Reported Speech in Urdu

In Brief

Urdu commonly introduces reported words with کہ (ke, “that”) after a verb such as کہنا “to say,” بتانا “to tell/inform,” or پوچھنا “to ask.” Pronouns and time words change when the new speaker’s viewpoint requires it, but Urdu does not apply English-style past-tense backshift mechanically. Questions often use کہ کیا for “whether/if,” while direct quotation remains very common.

Overview

Reported speech tells someone what another person said without necessarily repeating the exact words. Compare direct علی نے کہا: ”میں تھکا ہوا ہوں۔“ “Ali said, ‘I am tired’” with indirect علی نے کہا کہ وہ تھکا ہوا ہے۔ “Ali said that he is tired.” The second sentence embeds Ali’s message in a larger sentence; this embedded part is called a subordinate clause (a clause that depends on another clause).

At B2, the challenge is not simply adding کہ. You must choose an appropriate reporting verb, keep track of who words such as میں “I” and ہم “we” now refer to, and decide whether the original tense and time expressions still fit. English learners should be especially careful here: English often changes “is” to “was” or “will” to “would” after “said,” whereas Urdu can retain the original tense when the information is still valid or when the reporter presents it from the original speaker’s viewpoint.

Reported speech occurs constantly in conversation, news, biographies, workplace messages, and storytelling. Urdu also moves easily between indirect speech and vivid direct quotation, so both patterns are worth recognizing.

How It Works

The basic statement pattern

The most common structure is:

speaker + reporting verb + کہ + reported clause

زینب نے کہا کہ وہ مصروف ہے۔
“Zainab said that she is busy.”

Here زینب نے کہا is the reporting clause, and وہ مصروف ہے is the reported clause. Because کہنا is a transitive verb in the perfective past, the speaker is normally marked by نے: زینب نے کہا, انہوں نے بتایا, استاد نے پوچھا. This follows the Urdu simple-past pattern you may already know.

Urdu normally places کہ immediately before the reported message. In casual speech it can sometimes be omitted when the relationship is obvious, but keeping it is the safest neutral choice for learners.

Choosing the reporting verb

Urdu verb	Core meaning	Typical construction
کہنا (kahnā)	say; tell someone to do something	اس نے کہا کہ…; اس نے مجھ سے کہا کہ…
بتانا (batānā)	tell, inform, explain	اس نے مجھے بتایا کہ…
پوچھنا (pūchnā)	ask a question	اس نے مجھ سے پوچھا کہ…
بولنا (bolnā)	speak, utter; often introduces direct words	وہ بولا: “…“
جواب دینا (javāb denā)	answer, reply	اس نے جواب دیا کہ…

The participant patterns matter. A person addressed with کہنا or پوچھنا is commonly marked by سے: مجھ سے کہا “said to me,” علی سے پوچھا “asked Ali.” With بتانا, the person informed is commonly marked by کو, which appears as مجھے، اسے، ہمیں and so on: مجھے بتایا “told me.”

Do not map English “tell” to one Urdu verb in every context. بتانا presents information; کسی سے کہنا can relay words or ask that person to act.

Pronouns and point of view

A pronoun changes only when its reference changes under the reporter’s viewpoint.

Direct words	Indirect report	What changed
مریم: ”میں تیار ہوں۔“	مریم نے کہا کہ وہ تیار ہے۔	میں becomes وہ; ہوں becomes ہے to agree with it.
لڑکے: ”ہم جیتیں گے۔“	لڑکوں نے کہا کہ وہ جیتیں گے۔	ہم becomes وہ; the plural verb remains plural.
علی نے مجھ سے کہا: ”تم دیر سے آئے ہو۔“	علی نے مجھ سے کہا کہ میں دیر سے آیا ہوں۔	Original تم refers to the reporter, so it becomes میں.

This is not word substitution by a fixed chart. First identify the original speaker, the original listener, and the current reporter. Then choose pronouns and matching verb forms. Gender and number must still agree: a female reporter says میں دیر سے آئی ہوں, not آیا ہوں.

Tense: meaning before mechanical backshift

Urdu tense may shift, but it need not do so merely because the reporting verb is past.

• سارہ نے کہا کہ وہ بیمار ہے۔ — “Sarah said that she is ill.” The report treats the illness as current or still relevant.
• سارہ نے کہا کہ وہ بیمار تھی۔ — “Sarah said that she was ill.” The illness belongs to a past period or is viewed as finished.
• اس نے کہا کہ وہ کل آئے گا۔ — “He said that he would come tomorrow.” Urdu keeps the future آئے گا; English naturally uses “would” in many contexts.

Choose tense according to the time being described and the reporter’s perspective. If the original statement remains true, present tense is natural: استاد نے بتایا کہ زمین سورج کے گرد گھومتی ہے۔ “The teacher explained that the Earth goes around the Sun.” If you narrate a completed past situation, a past form is natural.

