a subordinate clause (2) in indirect speech and is connected to the main part with the unions if / whether (whether) (2), while the comma is not used.
He asked, " Do(1) you know her?" - He asked me if/whether (3) I knew her(2). He asked, "Do you know her?" He asked if I knew her.
3. Short answers in indirect speech are expressed by an auxiliary (1) or modal verb (2), and the time of these verbs changes according to the tense agreement rule (3).
Do(1) you know her? Do you know her?
no, I don't(one). - I answered, I didn't(3). No, I do not know. - I answered that I don't know.
Can(2) you repair it? Can you fix it?
no, I can't(2). - I answered, I couldn't(3). No I can not. - I answered that I could not.
Note: Brief answers are used in official speech:
I answered in the affirmative. I answered in the affirmative.
I answered in the negative. I answered in the negative.

When it comes to (Reported speech or Indirect speech), at least two grammar rules come to mind: and the use of . We will not repeat ourselves, because a lot of attention has been paid to these rules on the pages of our blog. What we did not mention at all was the general rules for converting direct speech into indirect speech. Let's take a closer look at them.

There are several types of English sentences: statements, questions, requests / orders. Depending on the type, there are different rules for converting direct speech into indirect speech.

1. Statements

In statements, everything is simple - use the rule of time coordination. At the same time, do not forget that in indirect speech, some circumstances of time and place change their form.

Table 1. English time and place markers for indirect speech

Direct speech	Indirect speech





	the next year
	the next day / the next day

2. Questions in indirect speech

With questions, things are a little more serious. The fact is that you need to take into account the type of question - general (without a question word) or special (with a question word). In addition, you need to be more careful with word order.

Table 2. Translation of English questions into indirect speech

Please note that in the interrogative part of indirect speech, the word order is direct, and not as in the question. After the interrogative word (what/why/where/when etc.) or whether/if unions, we put the subject, then the predicate, and then everything else. An auxiliary verb is not needed.

In general questions, whether / if are unions "whether", they are interchangeable. We always use them as a bundle when transmitting direct speech in indirect speech.

3. Requests, orders in English

Requests and orders are sentences in the imperative mood. Examples in Russian are "Get up", "Bring water", "Close the window", etc. If you want to convey them in indirect speech, then you need an appropriate verb like “say”, “order”, “ask”, etc.: for example, “he asked to bring water”, “she ordered to stand up”, etc.
In English, this is done using the combination of the verb of transmitting someone else's speech + (not) to + the main verb.
Get up! → He told me to get up.
Don't speak! → She asked me not to speak.

And do not forget to go through our grammar exercises for knowledge of indirect speech. Good luck!

The statements that a person utters are transmitted in writing in two ways: direct or indirect speech. This is typical for both Russian and English.

Differences between direct and indirect speech

Direct speech or Direct Speech - verbatim transmission of someone's speech (phrases, sentences) in writing. Therefore, it is enclosed in quotation marks.

Cyril said, "I've never been to London."

Cyril said: "I've never been to London."

Indirect speech or Indirect or Reported Speech - is not a literal speech transmission. Indirect speech retains the content, but can change form, conveying the message inaccurately, in other words. Quotation marks in this case are not put, and the sentence becomes a subordinate clause.

Fam said that she had never been to London.

Pham said she had never been to London.

Direct speech in English

Direct speech in English is somewhat different from Russian in writing: upper quotation marks (“) are used instead of the usual Russian “Christmas trees”. At the same time, in English, a dot at the end of a sentence is placed before quotation marks, like other signs, while in Russian, on the contrary, after quotation marks.

She answered, “No, I can't.”

She replied, "No, I can't."

After the introductory construction “He said”, “She answered”, “Someone exclaimed”, etc. a colon or comma is inserted.

I said: "I don't like fruit."

I said, "I don't like fruit."

Direct speech includes not only affirmative sentences, but also interrogative, exclamatory or incentive sentences. Punctuation marks are always stored inside quotation marks.

We exclaimed, “It's so easy!”

We exclaimed, "It's so easy!"

To convey direct speech in English, the following verbs are usually used:

Say - to speak

tell - to tell

Ask - to ask

answer - answer

Explain - to explain

Exclaim - exclaim

Whisper - to whisper

Scream - scream

As well as many other verbs, the meaning of which is associated with the transfer of information.

Transformation of direct speech into indirect

Indirect speech is used more often than direct speech, especially in oral speech. But in English, the transformation from direct speech to indirect speech is not limited to omitting quotes. It is also necessary to observe the rule of coordinating times, as well as a number of other rules. Also, in indirect speech, parts of a sentence are not separated by a comma.

