Normally, the tense
in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech:
She said, "I am tired." = She said that she was tired.
She said, "I am tired." = She said that she was tired.
Phrase in Direct
Speech
|
Equivalent in
Reported Speech
|
Simple present
|
Simple past
|
"I always drink coffee",
she said
|
She said that she
always drank coffee.
|
Present
continuous
|
Past continuous
|
"I am
reading a book", he explained.
|
He explained that
he was reading a book
|
Simple past
|
Past perfect
|
"Bill arrived on
Saturday", he said.
|
He said that Bill had
arrived on Saturday.
|
Present perfect
|
Past perfect
|
"I have
been to Spain", he told me.
|
He told me that
he had been to Spain.
|
Past perfect
|
Past perfect
|
"I had
just turned out the light," he explained.
|
He explained that
he had just turned out the light.
|
Present perfect
continuous
|
Past perfect
continuous
|
They complained,
"We have been waiting for hours".
|
They complained
that they had been waiting for hours.
|
Past continuous
|
Past perfect
continuous
|
"We were
living in Paris", they told me.
|
They told me that
they had been living in Paris.
|
Future
|
Present
conditional
|
"I will
be in Geneva on Monday", he said.
|
He said that he would
be in Geneva on Monday.
|
Future continuous
|
Conditional
continuous
|
She said, "I'll
be using the car next Friday".
|
She said that she would
be using the car next Friday.
|
You do not need to
change the tense if the reporting verb is in the present, or if the original
statement was about something that is still true, e.g.
- He
says he has missed the train but he'll catch the
next one.
- We
explained that it is very difficult to find our house.
These modal verbs
do not change in reported speech: might, could, would, should, ought to:
- We
explained, "It could be difficult to find our
house." = We explained that it could be difficult to
find our house.
- She
said, "I might bring a friend to the party." =
She said that she might bring a friend to the party.
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