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 Khangvo2812,
Generally when we teach reported speech, we say that 'ago' in the direct speech should be changed to 'before' in the reported speech. This is because of what is commonly called 'backshifting', that is, the change in perspective from one time, such as the present, to another time, such as the past.
In terms of the sentence you ask about, the standard way of saying it is 'She said she had finished it two hours earlier' ('before' is also fine). This would be the correct form if you were telling me about a conversation you had with this person yesterday or sometime well before the moment of speaking.
If, however, you were reporting a conversation from a short while ago (in this case, since the sentence includes 'two hours ago', it would have to be very recent, probably within the last 30 minutes), they you could say 'She said she finished it two hours ago' and that would be correct. In this case 'two hours ago' would refer not back to the time of the conversation, but the time that this person was actually talking about.
I hope that makes sense.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Could I say my mom told me that I wouldn't need to get married if I could not find a right man for me?If I understand correctly, I don't need to change the tenses in a conditional sentence.
Hello Khangvo2812,
That's fine, yes. Are you sure the verb forms have not been changed here, however? It seems likely that the original sentence was this: You won't need to get married if you can't find the right man for yourself.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Could I say he said that he will be 10 minutes late, so let’s wait for him for 10 minutes?
Hello Khangvo2812,
Yes, that's fine.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi. I had a doubt in these questions-
1. Convert it into indirect speech- Tamana said “Marcus is tall.”
2. Convert it into indirect speech- She said “You can move in immediately.”
Hi aru sha,
What do you think about it? We prefer to not simply give out answers, as we may be doing students' homework for them! But the information on the page above should be useful for these questions. Let us know what you think and we can guide you further.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
- I read a sentence below.
"What was she wearing when you last saw her?" the policeman asked me.
- Then the answer from the author is *The policeman asked me what she was wearing/had been wearing when I last saw her.*
- I would like to ask why the author suggested that we can keep the past continuous in the first clause and there was no backshift in tense in the second clause.
Many thanks.
Hello tunalee,
Often we don't backshift tenses when we think the situation is still current. Assuming that the police are still looking for the woman asked about, this is a good example of this idea. In other words, saying 'what she was wearing' suggests that the police are still looking for her.
Backshift in the time clause 'when I last saw her' wouldn't make sense if the main clause has past continuous. Even when the main clause says 'had been wearing', it's quite common for backshifting not to occur in time clauses. As far as I know, this is simply because the specific time being talked about has already been made clear in the main clause.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
I would like to thank you for you and your team's help sincerely.