Personal and possessive pronouns are replaced depending on the context.

Boris said, “We should work.”

Boris said they should work.

He said they should work.

Demonstrative pronouns also change:

this - that

these - those

She said to Moris, “Give me this shawl.”

She asked Moris to give her that shawl.

Adverbs of time are replaced:

today - that day

ago-before

tomorrow - the next day

He said, “I'll call it off tomorrow.”

He promised to call it off the next day.

If the predicate in the main clause is in the past tense (which happens most often), the subordinate clause in indirect speech also requires the transition of the predicate into the past tense.

They said, “We are working.”

They said they were working.

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Direct speech and indirect speech

In English, as in Russian, there are concepts of direct speech and indirect speech:

Pay attention to the punctuation marks in sentences with direct speech. In English, direct speech is also enclosed in quotation marks, which are placed at the top of the line (“ ”). A period or other punctuation marks are placed inside quotation marks. The words of the author may precede direct speech, or may follow it. In both cases, they are separated from direct speech by a comma.

He said, “I am busy today.” / “I'm busy today,” he said.

He asked me, “Are you busy?” / “Are you busy?” he asked me.

He said, “What a nice weather today!” / “What a nice weather today!” he said.

Features of translating direct speech into indirect

In order to convey someone else's statement in indirect speech, it is necessary to take into account what direct speech is: a statement, a question, or an order / request. Below we consider the features of the transmission of declarative sentences in indirect speech.

Statements in indirect speech

If someone else's statement is a statement (i.e., an ordinary declarative sentence), then in order to convey it in indirect speech, you need to pay attention to the following:

That in indirect speech / verbs introducing indirect speech

Indirect speech is introduced by the union that (what), which is often omitted:

He says, “I am busy.” — He says that he is busy. / He says he is busy.
He says, "I'm busy." - He says, what He is busy.

If in the words introducing direct speech (that is, in the words of the author), the verb is used say without an addition indicating the person to whom the speech is addressed, then say is preserved; if the verb say used with an addition (required with to), for example, said to me, then say changes to tell+ addition without the preposition to (told me):

Personal and possessive pronouns

All personal and possessive pronouns of direct speech are replaced by meaning:

Present tense of the verb introducing indirect speech

If a verb present or future tense(Present Simple, Present Perfect, Future Simple), then the verb in indirect speech (in the subordinate clause) remains in the same tense as it was in direct speech:

Past tense of the verb introducing indirect speech

If a verb(in the main sentence), introducing indirect speech, used in one of the past tenses, then the tense of the direct speech verb changes in indirect speech (in the subordinate clause) to another corresponding tense according to the tense agreement rule in English:

Direct speech		Indirect speech
present simple He said, “I work every day.” He said, "I work every day."		past simple He said that he worked every day. He said he works every day.
Present Continuous He said, “I am working.” He said, "I'm working."		Past Continuous He said that he was working. He said he was working.
Present Perfect He said, “I have finished.” He said, "I'm done."		past perfect He said that he had finished. He said he was done.
Present Perfect Continuous He said, “It has been raining since morning.” He said, "It's been raining since morning."		Past Perfect Continuous He said that it had been raining since morning. He said that it had been raining since morning.
past simple He said, “I bought a car.” He said, "I bought a car."		past perfect He said that he had bought a car. He said he bought a car.
Past continuous He said, “I was working.” He said: "I worked."		Past Perfect Continuous He said that he had been working. He said he was working.
Past Perfect* He said, “I had finished my work by 7 o’clock.” He said, "I finished my work by 7 o'clock."		past perfect He said that he had finished his work by 7 o'clock. He said that he had finished his work by 7 o'clock.
Past Perfect Continuous* He said, “I had been working.” He said: "I worked."		Past Perfect Continuous He said that he had been working. He said he was working.
Future Simple* He said, “I will come later.” He said, "I'll come later."		Future-in-the-Past He said that he would come later. He said he would come later.
can He said, “I can speak Spanish.” He said, "I can speak Spanish."		could He said that he could speak Spanish. He said that he could speak Spanish.
May= "opportunity" He said, “I May come later.” He said "I might come later".		might He said that he might come later. He said that he might come later.
May= "permission" He said, “You May wait in the hall.” He said, "You can wait in the lobby."		could He said that we could wait in the hall. He said we could wait in the lobby.
have to He said, “I have to go.” He said, "I have to go."		had to He said that he had to go. He said he had to go.
must= "need" He said, “I must study.” He said "I have to practice".		had to He said that he had to study. He said that he should be engaged.
must= "order/advice, suggestion" He said, “It must be nice to live in London.” He said, "It must be great to live in London."		He said that it must be nice to live in London. He said that living in London must be great.
should He said, “I should call my mum.” He said, "I should call my (my) mother."		should He said that he should call his mum. He said that he should call his (his) mother.
ought to He said, “You ought to help her.” He said, "You should help her."		ought to He said that I ought to help her. He said that I should help her.

