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Direct and Reported Speech (El estilo directo y

indirecto)
Cuando queremos comunicar o informar de lo que otra persona ha dicho, hay dos maneras de hacerlo:
utilizando el estilo directo o el estilo indirecto.

Direct Speech (El estilo directo)


Cuando queremos informar exactamente de lo que otra persona ha dicho, utilizamos el estilo directo.
Con este estilo lo que la persona ha dicho se coloca entre comillas ("...") y deber ser palabra por
palabra.

Ejemplos:
Play
"I am going to London next week," she said. ("Voy a Londres la semana que viene," ella dijo.)
Play
"Do you have a pen I could borrow," he asked. ("Tienes un bolgrafo que puedas prestarme?," l pregunt.)
Play
Alice said, "I love to dance." (Alice dijo, "Me encanta bailar.")
Play
Chris asked, "Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" (Chris pregunt, "Te gustara cenar
conmigo maana por la noche?")

Reported Speech (El estilo indirecto)


El estilo indirecto, a diferencia del estilo directo, no utiliza las comillas y no necesita ser palabra por
palabra. En general, cuando se usa el estilo indirecto, el tiempo verbal cambia. A continuacin tienes
un explicacin de los cambios que sufren los tiempos verbales.
A veces se usa "that" en las frases afirmativas y negativas para introducir lo que ha dicho la otra
persona. Por otro lado, en las frases interrogativas se puede usar "if" o "whether".
Nota: Ten en cuenta tambin que las expresiones de tiempo cambian en el estilo indirecto. Fijate en
los cambios de tiempo en los ejemplos ms abajo y despus, encontrars una tabla con ms
explicaciones de los cambios de tiempo en el estilo indirecto.
Direct Speech

Reported Speech

Present Simple

Past Simple

Play
"He's American," she said.

Play
She said he was American.

Play
"I'm happy to see you," Mary said.

Play
Mary said that she was happy to see me.

Play
He asked, "Are you busy tonight?"

Play
He asked me if I was busy that night.

Present Continuous

Past Continuous

Play
Dan is living in San Francisco," she said.

Play
She said Dan was living in San Francisco.

Play
He said, "I'm making dinner."

Play
He told me that he was making dinner.

Play
"Why are you working so hard?" they asked.

Play
They asked me why I was working so hard.

Past Simple

Past Perfect Simple

Play
"We went to the movies last night," he said.

Play
He told me they had gone to the movies the
night before.

Play
"Greg said, "I didn't go to work yesterday."

Play
Greg said that he hadn't gone to work the day
before.

Play
"Did you buy a new car?" she asked.

Play
She asked me if I had bought a new car.

Past Continuous

Past Perfect Continuous

Play
"I was working late last night," Vicki said.

Play
Vicki told me she'd been working late the night
before.

Play
They said, "we weren't waiting long."

Play
They said that they hadn't been waitinglong.

Play
" He asked, "were you sleeping when I called?"

Play
He asked if I'd been sleeping when he called.

Present Perfect Simple

Past Perfect Simple

Play
"Heather said, "I've already eaten."

Play
Heather told me that she'd already eaten.

Play
"We haven't been to China," they said.

Play
They said they hadn't been to China.

Play
"Have you worked here before?" I asked.

Play
I asked her whether she'd worked therebefore.

Present Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Continuous

Play
"I've been studying English for two years,"he
said.

Play
He said he'd been studying English for two
years.

Play
Play
" Steve said, "we've been dating for over a year Steve told me that they'd been dating for over a
now."
year.
Play
"Have you been waiting long?" they asked.

Play
They asked whether I'd been waiting long.

Past Perfect Simple

Past Perfect Simple (*NO CHANGE)

Play
"I'd been to Chicago before for work," he said.

Play
He said that he'd been to Chicago before for
work.

Past Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Continuous (*NO CHANGE)

Play
She said, "I'd been dancing for years before the
accident."

Play
She said she'd been dancing for years before the
accident.

Nota: Cuando hablamos de algo que no ha cambiado (que sigue siendo cierto) o de algo en el futuro,
no es necesario cambiar el tiempo verbal.

Ejemplos:
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"I'm 30 years old," she said. She said she is 30 years old.
Play
Dave said, "Kelly is sick." Dave said Kelly is sick.
Play
"We are going to Tokyo next week," they said. They said they are going to Tokyo next week.

Play
"I'll cut my hair tomorrow," Nina said. Nina said she is cutting her hair tomorrow.
Modal Verbs (Los verbos modales)
El tiempo verbal cambia en el estilo indirecto tambin con algunos de los verbos modales.
Nota: Con "would", "could", "should", "might" y "ought to", el tiempo no cambia.
Direct Speech

Indirect Speech

Will

Would

Play
"I'll go to the movies tomorrow," John
said.

