As in Russian, indirect speech in English (reported speech in english) is used when it is necessary to retell the direct speech of another person. We will not delay with the introduction and in detail we will analyze how these two types of speech work in English.
Indirect speech is transmitted using the verb say (said), the preposition that and one more (in the example above, this is the verb like). The preposition that in the sentence can be omitted, it is not required. It is also important to remember that if a sentence in direct speech has a verb to say without an object, then the verb to say will remain in indirect speech. If there is an addition in direct speech, then the verb to say must be changed to the verb to tell.
In the example above, during the transition of direct speech, only changed, and the time of the narration remained the same. However, in the case when the verb transmitting indirect speech is in the past tense, you need to change the time in the action itself:
Translation of direct speech into indirect in tenses and moods
| table | Direct speech (indirect speech) | Indirect speech | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| present simple | I like vanilla ice cream. | He said (that) he liked vanilla ice cream. | I love vanilla ice cream - He said he loves vanilla ice cream. |
| Present continuous | I am living in Budapest. | He said (that) he was living in Budapest. | I live in Budapest - He said he lives in Budapest. |
| past simple | I bought a coffee maker. | He said (that) he had bought a coffee maker. | I bought a coffee maker - He said he bought a coffee maker. |
| past continuous | I was walking along the Bourbon Street. | He said (that) he had been walking along the Bourbon Street. | I was walking down Bourbon Street - He said he was walking down Bourbon Street. |
| present perfect | I haven't seen Claus. | He said (that) he hadn't seen Claus. | I didn't see Klaus - He said he didn't see Klaus. |
| past perfect | I had taken English lessons before. | He said (that) he had taken English lessons before. | I used to take English lessons - He said he used to take English lessons. |
| future simple | I'll see you later. | He said (that) he would see me later. | See you later - He said he'll see me later |
| Would | I would help, but… | Ann said (that) she would help but… | I would help, but... - Ann said she would help, but... |
| Can | I can speak perfect Swahili. | Michael said (that) he could speak perfect Swahili | I speak Swahili perfectly - Michael said that he speaks Swahili perfectly. |
| could | I could swim when I was four. | Laila said (that) she could swim when she was four. | I could swim at the age of four - Lila said she could swim at four. |
| Shall | I shall come later. | Bob said (that) he would come later. | I'd better come later - Bob said he'd better come later. |
| Should | I should call my godfather. | He said (that) he should call his godfather. | I should call my godfather - He said he should call his godfather. |
| Might | I might be late. | Matt said (that) he might be late. | I might be late - Matt said he might be delayed. |
Sometimes the time in indirect speech can not be changed, but this is only permissible if the information being spoken about is still relevant from the moment of direct speech. This applies when talking about general concepts:
Changing time and place indicators in indirect speech
Questions
If you translate questions from direct speech, the sentence will no longer be interrogative. Therefore, the order of words in questions in this case will differ from that characteristic of an affirmative sentence.
Video lesson on indirect speech
Add to favorites
In English, questions in indirect speech convey only the content of the question of direct speech, therefore they are not questions as such, but affirmative sentences. A period is placed at the end of indirect questions.
Remember: In indirect questions direct word order!!!
Basic rules for the transmission of interrogative sentences in indirect speech
To convey a question in indirect speech, you need to know the following:
- in indirect questions direct word order;
- personal and possessive pronouns are replaced by meaning;
- demonstrative pronouns and adverbs of time / place, if necessary, are also replaced in meaning;
Read about the features of the replacement of demonstrative pronouns and adverbs below. - general questions are introduced by unions if or whether, meaning "whether"; the auxiliary verbs do / did are omitted, so the word order becomes straight. Other auxiliary verbs are swapped with the subject:
- special questions are introduced using the interrogative word that was used in the question of direct speech: what / who / where / when / why / which / whose / how. Thus, the indirect special question has the structure:
question word + subject + predicate - the law of time matching is observed:
Are you busy?(question of direct speech in Present Simple)
Examples of translating direct speech questions into indirect speech
Let's look at examples, How does the time shift happen? when transmitting questions in indirect speech, if the verb in the main clause (ask) is used in the past tense.
