Reported Speech

Upper-Intermediate English (B2) Reported Speech

This lesson is about reported speech. It describes how we can tell someone, or report, what someone else said. It is part of our complete upper-intermediate English course. There are also a variety of exercises to practise reported speech. There is a presentation version of this lesson in the “materials” tab above.

This topic supposes that you understand how to use the present simple, the past simple, the present perfect and the past perfect tenses in English. If you need to revise these tenses, just follow the links in this paragraph.

Read the description about how reported speech, reported questions and reporting verbs work in English and then try the tests below to check your comprehension.

What is Reported Speech?
Reported Speech Verb Tense Changes.
Reported Speech with Imperatives.
Reported Questions.
Reported Speech Cheat Sheet Infographic
Reported Speech Exercises & test

What is Reported Speech?

We use reported speech when we are telling someone what was said.
Because what was said is now in the past, we reflect that in the grammar.
It isn’t always necessary to use reported speech (sometimes states don’t change).

Here is an example. If someone says something and another person asks what they said, you can explain or report what they said;

Robert: “I’ve never seen it before!”

Vivian: “What did Robert say?”

Francis: “He said that he had never seen it before.”

Reported speech is often introduced with phrases like “He / She said that…” followed by a modified version of the speaker’s words. In these phrases the word “that” is optional. It can be omitted with no difference in meaning.

Notice that the verb tense changes from the actual words that Robert said (I have never seen) to the reported speech that Vivian uses (he had never seen). Let’s have a look at these verb tense changes in more detail.

Reported Speech Verb Changes

An infographic showing the verb tense changes in reported speech from the present simple to the past simple and from the past simple and the present perfect to the past perfect.

To change direct speech to reported speech verb tenses need to change backwards one tense. This infographic shows the verb tense changes for simple tenses.

Imagine the tenses as they regress backwards in time from the present, back to the past and then further back to the past perfect.

Understanding this logic of verb tenses going backwards will help you to tell someone what someone else said easily.

You can download the infographic to help you remember these changes.

Reporting the Present Simple

If we want to report what someone said when the direct speech was in the present simple, we regress one step backwards through the verbal tenses and use the past simple. For example;

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I am tired.	He said (that) he was tired.
I don’t like it.	He said (that) he didn’t like it.
I can do it.	He said (that) he could do it.
I write books.	He said (that) he wrote books.
I live here.	He said (that) he lived there.

Examples of present simple direct speech changed into past simple reported speech.

Reporting the past simple

If we want to report what someone said when the direct speech was in the past simple, we regress one step backwards through the verbal tenses and use the past perfect in reported speech. For example;

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I was tired.	He said (that) he had been tired.
I didn’t like it.	He said (that) he hadn’t liked it.
I could do it.	He said he’d been able to do it.
I wrote books.	He said (that) he’d written books.
I lived here.	He said (that) he had lived there.

Examples of past simple direct speech changed into past perfect reported speech.

Reporting the present perfect

If we want to report what someone said when the direct speech was in the present perfect, we regress one step backwards through the verbal tenses and use the past perfect in reported speech. For example;

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I have been tired.	He said (that) he had been tired.
I haven’t liked it.	He said (that) hadn’t liked it.
I have been able to do it	He said he’d been able to do it.
I have written books.	He said (that) he’d written books.
I have lived here.	He said (that) he had lived there.

Examples of present perfect direct speech changed into past perfect reported speech.

Reporting the Past Perfect

If we want to report what someone said when the direct speech was in the past perfect, we can’t go back any further, there is no earlier tense, so the past perfect remains the same. For example;

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I had been tired.	He said (that) he had been tired.
I hadn’t liked it.	He said (that) he hadn’t liked it.
I had been able to do it.	He said he’d been able to do it.
I had written books.	He said (that) he’d written books.
I had lived here.	He said (that) he had lived there.

Reporting Continuous tenses

infographic showing verb tense changes for continuous or progressive tenses in reported speech.

The process for continuous tenses is the same as for simple tenses, but simply using the continuous form of each tense when we regress.

The infographic shows the transitions between continuous tenses when reporting. You can download the image to help you revise.

The table below shows examples of these tense changes.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I am waiting.	He said he was waiting..
I wasn’t listening.	He said he hadn’t been listening.
I was doing it.	He said he’d been doing it.
I was writing a book.	He said he’d been writing a book.
I had been living here.	He said he had been living there.

Like with he simple tenses, if something is already in the past perfect (continuous) you don’t need to regress any further, it stays in that tense.

A note about say and tell

Be careful with say and tell.

Say does not take a personal object, we cannot put an object pronoun after it.

