Reported speech (estilo indirecto)

El Reported speech o Estilo indirecto es una estructura que usamos cuando reportamos o hacemos mención sobre algo que alguien ha dicho previamente. Aquí tenemos varias páginas que te ayudarán a entender su uso.

Cambios en los tiempos verbales: "I live in Italy". She said. → She said that he lived in Italy.
Cambios en los verbos modales: "They will help you". She said. → She said that they would help me.
 Cambios en las referencias de tiempo y lugar: "We live here". They said → They said that they lived there Cambios en las preguntas: "Where do they sell the tickets?" → He asked where they sold the tickets

REPORTING VERBS (Verbos Comunicadores)

Estos son algunos de los verbos comunicadores o reporting verbs más utilizados (seguidos por una cláusula relativa con that):

add (agregar) complain (quejarse) feel (sentir) repeat (repetir) say (decir) tell (comentar) agree (acordar) deny (negar) inform (informar) reply (responder) show (demostrar) threaten (amenazar) answer (contestar) explain (explicar) promise (prometer) report (comunicar) suggest (sugerir) warn (advertir)

Reporting verbs In the sentence "James said that he was my neighbour", said is a reporting verb (was is a reported verb). There are other reporting verbs we can use depending on the statement. We can also use the verbs like told, offered and promised. Let's take a look at some examples. Told "My brother is buying a car" said Anne (direct speech) becomes Anne told me (that) her brother was buying a car. Use told + person + what was said. Don't use told with to: Anne told to me (that) her brother was buying a car is not correct. Offered Use offered + to + infinitive verb. "I'll do the shopping for you", said Simon becomes Simon offered to do the shopping for us . Promised Use promise + to + infinitive verb "I'll buy you lunch", said Mark becomes Mark promised to buy me lunch. OR Promise + clause (change the tense of the verb): Mark promised (that) he would buy me lunch. Reporting Verbs When using reported speech, most students learn to use "say" and "tell": Examples: John told me he was going to stay late at work. Peter said he wanted to visit his parents that weekend. These forms are perfectly correct for reporting what others have said. However, there are a number of other reporting verbs which can more accurately describe what someone has said. These verbs take a variety of structures. The following list gives you reporting verbs in various categories based on sentence structure. Notice that a number of verbs can take more than one form. verb object infinitive verb infinitive verb (that) verb gerund verb object preposition gerund verb preposition gerund advise encourage invite remind warn agree decide offer promise refuse threaten admit agree decide deny explain insist promise recommend suggest deny recommend suggest accuse blame congratulate apologize insist Examples: Jack encouraged me to look for a new job. They invited all their friends to attend the presentation. Examples: She offered to give him a lift to work. My brother refused to take no for an answer. Examples: Tom admitted (that) he had tried to leave early. She agreed (that) we needed to reconsider our plans. Examples: He denied having anything to do with her. Ken suggested studying early in the morning. Examples: They accused the boys of cheating on the exam. She blamed her husband for missing the train. Examples: He apologized for being late. She insisted on doing the washing up.

Reported speech (english)

REPORTED SPEECH 

Pronoun, tenses and time expressions (Changes: direct into indirect speech)

Pronouns

In reported speech, you often have to change the pronoun depending on who says what.

Example

She says, “My mum doesn’t have time today.” – She says that her mum doesn’t have time today.

Tenses

No backshift

Do not change the tense if the introductory clause is in Simple Present (e. g. He says). Note, however, that you might have to change the form of the present tense verb (3rd person singular).

Example

He says, “I speak English.” – He says that he speaks English.

Backshift

You must change the tense if the introductory clause is in Simple Past (e. g. He said). This is called backshift.

Example

He said, “I am happy.” – He said that he was happy.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Simple Present	Simple Past
Present Progressive	Past Progressive
Simple Past	Past Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Simple
Past Perfect Simple
Past Progressive	Past Perfect Progressive
Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect Progressive
Future I (going to)	was / were going to
Future I (will)	Conditional I (would)
Conditional I (would)

The verbs could, should, would, might, must, needn’t, ought to, used to do not normally change.