| Direct speech | Indirect speech |
| present simple “Do you speak English?” "Do you speak English"? |
past simple He asked me if I spoke English. He asked me if I speak English. |
| Present Continuous “Are you reading?” "You are reading"? |
Past Continuous He asked me if I was reading. He asked me if I read. |
| Present Perfect “have you written the article?” "Did you write the article"? |
past perfect He asked me if I had written the article. He asked me if I had written an article. |
| past simple “Did you go to the theatre? "Did you go to the theatre"? |
past perfect He asked me if I had gone to the theatre. He asked me if I went to the theatre. |
| Past Continuous “Were you reading?” "You read"? |
Past Perfect Continuous He asked me if I had been reading. He asked me if I had read. |
| Future Simple “Will you go to the theatre? "Are you going to the theatre"? |
Future-in-the-Past He asked me if I would go to the theatre. He asked me if I would go to the theatre. |
| can “Can you swim?” "You can swim"? |
could He asked me if I could swim. He asked me if I could swim. |
| * If Past Perfect was in direct speech, then Past Perfect also remains in indirect speech. *Modal verbs should, ought to, must also remain unchanged. |
|
A few more sample examples:
Direct speech Indirect speech
She said to Nick, “What are you going to do at the weekend?”
She asked Nick what he was going to do at the weekend.
She said to Nick, "What are you going to do this weekend"? She asked Nick what he was going to do at the weekend.
He said to her, “How often do you go to the cinema?”
He asked her how often she went to the cinema.
He said to her: “How often do you go to the cinema”? He asked her how often she goes to the cinema.
She asked me Did he arrive on time?”
She asked me if he had arrived on time.
She asked me: "Did he arrive on time"? She asked me if he arrived on time.
My sister said to me Will you take me to the cinema with you tomorrow *?”
my sister asked me if I would take her to the cinema with me the next day *.
My sister said to me: “Will you take me to the cinema with you tomorrow”? My sister asked me if I would take her to the cinema with me tomorrow.
She asked me have you been here*before?”
She asked me if I had been there *before.
She asked me, "Have you been here before?" She asked me if I had been there before.
She asked me if I had been here before. In this situation, there is no need to replace here with there, since they are still in this restaurant, that is, here - here. If they had already left the restaurant, and a similar situation repeated itself, then in this case it would be necessary to replace here with there, since they are no longer in the restaurant (that is, not here).
The table of replacement of the main adverbs of place / time is given in the material "Indirect speech in English".
In English, the transmission of someone else's statement is carried out in two ways: using indirect and direct speech. In direct entry, the speech of another person is transmitted without various changes. If we use indirect speech in English, then the statement will be transmitted from a third person, while the word order changes and other temporary forms can be used. Indirect speech is written as a subordinate clause.
With the help of indirect speech, you can convey questions, statements, requests and orders. If you use a statement, then the sentence must be made a subordinate clause and use Union that. If the sentence is in the past tense, then it will be slightly changed, according to the rules. These rules have their own characteristics, so the coordination of tenses is best considered separately from indirect speech. If you convey other people's words or thoughts, then and will change, namely the correct choice of its form. Undoubtedly, if the sentence contains the person to whom the appeal is directed, then the verb is changed from say to tell. The question in indirect speech has a direct word order, and at the end of the sentence, the question mark is replaced by a period. A special question in indirect speech is presented in the form of an additional subordinate clause, connected by interrogative words with the main part.
Converting direct speech to indirect
To convert direct speech to indirect speech, you must omit commas and quotation marks after words that are included in direct speech. All possessive and personal pronouns change depending on the person who is narrating. If the imperative mood is used in direct speech, then we will have to transform the verb in indirect speech into an infinitive. And if we use interrogative sentences, then we will have to transform these sentences into subordinate clauses according to the rule. When posing a general question, you should use subordinate clauses with introductory unions whether, if . All adverbs of time and demonstrative pronouns must be changed in the subordinate clause according to the meaning. Now let's reduce the whole theory to table.
