Retour au programme
Reported speech (indirect speech) is used to report what someone said without quoting their exact words.
🔹 Tense changes (if reporting verb is in the past) :
| Direct speech | Reported speech |
| present simple | past simple |
| present continuous | past continuous |
| present perfect | past perfect |
| past simple | past perfect |
| will | would |
| can | could |
| must | had to |
🔹 Reporting statements :
She said (that) she was tired.
🔹 Reporting questions :
• Yes/No questions : 'Are you ready?' → He asked if/whether I was ready.
• Wh-questions : 'Where do you live?' → She asked where I lived.
• Note : no inversion in reported questions !
🔹 Reporting commands and requests :
• 'Open the window.' → She told me to open the window.
• 'Please don't shout.' → He asked me not to shout.
🔹 Other reporting verbs (to vary language) :
• admitted, warned, promised, insisted, suggested, advised, explained, denied, announced
📝 Report these sentences :
1. 'I am studying for my exam.' (Aminata said)
→ Aminata said that she was studying for her exam.
2. 'Have you finished your project?' (The teacher asked Moussa)
→ The teacher asked Moussa if he had finished his project.
3. 'Stop talking!' (The teacher told the students)
→ The teacher told the students to stop talking.
4. 'I will call you tomorrow.' (He promised)
→ He promised that he would call me the next day.
5. 'Don't open that door.' (She warned me)
→ She warned me not to open that door.
📝 Use a specific reporting verb :
• 'I broke the window.' (the student) → The student admitted (that) he had broken the window.
• 'You should see a doctor.' (she) → She advised me to see a doctor.
Why do tenses change in reported speech?
Correction
Tenses change (backshift) because the time of reporting is different from the time of speaking. When the reporting verb is in the past, the original tense moves one step further into the past to reflect this time difference.
Report: 'Where did you go last weekend?' (she asked me)
Correction
She asked me where I had gone the previous weekend.
Why is this wrong: 'He asked where did I live?'
Correction
In reported questions, there is NO inversion and NO question mark. Correct: 'He asked where I lived.' The word order is subject + verb, like a normal statement.
What does it mean to 'backshift'? Do we always have to backshift?
Correction
Backshifting means moving the tense one step into the past. It is not always obligatory: if what was said is still true ('He said the Earth is round' — no backshift needed) or if we report immediately after, the tense can stay the same.
Use three different reporting verbs (not 'said') to report: 'I will definitely come to the meeting.'
Correction
She promised to come to the meeting. / She insisted that she would come. / She confirmed that she would attend.