Reported speech
Backshifting tenses, changing pronouns and time/place words, and reporting statements, questions and commands.
When we report what someone said, we usually move the tense one step back into the past (backshift): present simple becomes past simple, present continuous becomes past continuous, present perfect and past simple become past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could, and may becomes might. We also change pronouns to match the new speaker and adjust time and place words: now becomes then, today becomes that day, tomorrow becomes the next day, here becomes there. For statements we use 'say' (without an object) or 'tell + somebody'. Reported questions use normal statement word order (subject before verb) with no question mark; yes/no questions are introduced by 'if' or 'whether', and wh-questions keep the question word. Commands and requests are reported with 'tell/ask + somebody + to-infinitive' (negative: 'not to'). For example: She said, "I am tired." becomes 'She said that she was tired.'
Key terms
| Direct speech | Reported speech |
|---|---|
| Present Simple | Past Simple |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous |
| Past Simple | Past Perfect |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect |
| will | would |
| can | could |
| may | might |
| must | had to |
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| Yes/no question: "Are you hungry?" | ask if/whether + statement order: asked if I was hungry |
| Wh-question: "Where do you live?" | ask + wh-word + statement order: asked where I lived |
| Command: "Open the window." | tell/ask + to + base verb: asked me to open the window |
- 1Direct speech: She said, "I am writing a letter."
- 2Backshift the verb: Present continuous 'am writing' moves one step back to past continuous 'was writing'.
- 3Change the pronoun: 'I' becomes 'she' to match the reporter.
- 4Reported speech: She said that she was writing a letter.
- 1Direct question: He asked, "Where have you been since yesterday?"
- 2Keep the wh-word, drop inversion: Use statement word order: 'have you been' becomes 'you had been' (subject before verb), with no question mark.
- 3Backshift and shift time words: Present perfect 'have been' backshifts to past perfect 'had been'; 'yesterday' becomes 'the day before'.
- 4Reported question: He asked me where I had been since the day before.
Do not forget to backshift. After a past reporting verb, present simple 'lives' becomes 'lived', present perfect 'has lost' becomes 'had lost', and past simple 'bought' becomes 'had bought'. Leaving the original tense (she said that she lives in London) is wrong.
Reported questions use statement word order, not question order. Write 'She asked where I lived', never 'where did I live' or 'where I live'; and add no question mark.
Report commands and requests with 'tell/ask + somebody + to + base verb'. Use 'He told me to wait' and the negative 'The officer told them not to move' (not 'to not move', not 'don't move').
Remember the modal changes: will to would, can to could, may to might, must to had to. And 'say' takes no person (she said that...), while 'tell' needs a person (she told me that...).
Rules
- 1Backshift the verb one tense back: present simple to past simple, will to would, can to could, present/past to past perfect.
- 2Change pronouns to fit the reporter, and change time and place words: now to then, today to that day, tomorrow to the next day, here to there.
- 3Use 'say' with no person object, but 'tell' must be followed by a person: she said that..., she told me that...
- 4Reported questions use statement word order (no inversion, no question mark); use 'if' or 'whether' for yes/no questions and keep the wh-word for wh-questions.
- 5Report commands and requests with 'tell/ask + somebody + (not) to + infinitive'.
Practice
15 easy · 15 medium · 15 hard
10 random questions per test