Rules for translating direct speech into indirect: table
| Changing a sentence in indirect speech | Direct speech | indirect speech (present tense) | Indirect speech (past tense) |
| I. Imperative mood in direct speech we change → to the infinitive in indirect speech | Mother says to me: "Come back as soon as you can!" | Mother asks me to come as soon as I can. | Mother asked me to come as soon as I could. |
| II. Declarative sentence→ subordinate clause with conjunction that | She says: "You may choose any dress you like." | She says that I may choose any dress I like. | She said that I might choose any dress I like(d). |
| III. Interrogative sentence→ subordinate clause, while: | |||
| a) general questions are attached to the subordinate clause with unions if, whether |
She says to her: "Has Kate been here long?" | She asks her if Kate has been there long. | She asked her if Kate had been there long. |
| b) c special issues only the word order changes on a straight line. |
The child asks mother: "What holiday is it?" | The child asks his mother what holiday it is. | The child asked his mother what holiday it was. |
When translating from direct speech to indirect, personal pronouns change in meaning; the following pronouns change too:
this - that
today - that day
these - those
this week - that week
here - there
yesterday - the day before yesterday
now-then
tomorrow - the next day (the next day)
In the indirect speech of the past tense (begins with somebody said, and not says) you should also watch the times:
Coordination of tenses in indirect speech
| present simple | → | past simple |
| Present Continuous | → | Past Continuous |
| present perfect, past simple, past perfect |
→ | past perfect |
| Past Continuous | → | past continuous, Past Perfect Continuous |
| present perfect continuous, Past Perfect Continuous |
→ | Past Perfect Continuous |
| will, can, may, must etc | → | would, could, might, had to etc |
Exceptions:
1) Common knowledge. He said that the Earth is round.
2) Personal 100% conviction. He said that Tom is a kind person.
💡 I remind you once again that if the indirect sentence is in the present tense, for example he says, then the transition of tenses according to the above is not carried out! 💡
The basic elements of written speech are the sentence and the paragraph. Using them, you can write essays, essays and stories. If you are into writing stories, you may need to use direct speech.
The rules of direct speech differ from the design of ordinary sentences and paragraphs, so we will consider them in more detail.
Direct and indirect speech
Direct speech is used when you reproduce the direct words of the speaker in writing.
- "I'm going to London for two weeks," said Alice.
- "Put on your jacket, please," mother said to him. "It's freezing today."
Indirect speech is used when you convey the content of someone's remarks without quoting them verbatim. For instance:
- Alice said she was going to London for two weeks.
- Mother told him to put on his jacket, because it was freezing.
What is direct speech used for?
Direct speech is rarely used in, since, as a rule, there are no actors in them. But when you're writing a story with multiple characters, it can be very helpful to convey the conversation in direct speech for several reasons:
- It helps to describe the character. Every person speaks differently, and how you convey the way a character speaks will tell a lot about him to the reader.
- This helps to make the story more exciting and suspenseful. Disputes, conflicts and action-packed moments become more alive thanks to direct speech.
Rules for the design of direct speech
When using direct speech, it is important to remember:
- Direct speech should be separated from the rest of the text.
- The reader must understand which of the characters is speaking at the moment.
Follow these rules and you won't have any problems:
Each replica must be opened and closed with quotation marks.
Must be only words that are part of the cue, and punctuation marks related to it. For instance:
Right
- "It's my umbrella," he said crossly. "Yours is in your room."
Wrong
- "I'll call you tomorrow, she said. take care.”
- "It's my umbrella, he said crossly. Yours is in your room.”
Speech-related punctuation must be inside quotation marks.
Right
- "What is the weather like today?" she asked.
Wrong
- "What is the weather like today"? she asked.
Be clear about who is speaking
It should be perfectly clear to the reader who is speaking. If there are only two actors, it is not necessary to put 'said X' or 'said Y' after each line, but you must specify the speaker after the first line of person X and after the first line of person Y.
- "Are you saying the house is haunted?" the man asked.
- "Well, it's supposed to be haunted, but so far nobody has seen any ghosts," Blakely replied.
- "So, will you give us a tour?"
- "I can't see why not."
- "Alright, it's settled then."
