Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person said.
direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said.
indirect speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films.
direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said.
indirect speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a chef.
direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said.
indirect speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.
direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel.
indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.
In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked) than the tense originally used (e.g. work). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that were used, for example pronouns.
Present simple, present continuous and present perfect
When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.
'I travel a lot in my job.''The baby's sleeping!'
- Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job.
'I've hurt my leg.'
- He told me the baby was sleeping.
- She said she'd hurt her leg.
Past simple and past continuous
When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.
'We lived in China for five years.''It was raining all day.'
- She told me they'd lived in China for five years.
- He told me it had been raining all day.
Past perfect
The past perfect doesn't change.
'I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.'
- He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine was great.
No backshift
If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. This might happen when the speaker has used a present tense.
'I go to the gym next to your house.''I'm working in Italy for the next six months.'
- Jenny told me that she goes to the gym next to my house. I'm thinking about going with her.
'I've broken my arm!'
- He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him!
- She said she's broken her arm, so she won't be at work this week.
Pronouns, demonstratives and adverbs of time and place
Pronouns also usually change in indirect speech.
'I enjoy working in my garden,' said Bob.'We played tennis for our school,' said Alina.
- Bob said that he enjoyed working in his garden.
- Alina told me they'd played tennis for their school.
However, if you are the person or one of the people who spoke, then the pronouns don't change.
'I'm working on my thesis,' I said.'We want our jobs back!' we said.
- I told her that I was working on my thesis.
- We said that we wanted our jobs back.
We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and place if they are no longer accurate.
'This is my house.''We like it here.'
- He said this was his house. [You are currently in front of the house.]
- He said that was his house. [You are not currently in front of the house.]
'I'm planning to do it today.'
- She told me they like it here. [You are currently in the place they like.]
- She told me they like it there. [You are not in the place they like.]
- She told me she's planning to do it today. [It is currently still the same day.]
- She told me she was planning to do it that day. [It is not the same day any more.]
In the same way, these changes to those, now changes to then, yesterday changes to the day before, tomorrow changes to the next/following day and ago changes to before.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Peter,
Thank you very much.
Shouldn't we change 'had gone' to 'went' then?
Can we show that it's reported speech once at the beginning and then just use the past simple to stay within the story?
Jenny said that since her hair had grown too long, she went to the hairdresser's the week before. Her stylist was in a very good mood, and she cracked a few jokes about Jenny's hair reminding her of a neighbor's dog that she often sees when she goes to work.
Tony
Hello again Tony,
As you know, it's often a stylistic choice rather than a requirement to backshift into the past perfect. Here I think you could shift back but it's not necessary, especially as you have the time phrase 'the week before' to remove any ambiguity.
You could put all the verbs in the past perfect if you wish (had grown, had gone, had been, had cracked) but I think the passage reads much better with past simple forms after the initial had grown.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much, it's clear now.
Hello Team. If the reporting verb is in the present perfect, do we have to backshift the tenses of the direct speech or not? For example: He has said, "I bought a car yesterday."
1- He has said that he bought a car yesterday.
2- He has said that he had bought a car the previous day.
Thank you
Hello Ahmed Imam,
It's not necessary to backshift the verb form if the situation being reported is still true. For example:
"I'm a doctor"
She told me she is a doctor. [she was a doctor when she said it and she is still doctor now]
She told me she was a doctor. [she was a doctor when she said it and may or may not still be a doctor now]
The reporting verb in your example would be 'said' rather than 'has said' as we are talking about a particular moment in the past. For the other verb both 'bought' and 'had bought' are possible without any change in meaning. In fact, when the verb is past in the original sentence we usually do not shift the verb form back.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again. Which one is correct? Why?
- He has said that he (will - would) travel to Cairo with his father.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
The present perfect is a present form, so generally 'will' is the correct form.
In this case, assuming that the man said 'I will travel to Cairo', then 'will' is the correct form. But if the man said 'I would travel to Cairo if I had time to do it', then 'would' would be the correct form since it is part of a conditional statement.
I think you were asking about the first situation (the general one), though. Does that make sense?
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi,
Thank you for the information. It states that If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. I wonder if it is still correct to change the tense in this example: 'London is in the UK', he said. to He said London was in the UK. Or it has to be the present tense.
Hello Wen1996,
Yes, your version of the sentence is also correct. In this case, the past tense refers to the time the speaker made this statement. But this doesn't mean the statement isn't also true now.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Good evening from Turkey.
Is the following example correct:
Question: When did she watch the movie?
She asked me when she had watched the movie. or is it had she watched the movie.
Do Subjects come before the verbs?
Thank you.