Reported Speech

If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.






Changes Of Tenses

Direct speech	Indirect speech
Present simple She said, "It's cold."	Past simple She said it was cold.
Present continuous She said, "I'm teaching English online."	Past continuous She said she was teaching English online.
Present perfect simple She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."	Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present perfect continuous She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."	Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past simple She said, "I taught online yesterday."	Past perfect She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous She said, "I was teaching earlier."	Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."	Past perfect NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."	Past perfect continuous NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

Changes Of Adverbs of time

this (evening)	that (evening)
today	yesterday ...
these (days)	those (days)
now	then
(a week) ago	(a week) before
last weekend	the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here	there
next (week)	the following (week)
tomorrow	the next/following day

Statements~> (that)

* He said to me, "I want to meet your sister".
* He (said to me / told me) (that) he wanted to meet my sister.

Questions

a) "Yes / No Questions"
Begin with Auxiliary verbs (Is / Am / Have / Will; etc)
~> use "if / whether"

* "Is your brother studying now?", they said to her.
* They asked her (if / whether) her brother was studying then. (wondered / inquired / wanted to know)

b) "Wh-Questions"
Begin with "Wh-words" (Who / What / How; etc)
~> repeat the "Wh-word"

* Mrs. Smith said, "What have you done, boys?"
* Mrs. Smith asked the boys what they had done. (wondered / inquired / wanted to know)

Commands And Advices

a) (+) ~> we use "to-inf."
* "Go away!", he said to them.
* He commanded them to go away. (ordered / told / asked)

b) (-) ~> we use "not to-inf."
* "Don't go away", he said to them.
* He commanded them not to go away.