If more than two people are involved in a conversation, it is even more important to let the reader know who is speaking. In this case, you will have to specify the speaker more often. For instance:
- "What's the plan for today?" Jack asked.
- "So what are we going to do?" Helen sighed. "I'm bored."
Short forms I'm, you're, he'll, don't, wouldn't
In direct speech (but not in indirect speech), it is allowed to use short forms: I’m, you’re, he’ll, don’t, wouldn’t, etc.
Some notes about punctuation.
Notice the punctuation in this sentence:
- "I don't know," Martin said. "Watch a movie, maybe."
In case the replica is a question:
- "Do you know what to do?" asked Martin. "Because I don't."
Here speech is separated from ‘asked Martin’ by a question mark. At the same time, it acts as a comma, so it is followed by a lowercase letter.
Sometimes you can see a replica like this:
- "I think," said Martin, "we should watch a movie."
In this case, the first half of the line is not , so the author's words are followed by a comma instead of a period, and the line continues with a lowercase letter.
Indication of tone and mood
The most commonly used is 'said X' or 'said Y'. But the verb 'say' does not tell us anything about the tone of the speaker or the volume of his voice. If you want to make it clear that the speech is being spoken in an angry voice, or loudly, or very quietly, you should use . Their choice is great.
Indirect speech in English (also called indirect speech) is used to convey what another person said, thought or imagined, but without using exact words (direct speech).
To build indirect speech, some changes are necessary: the pronoun often changes, and the verb, as a rule, shifts one time back.
For instance:
My father said that he was watching a movie (My father said he was watching a movie). The exact words of the father were: "I'm watching a movie" (I'm watching a movie).
Indirect speech is usually used to talk about something in the past, so we change the tense of the spoken words. Often in indirect speech, the verbs " ask" (ask), " tell" (tell), " say"(to speak), and the words themselves may begin with the word" that". Indirect speech does not require quotation marks to isolate spoken words.
For instance:
Direct speech -> "I'm speaking with my mom", Mary said ("I'm talking to my mom," Mary said).
Indirect speech –> Mary said she was speaking with her mom (Mary said she was talking to her mom).
Direct speech -> "I'm running to the beach", William said ("I'm running to the beach," said William).
Indirect speech –> William said that he was running to the beach (William said he was running to the beach).
Direct speech –> That man said, “I need the money” (That person said: “I need money”).
Indirect speech –> That man said that he needed the money (That man said he needed money).
indirect questions
When constructing indirect questions, it is especially important to pay attention to the word order in the sentence. The arrangement of words in them always remains direct, and auxiliary verbs are omitted. In general indirect questions, at the beginning of the question itself, the word " if", and in special indirect - interrogative pronouns (what, why, where). Indirect questions at the end are not usually marked with a question mark.
For instance:
The girl asked, "Are you saw my new white dress"? (The girl asked: “Did you see my new white dress”?). => The girl asked me if I had seen her new white dress. (The girl asked if I saw her new white dress?).
Mike asked, When have you left the room? (Mike asked: "When did you leave the room"?). => Mike asked me when I had left the room (Mike asked me when I left the room).
Teacher asked, "Why don't you write the exam"? (The teacher asked: "Why don't you write the exam"?). => Teacher asked me why I wasn't writing the exam (The teacher asked me why I didn't write the exam).
Examples of indirect speech in English:
The following table contains sentences that have changed their form from direct to indirect through the use of the past tense. Note that all tenses (past simple, past perfect, and present perfect) have changed their form in indirect speech to the past perfect (Past Perfect).
| direct form | Indirect (indirect) form |
| Julia said, "I work in office" (Julia said: "I work in the office") | Julia said she worked in office |
| Sara said, "I'm cooking soup for dinner now" | Sara said she was cooking soup for dinner now |
| Bruce said, "I have visited Liverpool twice" | Bruce said he had visited Liverpool twice |
| John said, "I flew to Chicago last weekend" | John said he had flown to Chicago last weekend |
| My partner said, "I had already found another way" | My partner said she had already found another way |
| Mother said, "I'm looking for a bread" | Mother said she was looking for a bread (Mom said she was looking for bread) |
| Father said, "I will send Gary a message" | Father said he would send Gary a message |