* If Past Perfect (or Past Perfect Continuous) is used in direct speech, then this tense is preserved in indirect speech.
* If one of the future tenses was used in direct speech, then in indirect speech it changes to the corresponding future in the past. Simply put, will changes to would.

Demonstrative pronouns and adverbs of time/place

Demonstrative pronouns, some adverbs of time and place in indirect speech are replaced in meaning by other words:

Replacement of demonstrative pronouns and adverbs of time/place
Direct speech Indirect speech
this(this, this, this) that(that, that, that)
these(these) those(those)
now(now, now) then(then)
yesterday(yesterday) the day before(the day before)
tomorrow(tomorrow) the next day / the next day(the next day)
here(here) there(there)
today(today) that day(in that day)
the day after tomorrow(day after tomorrow) two days later(after two days)
the day before yesterday(the day before yesterday) two days before(two days earlier)
ago(ago) before(before)
last week(last week) the week before / the previous week(one week earlier)

Note that this substitution of demonstrative pronouns and adverbs must be done by meaning, not automatically. It all depends on when we heard direct speech and when we transmit it in indirect speech.
For example:
Ann says, “I am leaving today.”- Ann says "I'm leaving today" .
Let us convey what Ann said in indirect speech:
Ann said that she was leaving today. - Ann said that she was leaving today (today is not over yet, so we say that “she is leaving today”; in this case, replacing today with that day would not be logical).
Ann said that she was leaving that day.- Ann said that she was leaving that day (a week has passed since then, and only a week later we transmit this information, so in this case it is logical to replace today with that day).

Read about the features of the transmission of interrogative and imperative sentences in indirect speech in the following sections.

In order to master indirect speech, it is not enough just to know the rules. It is necessary to practice the acquired knowledge in order to consolidate the result as much as possible.

That is why most people use various games to make it easy and interesting for students.

Reported speech is a topic that requires additional attention. First, we need to know that when we want to express another person's thoughts in English, we need to "shift" time itself one step back. So, if the sentence is in the Present Simple, we need to use the Past Simple. Look at the table below:

But there are those that remain unchanged:

would	would
could	could
might	might
should	should
ought to	ought to

Now that you have already mastered all the intricacies of Reported Speech, we suggest playing a game called What did you say?

What is needed for this?

First of all, you need a company of friends that is ready to accept the rules of the game. They are simple: the first person says a phrase, the second asks what he said, the first, using indirect speech, rearranges the sentence. It looks something like this:

Do you like watching TV?
- What did you say?
- I asked if you liked watching TV?
- Yes, I do.
- What's your favorite TV channel?

Below we offer a number of questions that you can use to play:

Do you like going to the cinema?
What are you doing at the weekend?
Have you ever sung in public?
How long have you been learning English?
What did you do last weekend?
What were you doing yesterday at 5.50pm?
Do you think you will get married?
Are you going to learn a new language?
Do you wish you were famous?
Who is your favorite actor?
What are you doing this evening?
Have you ever fallen in love?
How long have you been living here?
Did you watch a good movie last weekend?
Were you watching TV yesterday at 7.45pm?
Will you have children?
What are you going to do next Monday?
Where do you like spending your holidays?

You can come up with your own questions and diversify them using all tenses of the English language. It will be not only interesting, but also useful. It's safe to say that after such a game, the topic "Reported Speech" will be mastered perfectly.

Be aware of time shifts:

present simple	past simple
Present Continuous	Past continuous
Past continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
past simple	past perfect
Present Perfect	past perfect
past perfect	past perfect
Future Simple	Conditional
Will-will not	Would-wouldn't

Don't forget to change the following words:

Today	That day
Now	Then
Tonight	That night
Last day	The day before / the previous day
yesterday	The day before
Ago	before
Last week	The week before
next year	The next year
Tomorrow	The next day / the next day
Here	There
This	That
These	Those

Study and don't be afraid to make mistakes in speech. As soon as you begin to speak, all the mistakes will fade into the background. Remember that speaking is the first step to fluency.