Time and place words

Words whose meaning depends on the speaking situation are called deictic expressions—plainly, words such as “today,” “here,” and “tomorrow” whose reference changes with time or place. Adjust them only when needed.

Original expression	Possible adjusted form	Use
آج “today”	اس دن “that day”	reporting on a later day
کل “yesterday/tomorrow”	پچھلے دن / اگلے دن “the previous/next day”	when کل would be ambiguous or no longer accurate
یہاں “here”	وہاں “there”	reporting from another place
اب “now”	تب / اس وقت “then/at that time”	reporting from a later time

If you report the words on the same day or in the same place, no adjustment may be necessary. Note that کل can mean either “yesterday” or “tomorrow”; the verb and context usually disambiguate it.

Reporting yes/no questions

For a question answerable by yes or no, a common pattern is:

پوچھنا + کہ + کیا + statement-like clause

استاد نے پوچھا کہ کیا ہم تیار ہیں۔
“The teacher asked whether we were/are ready.”

Here کیا functions like “whether/if”; it is not asking “what.” The embedded question often has ordinary clause order and ends as part of the whole reported sentence rather than behaving like an independent direct question.

Reporting information questions

If the original question contains a question word, keep that question word:

• اس نے پوچھا کہ میرا نام کیا ہے۔ — “She asked what my name was/is.”
• انہوں نے پوچھا کہ ہم کہاں رہتے ہیں۔ — “They asked where we live.”
• علی نے پوچھا کہ گاڑی کب آئے گی۔ — “Ali asked when the car would arrive.”

Do not add a second question marker before a question word. کہ کیا گاڑی کب آئے گی incorrectly combines “whether” and “when” unless کیا genuinely means “what” in a different structure.

Reporting requests, instructions, and commands

Urdu often reports a desired action with کہ followed by an imperative or a subjunctive form (a verb form used here for a requested or intended action):

• امی نے کہا کہ دروازہ بند کرو۔ — “Mother said to close the door.”
• ڈاکٹر نے کہا کہ میں آرام کروں۔ — “The doctor said that I should rest.”
• اس نے مجھ سے کہا کہ میں انتظار کروں۔ — “He asked/told me to wait.”

The imperative may preserve the direct force of the instruction. The subjunctive integrates it more clearly into indirect speech and identifies who should act. Politeness remains important: کریں can report a respectful instruction, while کرو addresses someone familiar or plural informal listeners.

Examples in Context

Urdu	English	Note
اس نے کہا کہ وہ کل آئے گا۔	He said that he would come tomorrow.	Future retained in Urdu.
ماں نے بتایا کہ کھانا تیار ہے۔	Mother said that the food is ready.	بتایا presents information.
عائشہ نے کہا کہ وہ تھک گئی تھی۔	Aisha said that she had become tired.	Past situation; feminine agreement.
استاد نے بتایا کہ پانی سو درجے پر ابلتا ہے۔	The teacher explained that water boils at one hundred degrees.	General truth stays present.
فاطمہ نے مجھے بتایا کہ وہ نئی نوکری کر رہی ہے۔	Fatima told me that she is working at a new job.	Recipient with مجھے.
استاد نے پوچھا کہ کیا ہم تیار ہیں۔	The teacher asked whether we were ready.	Yes/no question with کیا.
اس نے مجھ سے پوچھا کہ میں کہاں رہتا ہوں۔	She asked me where I live.	Male speaker; رہتا ہوں agrees with میں.
ندا نے پوچھا کہ میٹنگ کب شروع ہوگی۔	Nida asked when the meeting would begin.	Question word retained.
ابو نے کہا کہ جلدی گھر آؤ۔	Father said to come home early.	Reported instruction with an imperative.
ڈاکٹر نے کہا کہ میں زیادہ پانی پیوں۔	The doctor said that I should drink more water.	Subjunctive پیوں reports advice.
اس نے کہا کہ وہ اس دن وہاں موجود نہیں تھا۔	He said that he had not been there that day.	Time and place adjusted.
وہ بولا: ”میں نہیں جاؤں گا۔“	He said, “I will not go.”	Direct quotation keeps the original viewpoint.

Common Mistakes

Applying English backshift automatically

• Misleading: اس نے کہا کہ وہ بیمار تھا۔ when the person is still ill
• Better: اس نے کہا کہ وہ بیمار ہے۔
• Why: A past reporting verb does not automatically force the embedded verb into the past. Use تھا only if a past viewpoint is intended.

Keeping the original pronoun without checking its reference

• Wrong: مریم نے کہا کہ میں تیار ہوں۔ when the current speaker is not Maryam
• Right: مریم نے کہا کہ وہ تیار ہے۔
• Why: In indirect speech, میں refers to whoever is speaking now. Maryam is normally وہ from the reporter’s viewpoint.

