Reported Speech in Catalan

In Brief

Catalan reported statements normally use a reporting verb plus que: Diu que està cansada (“She says that she is tired”). When the reporting verb is in the past, the original tense often moves one step back: present → imperfect, past → pluperfect, and future → conditional. Yes/no questions use si, while reported commands usually use que plus the subjunctive.

Overview

Reported speech, or estil indirecte, lets you communicate someone’s words without quoting them exactly. Direct speech repeats the original wording — La Marta va dir: «Vindré demà» — whereas reported speech makes those words part of a new sentence: La Marta va dir que vindria l’endemà. Quotation marks disappear, and the speaker’s original point of view may need to change.

This is a B2 topic because several familiar systems must work together. You need to choose a connector, relate the original verb tense to the time of reporting, and reconsider pronouns and words such as aquí, avui, and demà. Backshift means moving a tense into a more distant past form because the reporting verb is in the past. It is not merely a mechanical replacement: the speaker’s intended meaning and the current time frame still matter.

The basic structure is close to English “say that…,” but there are important differences. Catalan normally keeps que, even where conversational English can omit “that.” It also uses the imperfect subjunctive (a verb form used for wishes, requests, uncertainty, and other non-factual meanings in a past frame) in many reported commands and requests.

How It Works

Reported statements: reporting verb + que

A statement is usually introduced by a verb of speaking or thinking followed by que.

Function	Common verbs	Pattern
Reporting words	dir, explicar, comentar, afirmar	Va dir que no tenia temps.
Reporting thoughts or knowledge	pensar, creure, saber, recordar	Creia que ja ho sabíem.
Reporting announcements or promises	anunciar, assegurar, prometre	Va prometre que tornaria.

The connector que does not take an accent. Do not confuse it with interrogative què, “what,” used in a question such as Em va preguntar què volia.

Catalan often leaves out a subject pronoun because the verb ending identifies the person. Nevertheless, the subject must remain clear. Compare Va dir que vindria, which can mean “He/she said that he/she would come,” with La Júlia va dir que en Pau vindria, where the names remove any doubt.

The reporting tense controls the time frame

If the reporting verb is present or future, the original tense usually stays the same:

• Direct: «Treballo des de casa.»
• Reported now: Diu que treballa des de casa.

If the reporting verb is past, backshift is common. The following table gives the standard correspondences taught for careful reported speech.

Original form in direct speech	Usual form after a past reporting verb	Example
Present indicative	Imperfect indicative	«Visc a Reus.» → Va dir que vivia a Reus.
Present perfect	Pluperfect indicative	«He acabat.» → Va dir que havia acabat.
Periphrastic past	Pluperfect indicative	«Vaig perdre el tren.» → Va explicar que havia perdut el tren.
Future	Conditional	«Us trucaré.» → Va prometre que ens trucaria.
Imperfect	Usually remains imperfect	«Treballava molt.» → Va dir que treballava molt.
Pluperfect	Usually remains pluperfect	«Ja havia sortit.» → Va dir que ja havia sortit.
Conditional	Usually remains conditional	«Hi aniria.» → Va dir que hi aniria.

The pluperfect (a form for an event already completed before another past point) is built with the imperfect of haver plus a past participle: havia arribat, havien vist. A participle is the form used with haver, such as arribat, vist, or fet.

The periphrastic past deserves special attention. Its direct form contains vaig/vas/va… plus an infinitive — vaig arribar. In reported speech after a past verb, the whole form normally becomes the pluperfect: va dir que havia arribat. Do not simply change vaig to anava.

Backshift is meaningful, not automatic

No backshift is needed when the reporting verb is present: La metgessa diu que el tractament funciona. After a past reporting verb, backshift places the information in that past viewpoint: La metgessa va dir que el tractament funcionava.

A present tense can sometimes remain present if the statement is still valid and the reporter deliberately presents it as a current fact:

• El professor va explicar que la Terra gira al voltant del Sol.
• La directora va dir que l’oficina tanca a les sis.

In other contexts, keeping the present may suggest that the reporter confirms the information as true now. Backshifting can instead present it more neutrally as what someone said. This distinction is flexible in real usage, so preserve the intended time rather than applying a tense chart blindly.

Pronouns and possessives change with the viewpoint

Reported speech is told from the reporter’s position, not necessarily from the original speaker’s. Personal pronouns, weak object pronouns (short forms such as em, et, li, and ens), and possessives may therefore change.

