Reported Statements

direct statement reported statement

He said, "I am sick." He said that he was sick.

We usually introduce reported statements with "reporting verbs" such as "say" or "tell":

 He said (that)...
 He told me (that)...
When we report a statement, we can say "He said that..." or simply "He said...". Both
are possible. "He said that..." is more formal.

When we use our own words to report speech, there are one or two things that we
sometimes change:

 pronouns may need to change to reflect a different perspective

 tense sometimes has to go back one tense (eg, present becomes past) - this is
called backshift

pronoun tense change

change

direct statement He said, "I am sick."

reported statement He said (that) he was sick.

There are sometimes other things too that we may need to change, such
as time or place. Look at these examples:

pronoun tense time

change change change

direct Jane said, "I was sick yesterday."

statement

reported Jane said (that) she had been sick the day
statement before.

tense place
change change

direct statement She said, "It is hot in here."

 tense place
change change

reported She said (that) it was hot in there.

statement

We also sometimes need to think about the third person singular "s":

pronoun person change

direct Mary said, "I work in London."

statement

reported Mary said (that) she works in London.

statement

Notice that in the above example, we do not change the tense. Usually, with the present
simple, if something is still true now - she still works in London - we don't need to
change it.

We use backshift SOMETIMES but not always. And WHEN we use backshift, here's
how it works with these common tenses and modals:

this goes back to this

present simple → past simple

present continuous → past continuous

past simple → past perfect

present perfect

past continuous → past perfect continuous

can → could

may might

will would

shall should
We NEVER use backshift when the original words are:

 past perfect
 could
 might
 would
 should

Remember:

 If a situation is still true, backshift is optional.

 For a general truth there is no need for backshift.

Look at the following examples. See if you can understand when and why they use
backshift:

tenses and direct speech reported speech

modals

present simple* He said, "I like coffee." He said (that) he likes coffee.

He said (that) he liked coffee.

present She said, "Moo is living here She said Moo is living there with
continuous* with us." them.

She said Moo was living there

with them.

past simple John said, "We bought a John said they had bought a
house last week." house the week before.

present perfect Ram said, "I haven't seen Ram said he hadn't seen Avatar.
Avatar."

past continuous Wayne said, "Were you Wayne asked if I had been
watching TV when I called." watching TV when he called.

past perfect** Ati said, "I had never lived Ati told us that he had never lived
in Thailand before." in Thailand before.

can She said, "Tara can't swim." She said Tara couldn't swim.

She said Tara can't swim.

tenses and direct speech reported speech
modals

could** He said, "Could you swim He asked me if I could swim

when you were three?" when I was three.

may She said: "I may be late." She said she might be late. (and
she was late)

She said she may be late. (the

time to be late has not yet
arrived)

might** She said, "I might come She said she might come early.
early."

will She said, "I'll call you She said she would call me the
tomorrow." next day.

She said she will call me

tomorrow. (tomorrow has not
come)

would** She said, "I wouldn't like to She said she would not like to go.
go."

shall He said: "Shall I open the He asked if he should open the

door?" door.

should** John said, "You should John said I should go there.

come here."

must The kidnapper phoned me The kidnapper phoned me and

and said: "You must come said I had to go there then.
here now."

Ati said, "I must find a job Ati said he must find a job next
next year." year. (next year hasn't come yet)

have to Tara said: "I have to do my Tara said she had to do her
homework." homework.

Tara says she has to do her

homework.
* if still true, change is optional (sometimes a matter of emphasis)
** never changes

Time and Place in Reported Speech

When we report something, we may need to make changes to:

 time (now, tomorrow)
 place (here, this room)

direct speech reported speech

She said, "I saw Mary yesterday." She said she had seen Mary the day before.

He said: "My mother is here." He said that his mother was there.

Don't confuse time with tense. "Tense" is the grammatical form of the verb that in the
reported clause we sometimes shift back (backshift). "Time" refers to the actual time
that something happens, such as "today" or "now" or "5 weeks ago".

Time words
If we report something around the same time, then we probably do not need to make
any changes to time words. But if we report something at a different time, we need to
change time words. Look at these example sentences:

 He said: "It was hot yesterday." → He said that it had been hot the day before.
 He said: "We are going to swim tomorrow." → He said they were going to
swim the next day.

Here is a list of common time words, showing how you change them for reported
speech:

direct speech reported speech

now then, at that time

today that day, on Sunday, yesterday

tonight that night, last night, on Sunday night

tomorrow the next day/ the following day, on Sunday, today

 direct speech reported speech

yesterday the day before/ the previous day, on Sunday

last night the night before/ the previous night, on Sunday night

this week that week, last week

last month the month before/ the previous month, in May

next year the following year, in 2014

two minutes ago two minutes before

in one hour one hour later

Place words
If we are in the same place when we report something, then we do not need to make any
changes to place words. But if we are in a different place when we report something,
then we need to change the place words. Look at these example sentences:

 He said: "It is cold in here." → He said that it was cold in there.

 He said: "How much is this book?" → He asked how much the book was.

Here are some common place words, showing how you change them for reported
speech:

direct speech indirect speech

here there

this that

this book the book, that book

in this room in the room, in that room