reported speech bbc bitesize

• B1-B2 grammar

Reported speech: statements

Do you know how to report what somebody else said? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person said.

direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said. indirect speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films. direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said. indirect speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a chef. direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said. indirect speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel. indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked ) than the tense originally used (e.g. work ). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that were used, for example pronouns.

Present simple, present continuous and present perfect

When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.

'I travel a lot in my job.' Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job. 'The baby's sleeping!' He told me the baby was sleeping. 'I've hurt my leg.' She said she'd hurt her leg.

Past simple and past continuous

When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.

'We lived in China for five years.' She told me they'd lived in China for five years. 'It was raining all day.' He told me it had been raining all day.

Past perfect

The past perfect doesn't change.

'I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.' He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine was great.

No backshift

If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. This might happen when the speaker has used a present tense.

'I go to the gym next to your house.' Jenny told me that she goes to the gym next to my house. I'm thinking about going with her. 'I'm working in Italy for the next six months.' He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him! 'I've broken my arm!' She said she's broken her arm, so she won't be at work this week.

Pronouns, demonstratives and adverbs of time and place

Pronouns also usually change in indirect speech.

'I enjoy working in my garden,' said Bob. Bob said that he enjoyed working in his garden. 'We played tennis for our school,' said Alina. Alina told me they'd played tennis for their school.

However, if you are the person or one of the people who spoke, then the pronouns don't change.

'I'm working on my thesis,' I said. I told her that I was working on my thesis. 'We want our jobs back!' we said. We said that we wanted our jobs back.

We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and place if they are no longer accurate.

'This is my house.' He said this was his house. [You are currently in front of the house.] He said that was his house. [You are not currently in front of the house.] 'We like it here.' She told me they like it here. [You are currently in the place they like.] She told me they like it there. [You are not in the place they like.] 'I'm planning to do it today.' She told me she's planning to do it today. [It is currently still the same day.] She told me she was planning to do it that day. [It is not the same day any more.]

In the same way, these changes to those , now changes to then , yesterday changes to the day before , tomorrow changes to the next/following day and ago changes to before .

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 2

Language level

Hello Team. If the reporting verb is in the present perfect, do we have to backshift the tenses of the direct speech or not?    For example: He has said, "I bought a car yesterday."    

1- He has said that he bought a car yesterday.

2- He has said that he had bought a car the previous day.

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Hello Ahmed Imam,

It's not necessary to backshift the verb form if the situation being reported is still true. For example:

"I'm a doctor"

She told me she is a doctor. [she was a doctor when she said it and she is still doctor now]

She told me she was a doctor. [she was a doctor when she said it and may or may not still be a doctor now]

The reporting verb in your example would be 'said' rather than 'has said' as we are talking about a particular moment in the past. For the other verb both 'bought' and 'had bought' are possible without any change in meaning. In fact, when the verb is past in the original sentence we usually do not shift the verb form back.

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello again. Which one is correct? Why?

- He has said that he (will - would) travel to Cairo with his father.

The present perfect is a present form, so generally 'will' is the correct form.

In this case, assuming that the man said 'I will travel to Cairo', then 'will' is the correct form. But if the man said 'I would travel to Cairo if I had time to do it', then 'would' would be the correct form since it is part of a conditional statement.

I think you were asking about the first situation (the general one), though. Does that make sense?

Best wishes, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Thank you for the information. It states that If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. I wonder if it is still correct to change the tense in this example: 'London is in the UK', he said. to He said London was in the UK. Or  it has to be the present tense. 

Hello Wen1996,

Yes, your version of the sentence is also correct. In this case, the past tense refers to the time the speaker made this statement. But this doesn't mean the statement isn't also true now.

Good evening from Turkey.

Is the following example correct: Question: When did she watch the movie?

She asked me when she had watched the movie. or is it had she watched the movie. 

Do Subjects come before the verbs? Thank you. 

Hello muratt,

This is a reported question, not an actual question, as you can see from the fact that it has no question mark at the end. Therefore no inversion is needed and the normal subject-verb word order is maintained: ...she had watched... is correct.

You can read more about this here:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/reported-speech-questions

Thank you for your response.

Hello Sir, kindly help with the following sentence-

She said, "When I was a child I wasn't afraid of ghosts." 

Please tell me how to write this sentence in reported/ indirect speech.

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• B1-B2 grammar

Reported speech

Daisy has just had an interview for a summer job. 

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of reported speech. They are in  red  in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, reported speech correctly.

Sophie:  Mmm, it’s so nice to be chilling out at home after all that running around.

Ollie: Oh, yeah, travelling to glamorous places for a living must be such a drag!