• Direct, said by Joan to Anna: «Et portaré el teu llibre.»
• Anna reporting it: En Joan em va dir que em portaria el meu llibre.

Here both instances of original et/teu become first-person forms because Anna is now the person telling the story. If someone else reports the same conversation, different forms are needed: En Joan li va dir que li portaria el seu llibre. Because seu can refer to more than one person, use a name or d’ell/d’ella when clarity matters.

Time and place references may also change

Words that point to the speaker’s immediate situation are called deictic expressions — in plain terms, words whose reference depends on who is speaking, where, and when. Change them only when the new reporting situation requires it.

Original viewpoint	Possible reported form
avui (today)	aquell dia (that day)
ahir (yesterday)	el dia abans / el dia anterior (the day before)
demà (tomorrow)	l’endemà / el dia següent (the next day)
ara (now)	aleshores / en aquell moment (then / at that moment)
aquí (here)	allà (there)
aquest/aquesta (this)	aquell/aquella (that)
la setmana que ve	la setmana següent

These are not compulsory substitutions. If you report the words on the same day, demà may still be tomorrow: Aquest matí va dir que vindria demà. If you tell the story later, l’endemà is clearer.

Indirect questions

A yes/no question uses si (“whether/if”), not que:

• Direct: «Vols venir?»
• Reported: Em va preguntar si volia anar-hi.

An information question keeps its question word: qui (who), què (what), quan (when), on (where), com (how), per què (why), or quin/quina (which).

• «On vius?» → Em va preguntar on vivia.
• «Què has fet?» → Em va preguntar què havia fet.

An indirect question is embedded inside a larger statement. It therefore has no question mark unless the whole sentence is itself a question: Saps on viu? But No sé on viu ends with a full stop.

Commands, requests, and advice

To report an instruction, Catalan commonly uses a suitable reporting verb plus que and the subjunctive. The subjunctive expresses the requested or intended action rather than presenting it as a fact.

Time of reporting	Direct command	Reported form
Present	«Vine d’hora.»	Em diu que vingui d’hora.
Past	«Vine d’hora.»	Em va dir que vingués d’hora.
Past, negative	«No hi vagis.»	Em va demanar que no hi anés.

The infinitive is also natural after verbs that allow it, especially when the person asked is expressed as an object: Ens van demanar d’esperar fora (“They asked us to wait outside”). The construction with que makes the subject of the requested action explicit: Ens van demanar que esperéssim fora.

Examples in Context

Catalan	English	Note
La Clara diu que no té gana.	Clara says that she is not hungry.	Present report; no backshift
La Clara va dir que no tenia gana.	Clara said that she was not hungry.	Present → imperfect
Va explicar que havia estat malalt.	He explained that he had been ill.	Earlier event in the pluperfect
L’Oriol va dir que havia perdut les claus.	Oriol said that he had lost the keys.	Periphrastic past → pluperfect
La directora va anunciar que obririen una oficina nova.	The director announced that they would open a new office.	Future → conditional
Va dir que vindria demà.	He said that he would come tomorrow.	Demà remains valid in the current time frame
Dilluns va dir que arribaria l’endemà.	On Monday she said that she would arrive the next day.	Shifted time reference
Em va preguntar si volia anar-hi.	She asked me if I wanted to go there.	Yes/no question with si
Ens van preguntar quan havíem arribat.	They asked us when we had arrived.	Question word + pluperfect
No recordo què em va dir.	I do not remember what he said to me.	Indirect question with accented què
El pare ens va dir que apaguéssim els llums.	Dad told us to turn off the lights.	Reported command
La metgessa li va recomanar que descansés.	The doctor advised him/her to rest.	Advice with imperfect subjunctive
Ens van demanar d’esperar a l’entrada.	They asked us to wait at the entrance.	Infinitive alternative
La professora va explicar que l’aigua bull a cent graus.	The teacher explained that water boils at one hundred degrees.	Present retained for a general fact
La Núria em va assegurar que ella no ho havia fet.	Núria assured me that she had not done it.	Stated pronoun adds contrast and clarity

Common Mistakes

Omitting que as in conversational English

• Wrong: Va dir arribaria tard.
• Right: Va dir que arribaria tard.
• Why: Catalan normally requires que before a reported statement. English often drops “that,” but Catalan does not follow that habit.

Keeping the future after a past reporting verb

• Wrong: Va prometre que tornarà aviat.
• Right: Va prometre que tornaria aviat.
• Why: When the promised return was future from a past viewpoint, Catalan normally uses the conditional. The future could be justified only if the return is being anchored directly to the present reporting situation.

