Reported Speech

Level B2 · Reported Speech

Use reported speech to tell someone what another person said, without quoting their exact words in quotation marks. Direct speech: She said, 'I am tired.' Reported speech: She said (that) she was tired — the tense usually shifts back one step because you're reporting from a later point in time, even if what was said is still true now.

When the reporting verb is in the past (said, told), the verb in the reported clause usually shifts back one tense — this is called backshift:

• Present simple → past simple: 'I like tea' → She said she liked tea.
• Present continuous → past continuous: 'I am working' → He said he was working.
• Past simple → past perfect: 'I saw him' → She said she had seen him.
• will → would, can → could, must → had to: 'I will help' → He said he would help.
• Time and place words shift too: today → that day, tomorrow → the next day, yesterday → the day before, here → there, this → that.

Reported questions keep statement word order (no auxiliary do) and lose the question mark; reported statements need the right verb pattern:

• Yes/no questions add if or whether: 'Do you like tea?' → She asked if I liked tea (not She asked did I like tea).
• Wh-questions keep the question word but use statement order: 'Where do you live?' → He asked where I lived (not where did I live).
• say never takes a direct object (no person); tell always needs one: She said (that) she was busy vs She told me (that) she was busy — not she said me or she told that.
• Other reporting verbs carry their own pattern: suggest + -ing or that: He suggested going out; explain/admit/deny + that: She admitted (that) she was wrong.

The most common mistake is keeping question word order (with do/does/did) inside a reported question: She asked what did I want is wrong — once a question is reported, it becomes a statement in word order, with the question word or if/whether simply attached to the front: She asked what I wanted. A second frequent error: using say with a direct object — he said me is always wrong; use tell (he told me) or simply drop the object (he said that...).

Look for reporting verbs (said, told, asked, explained, wondered, suggested, admitted), the optional that after say/tell, if/whether introducing a reported yes/no question, and backshifted time words (that day, the day before, the next day) — signs that someone's exact words are being retold rather than quoted directly.

Practice

Backshift in Statements · Reported Questions & Reporting Verbs