Ollie: Mum, you can be so childish sometimes. Hey, I wonder how Daisy’s getting on in her job interview.

Sophie: Oh, yes, she said she was having it at four o’clock, so it’ll have finished by now. That’ll be her ... yes. Hi, love. How did it go?

Daisy: Well, good I think, but I don’t really know. They said they’d phone later and let me know.

Sophie: What kind of thing did they ask you?

Daisy: They asked if I had any experience with people, so I told them about helping at the school fair and visiting old people at the home, that sort of stuff. But I think they meant work experience.

Sophie: I’m sure what you said was impressive. They can’t expect you to have had much work experience at your age.

Daisy:  And then they asked me what acting I had done, so I told them that I’d had a main part in the school play, and I showed them a bit of the video, so that was cool.

Sophie:  Great!

Daisy: Oh, and they also asked if I spoke any foreign languages.

Sophie: Languages?

Daisy: Yeah, because I might have to talk to tourists, you know.

Sophie: Oh, right, of course.

Daisy: So that was it really. They showed me the costume I’ll be wearing if I get the job. Sending it over ...

Ollie: Hey, sis, I heard that Brad Pitt started out as a giant chicken too! This could be your big break!

Daisy: Ha, ha, very funny.

Sophie: Take no notice, darling. I’m sure you’ll be a marvellous chicken.

We use reported speech when we want to tell someone what someone said. We usually use a reporting verb (e.g. say, tell, ask, etc.) and then change the tense of what was actually said in direct speech.

So, direct speech is what someone actually says? Like 'I want to know about reported speech'?

Yes, and you report it with a reporting verb.

He said he wanted to know about reported speech.

I said, I want and you changed it to he wanted .

Exactly. Verbs in the present simple change to the past simple; the present continuous changes to the past continuous; the present perfect changes to the past perfect; can changes to could ; will changes to would ; etc.

She said she was having the interview at four o’clock. (Direct speech: ' I’m having the interview at four o’clock.') They said they’d phone later and let me know. (Direct speech: ' We’ll phone later and let you know.')

OK, in that last example, you changed you to me too.

Yes, apart from changing the tense of the verb, you also have to think about changing other things, like pronouns and adverbs of time and place.

'We went yesterday.'  > She said they had been the day before. 'I’ll come tomorrow.' >  He said he’d come the next day.

I see, but what if you’re reporting something on the same day, like 'We went yesterday'?

Well, then you would leave the time reference as 'yesterday'. You have to use your common sense. For example, if someone is saying something which is true now or always, you wouldn’t change the tense.

'Dogs can’t eat chocolate.' > She said that dogs can’t eat chocolate. 'My hair grows really slowly.' >  He told me that his hair grows really slowly.

What about reporting questions?

We often use ask + if/whether , then change the tenses as with statements. In reported questions we don’t use question forms after the reporting verb.

'Do you have any experience working with people?' They asked if I had any experience working with people. 'What acting have you done?' They asked me what acting I had done .

Is there anything else I need to know about reported speech?

One thing that sometimes causes problems is imperative sentences.

You mean like 'Sit down, please' or 'Don’t go!'?

Exactly. Sentences that start with a verb in direct speech need a to + infinitive in reported speech.

She told him to be good. (Direct speech: 'Be good!') He told them not to forget. (Direct speech: 'Please don’t forget.')

OK. Can I also say 'He asked me to sit down'?

Yes. You could say 'He told me to …' or 'He asked me to …' depending on how it was said.

OK, I see. Are there any more reporting verbs?

Yes, there are lots of other reporting verbs like promise , remind , warn , advise , recommend , encourage which you can choose, depending on the situation. But say , tell and ask are the most common.

Great. I understand! My teacher said reported speech was difficult.

And I told you not to worry!

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Reported Speech

Perfect english grammar.

Reported Statements

Here's how it works:

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. ( Click here for more about using 'say' and 'tell' .) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: I like ice cream.
• Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'. (As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

But , if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

• Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

* doesn't change.

• Direct speech: The sky is blue.
• Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Click here for a mixed tense exercise about practise reported statements. Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?

• Direct speech: Where do you live?
• Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
• Direct speech: Where is Julie?
• Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.
• Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
• Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

Click here to practise reported 'wh' questions. Click here to practise reported 'yes / no' questions. Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

• Direct speech: Close the window, please
• Or: Could you close the window please?
• Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
• Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.
• Direct speech: Please don't be late.
• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

• Direct speech: Sit down!
• Reported speech: She told me to sit down.
• Click here for an exercise to practise reported requests and orders.
• Click here for an exercise about using 'say' and 'tell'.
• Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

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