He said that he liked it. ✔️
He said me that he liked it.✖️

Tell does take a personal object, it often requires an object pronoun after it.

He told me that he liked it.✔️
He told that he liked it.✖️

Mix it up a bit!

There are plenty of substitutes for said and told in English, try a bit of variation to break the monotony. Other examples include;

Explained
Confessed
Confided
Shouted
Declared
Proclaimed

Subject / Object / Pronoun / Place & time changes.

Subject Changes

We sometimes change subject and object pronouns and possessive adjectives and pronouns in reported speech to reflect that another person said something. Look at the examples in the table below.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I like it.	He said that he liked it.
We don’t know.	They said that they didn’t know.
Tom and I are coming.	They said that they were coming.
I like my house.	He said that he liked his house.
I want my money!	She said that she wanted her money.

Examples of subject pronouns and possessive adjectives changing inreported speech.

Adverb of Place Changes

Depending on whether we are in the same place, some adverbs of place will need to be changed.

For example, if i say;

I live here.

But someone in a different place is asking what I said, the response would be;

He said that he lived there.

Because the location has changed relative to the speaker, “here” changes to “there”

We often change relative terms like this for that, for example;

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
I bought this house.	She said that she had bought that house.
This is mine.	She said that was hers.
I want this one.	She said that she wanted that one.
Do you like this book?	They asked me if I liked the book.

Examples of changes of relative terms like “this” or “here” to “that” or “there” in reported speech.

Adverbs of time change in Reported Speech

Because many adverbs of time are relative, they may need to be changed. For example what I call today will not be today to a person reporting what I said a week later. We can change adverbs of time like so;

Adverb of time in direct speech	Adverb of time in reported version
Today.	That day.
Next week.	The following week / the week after.
Last week.	The previous week / the week before.
Tomorrow.	The next day / The following day / The day after.
A few days ago.	A few days before / previously / prior.

examples of changes of adverbs of time in reported speech

Verb Substitution in Reported Speech

Some verbs, due to limitations, can be changed when reported. For example;

Verb used in direct speech	Alternative for reported version
Could (past simple of can)	had been able to
Will	would
May	might
Must	had to

Examples of modal verb changes between direct and reported speech.

Alternatively, many modal verbs like;

might
could
would
should
ought to

can be left the same.

If you want to study or revise modal verbs, check out this lesson on modal verbs for deduction and speculation.

Reporting Imperatives

Imperatives in English look like the present simple.

Here are some examples;

Stop that now!
Please go away.
Give that to me please.
Forget about it!
Tell me the truth.

When reporting imperatives, they are converted to infinitives;

Direct Speech	Reported Version with Infinitives
Stop it!	He told me to stop it.
Please go away.	He told me to go away. / He asked me to go away.
Give that to me please.	He told me to give it to him. / He asked me to give it to him.
Forget about it!	He told me to forget about it.
Tell me the truth.	She ordered me to tell her the truth.

Examples of Reported Speech with imperatives.

Ready for a Quick Test? Check your comprehension of verb changes in reported speech with this exercise!

Reported Questions.

When we are reporting a question we have to consider;

Verb tense changes for reported speech as previously described.
Word order changes associated with indirect questions.

In indirect speech and reported questions, the word order in the clause that starts with the question word or “if” IS THE NORMAL SENTENCE ORDER, NOT THE QUESTION ORDER.

Reporting Closed Questions.

A closed question can be answered with a yes or no.

Examples of closed questions;

Did you do it?
Are you from here?
Have you seen this film?
Do you always work this late?
Was he angry?

Here are some direct closed questions with the reported versions;

Direct Question	Reported Question
Did you do it?	He asked me if I had done it.
Are you from here?	He asked me if I was from there.
Have you seen this film?	He asked me if I had seen that film.
Do you always work this late?	He asked me whether I always worked that late.
Was he angry?	He asked whether he was angry.

Examples of reported speech with closed questions.

Note that we use IF or the more formal synonym WHETHER.

Here are the same questions with the clause following IF / WHETHER highlighted. All of the highlighted parts look like the word order in sentences, as if we are starting a new sentence.

Reporting Open Ended Questions

Open ended questions can be answered with specific answers, not just a yes or a no.

Examples of open ended questions could be:

Where do you live?
What is your name?
What did he say?
How do you do it?
What have they done?

Here are some direct open-ended questions with the reported versions;

Direct Question	Reported Question
Where do you live?	He asked me where I lived.
What is your name?	He asked me what my name was.
What did he say?	He asked me what he had said.
How do you do it?	He asked me how you did it.
What have they done?	He asked me what they had done.