Using que for a yes/no question

• Wrong: Em va preguntar que volia cafè.
• Right: Em va preguntar si volia cafè.
• Why: A question answerable with yes or no is introduced by si. Use que for statements and many reported commands.

Confusing que and què

• Wrong: No sabia que volies.
• Right: No sabia què volies.
• Why: In the correction, què means “what” and carries an accent. Unaccented que is the connector in Sabia que volies marxar (“I knew that you wanted to leave”).

Reporting a command with an indicative verb

• Wrong: Em va demanar que tancava la porta.
• Right: Em va demanar que tanqués la porta.
• Why: A request is not presented as a fact. After a past request, use the imperfect subjunctive: tanqués.

Changing time words mechanically

• Wrong: Assuming every demà must become l’endemà.
• Right: Aquest matí ha dit que vindrà demà or, in a later narrative, Va dir que vindria l’endemà.
• Why: The correct word depends on when the report is made. Ask what day demà refers to in the new sentence.

Usage Notes

In conversation, dir is the most versatile reporting verb, but its complements matter. You normally say something to someone with dir alguna cosa a algú: Li vaig dir que no podia venir. Explicar means “explain” or “tell” in the sense of giving information or recounting something: Ens va explicar què havia passat. For a question, use preguntar, not demanar: Em va preguntar on vivia. Demanar is used for requesting something or asking someone to do something.

The choice between backshift and a retained present can communicate the reporter’s stance. Va dir que estava malalt locates the illness in the past report and does not say whether it continues. Va dir que està malalt can suggest that he is still ill or that the reporter treats the information as currently valid. Context and regional or individual preference can affect this choice, so authentic speech is less rigid than a conversion exercise.

Catalan quotation marks may appear as «…», “…”, or "…" depending on editorial style. Once the words become indirect speech, quotation marks and the colon disappear. Reported speech is especially common in news, workplace summaries, narratives, and everyday retelling, where repeating exact words would be unnecessary or misleading.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Reported speech can preserve more than factual tense. If the original message contains doubt, desire, emotion, or another trigger for the subjunctive, the reported clause keeps the appropriate mood (the verb system that presents something as fact, possibility, wish, command, and so on), while its tense may shift to fit the past frame:

• Direct: «Dubto que sigui veritat.»
• Reported: Va dir que dubtava que fos veritat.

Here sigui becomes fos, the imperfect subjunctive. The first que introduces what was said; the second belongs to the expression dubtar que.

Modal verbs also shift according to meaning. «No puc venir» commonly becomes Va dir que no podia venir. «Ho he de fer avui» can become Va dir que ho havia de fer aquell dia. Rather than translating English “would,” “could,” or “should” in isolation, first reconstruct the direct Catalan message and then place it in the new time frame.

A reporting verb can reveal attitude rather than merely transmit information. Compare va dir (said), va afirmar (stated), va admetre (admitted), va negar (denied), va insinuar (hinted), and va assegurar (assured). With negar, standard Catalan often uses negar que plus the subjunctive: Va negar que hagués rebut els diners. This is the pluperfect subjunctive, marking an alleged earlier event under denial.

Free indirect style in literary writing blends a character’s viewpoint into third-person narration without a visible reporting clause. Tense and viewpoint resemble reported speech, but there may be no va pensar que or va dir que. It is useful to recognise this technique in novels, but ordinary learners should master explicit structures with que, si, and question words first.

Practice Tips

1. Transform complete messages, not isolated verbs. Write a direct sentence, choose a past reporting verb, and then check four things: connector, tense, person, and time/place words. For example, transform «Et trucaré aquí demà» from two different reporters’ viewpoints.
2. Build a three-column tense chart. Record the direct form, the usual reported form, and one personal example: visc → vivia, vaig arribar → havia arribat, vindré → vindria. Saying both versions aloud helps the sequence become automatic.
3. Retell short audio clips. After a Catalan interview or dialogue, summarize one statement, one question, and one request using Ha dit que…, Li han preguntat si…, and Li han demanat que…. Then replay the clip and check who each pronoun refers to.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Imperfect Indicative — needed for backshifting present situations into a past reporting frame.
• Also review: Past Tense Contrast — helps identify the original event’s time and choose the pluperfect when necessary.
• Next step: Imperfect Subjunctive — central to reported requests, commands, doubts, and wishes in a past frame.