Reported Speech - Statements in English

Overview

Reported speech (also called indirect speech) is how you tell someone what another person said, without quoting their exact words. Instead of: He said, "I am tired" (direct speech), you say: He said he was tired (reported speech). The key change is tense backshift -- moving the tense one step back into the past.

At the CEFR B1 level, reported speech is essential for retelling conversations, summarizing what you read or heard, and writing about other people's views. It is used constantly in everyday English, in the news, at work, and in academic writing. Without it, you would have to quote everyone's exact words, which is unnatural in most situations.

Reported speech involves several simultaneous changes: the tense shifts back, pronouns change to match the new speaker's perspective, and time/place expressions are adjusted. While this sounds complex, the patterns are very regular and become automatic with practice.

How It Works

Tense Backshift

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
"I am tired."	He said he was tired.
"I like coffee."	She said she liked coffee.
"I am working."	He said he was working.
"I have finished."	She said she had finished.
"I went home."	He said he had gone home.
"I was sleeping."	She said she had been sleeping.
"I will come."	He said he would come.
"I can help."	She said she could help.
"I may leave."	He said he might leave.

Say vs. Tell

Verb	Structure	Example
say	say (that) + clause	He said (that) he was tired.
tell	tell + person + (that) + clause	He told me (that) he was tired.

Tell always needs a person (told me, told her, told the teacher). Say does not take a person directly.

Pronoun Changes

Direct	Reported (speaker is "I")
"I"	he / she
"my"	his / her
"we"	they
"you"	I / me (depends on context)

Time and Place Changes

Direct	Reported
today	that day
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
yesterday	the day before / the previous day
now	then / at that time
here	there
this	that
ago	before / earlier

Examples in Context

English	Note
He said he was tired.	Present -> past
She told me she would come.	Will -> would
They said they had seen the movie.	Past -> past perfect
He said he couldn't help.	Can -> could
She told us she was leaving the next day.	Tomorrow -> the next day
They said they had been waiting for an hour.	Past continuous -> past perfect continuous
He said he might be late.	May -> might
She told me she had already finished.	Present perfect -> past perfect
He said he would call me later.	Pronoun and tense change
They told us they didn't know the answer.	Negative statement

Common Mistakes

Forgetting tense backshift

• Wrong: She said she is tired.
• Right: She said she was tired.
• Why: When the reporting verb (said) is in the past, the tense inside the reported speech must shift back one step. Present becomes past.

Using "say" with a person

• Wrong: He said me he was coming.
• Right: He told me he was coming. / He said he was coming.
• Why: Say does not take a direct person object. Use tell + person or say without a person.

Keeping direct speech word order

• Wrong: She said that "I am going home."
• Right: She said that she was going home.
• Why: Reported speech does not use quotation marks or first-person pronouns from the original speaker. Change pronouns and tenses to match the reporting perspective.

Double backshift

• Wrong: He said he had had had a problem.
• Right: He said he had had a problem.
• Why: Past simple ("I had a problem") shifts back to past perfect ("he had had a problem"). There is only one step of backshift, resulting in "had had" -- which is correct, even though it looks odd.

Usage Notes

The word that after said or told is optional in English: "She said that she was tired" and "She said she was tired" are both correct. In spoken English, that is usually omitted.

When backshift is optional: If the reported information is still true or relevant at the time of reporting, backshift is sometimes skipped: "She said she lives in London" (she still lives there). However, applying backshift is always safe and correct: "She said she lived in London."

In informal spoken English, people sometimes skip backshift entirely, especially when reporting recent speech: "He just said he is coming." This is common but not recommended in formal writing.

Both British and American English follow the same rules for reported speech. British English tends to apply backshift more consistently.

Practice Tips

• Transform dialogues: Take a short dialogue from a textbook or show and rewrite it entirely in reported speech. This gives you practice with multiple tense shifts, pronoun changes, and reporting verbs in one exercise.
• Daily reporting: At the end of each day, report three things someone said to you: "My colleague told me she was going to the conference. My friend said he had finished his project."
• Focus on say vs. tell: Write the same reported sentence both ways: "She said she was happy" / "She told me she was happy." This builds the correct patterns for both verbs.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Past Perfect -- the past perfect is essential for tense backshift (past -> past perfect) in reported speech
• Next steps: Reported Speech - Questions -- extends reported speech to cover how to report questions