Reported Speech.

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Reported speech is when another person reports what someone has said in the past, what someone has just said in the present or what someone will say in the future.

Reported speech in the future.

When we report what someone will say in the future, we report their words as they are spoken.

E.g. I will say, "I like it." = I will say that I like it.

E.g. I will say, "I finished the job last week." = I will say that I finished the job last week.

E.g. I will say, "I will go there next week." = I will say that I will go there next week.

If we are talking about someone else who is not with us, we will need to change "I" to "he" or "she" or change "we" to "they".

E.g. They will say, "We are late because of the traffic." = They will say that they are late because of the traffic.

E.g. He will say, "I am late because of the traffic." = He will say that he is late because of the traffic.

Reported speech at the present.

When we report what someone is saying or has just said at the present, we report their words as they are spoken.

If we are talking about someone else who is not with us, we will need to change "I" to "he" or "she" or change "we" to "they".

E.g. They have just said, "We are late because of the traffic." = They say that they are late because of the traffic.

E.g. He is saying to the manager, "I am late because of the traffic." = He is telling the manager that he is late because of the traffic.

Sometimes, we may change the verb used.

E.g. He is saying to the waiter, "Could I have a coffee, please?" = He is telling the waiter that he would like a coffee. = He is asking the waiter for a coffee.

Reported speech in the past.

When we are talking about what someone said in the past, we need to report their words in the past tense.

E.g. He said, "I like tea." = He said that he liked tea.

E.g. You said, "I don't drink coffee." = You said that you didn't drink coffee.

E.g. They said, "We are coming on Friday." = They said that they were coming on Friday.

E.g. Rachel said, "I was at work on Tuesday." = Rachel said that she was at work on Tuesday.

E.g. Elaine said, "I have been to Mexico." = Elaine said that she had been to Mexico.

When someone said "will" in the past, we change it to "would" when we report what they said.

E.g. We said, "We will do it." = We said that we would do it.

E.g. I said, "I will be working on Saturday." = I said that I would be working on Saturday.

When someone said "can" in the past, we change it to "could" when we report what they said.

E.g. We said, "We can do it." = We said that we could do it.

When someone said "shall" meaning "will" in the past, we change it to "would" when we report what they said.

E.g. She said, "I shall be a little bit late." = She said that she would be a little bit late.

When someone said "shall" as part of an offer or suggestion in the past, we change it to "should" when we report what they said.

E.g. Fiona said, "Shall we go for lunch?" = Fiona asked if we should go for lunch. = Fiona suggested that we went for lunch.

E.g. Matthew said, "Shall I open the window?" = Matthew asked if he should open the window.= Matthew offered to open the window.

When someone said "must" in the past, we change it to "had to" when we report what they said.

E.g. We said, "We must leave early." = We said that we had to leave early.

Test yourself with our reported speech quiz.

Help.

The difference between say, speak, talk and tell.

We usually use the word "speak" to describe how somebody speaks and the language they speak.

E.g. He speaks very quietly.

E.g. She speaks French. (We cannot use talk, say or tell in this sentence.)

We usually use the word "talk" to describe how much somebody talks and what they talk about.

E.g. He talks a lot.

E.g. He often talks about his time in the army.

We use the word "say" to present the words that somebody speaks. We might not know who they are speaking to.

E.g. I said, "I will be working on Saturday."

E.g. "I will be working on Saturday," I said.

We use the word "tell" to mean passing a message to somebody. We must include the receiver of the message in our sentence.

E.g. Tell them that I will be late.

E.g. Darren told me that he would be late. (told is the past tense of tell)

For more information about tenses, click here.

For more information about modal verbs like "can", "could", "must", "shall", "should", "will", and "would", click here.

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