Example:

He said, “She might be right.” – He said that she might be right.

Place and Time expressions

For place and time expressions you have to check whether place and time are the same in direct and reported speech or not. Check out the following example:

It is Friday and you meet James at a restaurant. James tells you that he saw Caroline in this restaurant today. (“I saw Caroline here today.”) A few minutes later, Helen joins you and you want to report what James has told you. Place (here) and time (today) are the same and you can say:

→ James said that he had seen Caroline here today.

One day later, you meet Mary at the same restaurant. Again, you want to report to her what James has told you. The place is the same, but not the time (it happened yesterday). So you would say:
→ James said that he had seen Caroline here yesterday.

Still a few days later, Tom rings you at home. Again, you want to report to him what James has told you. However, now you are not at the restaurant (but at home) and a few days have passed since then. So you would say:

→ James said that he had seen Caroline at the restaurant on Friday.

→ I met James in a restaurant on Friday and he said that he had seen Caroline there that day.

Therefore you always have to think which place and time expressions are logical in a certain situation.

In the following table, you will find ways of transforming place and time expressions into reported speech.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
today	that day
now	then
yesterday	the day before
… days ago	… days before
last week	the week before
next year	the following year
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
here	there
this	that
these	those

Statements
1) If the sentence starts in the present, there is no backshift of tenses in Reported speech.
Example: Susan: "I work in an office." Susan says that she works in an office.

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2) If the sentence starts in the past, there is often backshift of tenses in Reported speech. (see: Note)
Example: Susan: "I work in an office." Susan said that she worked in an office.

Backshift of tenses
from	to
Simple Present	Simple Past
Simple Past	Past Perfect
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
will	would
Progressive forms
am/are/is	was/were
was/were	had been
has been
had been

Backshift of tenses
from	to
Peter: "I work in the garden."	Peter said that he worked in the garden.
Peter: "I worked in the garden."	Peter said that he had worked in the garden.
Peter: "I have worked in the garden."
Peter: "I had worked in the garden."
Peter: "I will work in the garden."	Peter said that he would work in the garden.
Peter: "I can work in the garden."	Peter said that he could work in the garden.
Peter: "I may work in the garden."	Peter said that he might work in the garden.
Peter: "I would work in the garden." (could, might, should, ought to)	Peter said that he would work in the garden. (could, might, should, ought to)
Progressive forms
Peter: "I'm working in the garden."	Peter said that he was working in the garden.
Peter: "I was working in the garden."	Peter said that he had been working in the garden.
Peter: "I have been working in the garden."
Peter: "I had been working in the garden."

If the sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it as well.

Peter: "I worked in the garden yesterday."
Peter said that he had worked in the garden the day before.

Shifting of expressions of time

this (evening)	that (evening)
today/this day	that day
these (days)	those (days)
now	then
(a week) ago	(a week) before
last weekend	the weekend before / the previous weekend
here	there
next (week)	the following (week)
tomorrow	the next/following day

Note:

In some cases the backshift of tenses is not necessary, e.g. when statements are still true.

John: "My brother is at Leipzig university."
John said that his brother was at Leipzig university. or
John said that his brother is at Leipzig university.
or
Mandy: "The sun rises in the East."
Mandy said that the sun rose in the East. or
Mandy said that the sun rises in the East.

Reported questions

 If you put a question into Reported speech there are some steps which are the same like in statements: (changing of the person, backshift of tenses, changing of expressions of time).
 In Reported speech there is no question anymore, the sentence becomes a statement.
That's why the word order is: subject - verb

Question without question words (yes/no questions):
Peter: "Do you play football?" - Peter asked me if I played football.
Question with question words:
Peter: "When do you play football?" - Peter asked me when I played football.

Reported commands

If you put a command into Reported speech there are some steps which are the same like in statements: (changing of the person, backshift of tenses, changing of expressions of time).
The form is mostly: form of to tell + to + infinitive.

Affirmative commands	Negative commands
Father: "Do your   homework."	Teacher.   "Don't talk to    your neighbour."
Father told me to do my homework.	The teacher told me not to talk to my neighbour.