REPORTED SPEECH

ESTILO INDIRECTO

What is reported speech?

We use reported speech to speak about what someone has said.

• For example: Lisa: “I like Beyonce” • Reported speech

Lisa said (that) she liked Beyonce.

How do we use reported speech?

1. We usually change what the person said in the present into the past tense:

Lisa said: “I LIKE Beyonce” Lisa said (that) she LIKED Beyonce

There are two main reporting verbs: SAY and TELL.

oSay has only one object:She said that she liked Beyonce

oTell has TWO objects:She told Karen that she liked Beyonce.She told her that she liked Beyonce.

(note that we use the object pronouns: told me, told you, told him, told her, told us, told them)

How to transform a reported speech sentence.

oPresent →past

E.g. I’m happy →She said that she was happy

oPast simple → past perfect

e.g. I bought a t-shirt →She said that she had bought a t-shirt

oPresent perfect →past perfect

e.g. Susan has lived in Madrid since 1998→He said that Susan had lived in Madrid since 1998

oPresent continuous→past continuous

e.g. I’m cooking spaghetti→She said that she was cooking spaghetti

oFuture simple →would + infinitivee.g. I’ll go to the beach →

She said she would go to the beach

ocan→coulde.g. I can play the guitar →

He said he could play the guitar

oMust→had toe.g. I must go→

He said he had to go

oSometimes you have to change the pronouns:I→ he, sheWe →they

You must use common sense here. If you are transforming a sentence you said yourself, of course you don’t have to make this transformation!

e.g. «You must write a composition» →I said that you had to write a composition.

(I’m the same person) BUT if you tell this to your mum:

Elena/She said that we had to write a composition

!!!

oSame problem when using time references:

Tuesday:«You have to write the composition tomorrow»→

She said I had to write the composition tomorrow . (still Tuesday)

She said I had to write the composition the next day.

(NOT on Tuesday)

Other common transformations:This, these

Now

Today

Yesterday

The day before yesterday

Tomorrow

The day after tomorrow

Next week/month/year

Last week/month/year

Two days/three hours ago

That, those

Then

That day

The day before

Two days before

The next day

Two days later

The following week/month/year

The previous week/month/year

Two days/three hours before