Using the wrong marker for the person addressed

• Wrong: میں نے علی کو پوچھا کہ وہ کہاں ہے۔
• Right: میں نے علی سے پوچھا کہ وہ کہاں ہے۔
• Why: The person questioned is normally marked with سے after پوچھنا. By contrast, میں نے علی کو بتایا means “I told Ali.”

Treating every کیا as “what”

• Wrong interpretation: اس نے پوچھا کہ کیا تم مصروف ہو۔ = “She asked what you are busy.”
• Right: “She asked whether you were busy.”
• Why: Before a complete yes/no clause, کیا introduces the question as “whether/if.”

Combining two question patterns

• Wrong: اس نے پوچھا کہ کیا تم کہاں جا رہے ہو۔
• Right: اس نے پوچھا کہ تم کہاں جا رہے ہو۔
• Why: کہاں already supplies the missing information. Do not add yes/no کیا.

Forgetting agreement after a pronoun shift

• Wrong: عائشہ نے کہا کہ وہ تھکا ہوا ہے۔
• Right: عائشہ نے کہا کہ وہ تھکی ہوئی ہے۔
• Why: When وہ refers to Aisha, gender-sensitive words must use feminine forms.

Usage Notes

کہنا is broad and frequent, but English “say” and “tell” do not line up neatly with Urdu. اس نے کہا کہ… reports content without naming a listener. اس نے مجھ سے کہا کہ… adds the person spoken to and can introduce a request. اس نے مجھے بتایا کہ… emphasizes giving information.

Direct quotation is natural in both speech and narrative. In conversation, a speaker may use اس نے کہا… and then reproduce the original words with the original میں, tense, and tone. Writing marks quotations in several ways depending on house style, including quotation marks, a colon, or dashes. The grammatical distinction matters more than the particular quotation-mark design.

Pronouns can be omitted in Urdu when the verb and context make the reference clear. In reported speech, however, stating وہ, میں, or ہم can prevent ambiguity. Because وہ means both “he/she” and “they,” agreement and context carry information that English pronouns often state explicitly.

In formal reports and news writing, verbs such as بتانا, کہنا, واضح کرنا “clarify,” and اعلان کرنا “announce” help show the source and type of information. A careful report does not imply certainty merely because a claim follows کہ; it attributes that claim to the named source.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Perspective can remain deliberately close to the original speaker

Urdu indirect speech may preserve the original speaker’s tense or time word when the narrator adopts that speaker’s temporal viewpoint. Thus اس نے کہا کہ وہ کل آئے گا can be translated with English “would come the next day,” even though Urdu itself retains future آئے گا and may retain کل. Context determines whether کل is still “tomorrow” for the current speaker or belongs to the earlier viewpoint.

This flexibility is useful but can create ambiguity. In careful writing, replace کل with اگلے دن or give an actual date when the timeline matters.

کہ can introduce thoughts and knowledge, not only spoken words

The same clause-linking pattern follows verbs and expressions of knowing, thinking, hearing, or realizing:

• مجھے معلوم تھا کہ وہ گھر پر نہیں ہے۔ — “I knew that he was not at home.”
• میں نے سنا کہ دکان بند ہو گئی ہے۔ — “I heard that the shop has closed.”
• اسے احساس ہوا کہ اس سے غلطی ہوئی ہے۔ — “She realized that she had made a mistake.”

These are not all “reported speech” in the narrow sense, but mastering them shows that کہ introduces a piece of content: what was said, known, heard, or realized.

Reports can be intentionally ambiguous

When several people are involved, repeated وہ may leave the reader unsure who did what: علی نے حسن سے کہا کہ وہ آئے گا can mean, depending on context, that Ali or Hasan will come. Natural Urdu may tolerate this if the situation is clear. Otherwise repeat the name or restructure: علی نے حسن سے کہا، ”میں آؤں گا“ clearly makes Ali the person coming.

Reported instructions vary in force

Compare اس نے کہا کہ بیٹھو “he said, ‘sit down’/told [someone] to sit” with اس نے کہا کہ میں بیٹھوں “he said that I should sit.” The first preserves the address to the listener; the second identifies the intended actor through first-person بیٹھوں. Choice of imperative, respectful imperative, or subjunctive conveys both viewpoint and social relationship.

Practice Tips

1. Change viewpoint, not just words. Write a two-line dialogue, then report it as a third person. Circle every pronoun, possessive expression, verb ending, and time word that might need adjustment.
2. Sort questions into two groups. Turn five yes/no questions into پوچھا کہ کیا… reports, then turn five کب، کہاں، کیوں، کیسے، کون questions into reports without the extra کیا.
3. Compare live and later reports. Report the same message immediately and one week later. Decide whether آج، کل، یہاں، اب and the tense can remain or should become اس دن، اگلے دن، وہاں، اس وقت.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Simple Past Tense — needed for forms such as اس نے کہا, انہوں نے پوچھا, and اس نے بتایا.