Play
John said he would go to the moviesthe next day.

Play
"Will you help me move?" she asked.

Play
She asked me if I would help her move.

Can

Could

Play
Play
Debra said, "Allen can work tomorrow." Debra said Allen could work the next day.
Play
Play
"Can you open the window, please?", he
He asked me if I could open the window.
asked.
Must

Had to

Play
"You must wear your seatbelt," mom
said.

Play
My mom said I had to wear my seatbelt.

Play
She said, "You must work tomorrow."

Play
She said I had to work the next day.

Shall

Should

Play
"Shall we go to the beach today?" Tom
asked.

Play
Tom asked if we should go to the beachthat day.

Play
"What shall we do tonight?" she asked.

Play
She asked me what we should do that night.

May

Might/Could

Play
Jane said, "I may not be in class
tomorrow."

Play
Jane said she might not be in class the next day.

Play
the boy asked. "May I use the
bathroom, please?"the boy asked.

Play
The boy asked if he could use the bathroom.

Nota: A continuacin tienes una tabla donde puedes observar los cambios que sufren las expresiones
de tiempo cuando usamos el estilo indirecto.
Direct Speech

Indirect Speech

today

that day

tonight

that night

this week/month/year

that week/month/year

tomorrow

the next day

next week/month/year

the following week/month/year

yesterday

the day before/the previous day

last week/month/year

the day/month/year before o the previous day/month/year

now

then/at that moment

Otros cambios
here

there

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

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She said she liked ice cream.

Tense

Direct Speech

Reported Speech

present
simple

I like ice cream

She said (that) she liked ice cream.

present
continuous

I am living in
London

She said she was living in London.

past simple

I bought a car

She said she had bought a car OR She


said she bought a car.

past
continuous

I was walking
along the street

She said she had been walking along


the street.

present
perfect

I haven't seen
Julie

She said she hadn't seen Julie.

past perfect*

I had taken English


lessons before

She said she had taken English


lessons before.

will

I'll see you later

She said she would see me later.

would*

I would help, but..

She said she would help but...

can

I can speak perfect


English

She said she could speak perfect


English.

could*

I could swim when


I was four

She said she could swim when she


was four.

shall

I shall come later

She said she would come later.

should*

I should call my
mother

She said she should call her mother

might*

"I might be late"

She said she might be late

must

"I must study at the


weekend"

She said she must study at the


weekend OR She said she had to study
at the weekend

* doesn't change.
Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information in
direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then
usually we like to change the tense):

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?"

How can we make the reported speech here?


In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we
keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to
someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we need to change the grammar to a normal
positive sentence. Confusing? Sorry, maybe this example will help:

Direct speech: "Where do you live?"

Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.

Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a
present simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then I need to change
the verb to the past simple.
Another example:

Direct speech: "where is Julie?"

Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the present
simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to
change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.
Here are some more examples:

Direct Question

Reported Question

Where is the Post Office, please?

She asked me where the Post Office was.

What are you doing?

She asked me what I was doing.

Who was that fantastic man?

She asked me who that fantastic man had


been.

So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't
have any question words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':

Direct speech: "Do you like chocolate?"

Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

No problem? Here are a few more examples:

Direct Question

Reported Question

Do you love me?

He asked me if I loved him.

Have you ever been to Mexico?

She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.

Are you living here?

She asked me if I was living here.

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?"

All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we tell
another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':

Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Here are a few more examples:

Direct Request

Reported Request

Please help me.

She asked me to help her.

Please don't smoke.

She asked me not to smoke.

Could you bring my book tonight?

She asked me to bring her book that

night.

Could you pass the milk, please?

She asked me to pass the milk.

Would you mind coming early


tomorrow?

She asked me to come early the next


day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

Direct speech: "Please don't be late."

Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders
And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in
English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:

Direct speech: "Sit down!"

In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell'
instead of 'ask':

Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Direct Order

Reported Order

Go to bed!

He told the child to go to bed.

Don't worry!

He told her not to worry.

Be on time!

He told me to be on time.

Don't smoke!

He told us not to smoke.

Click here for an exercise to practise reported requests and orders.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech


Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time
expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the
direct speech and when we say the reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was
said.
Here's a table of some possible conversions:

now

then / at that time

today

yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June

yesterda
y

the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of
December

last night

the night before, Thursday night

last week

the week before / the previous week

tomorro
w

today / the next day / the following day / Friday

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