Reported Speech: Clear Statements, Questions and Requests
Report statements, questions and requests clearly, with guidance on tense changes, say and tell, pronouns and time references.
Reported speech tells someone the content of another person's words. Direct: Maya said, “I'm preparing the display.” Indirect: Maya said she was preparing the display. Check who is speaking, when you report the message and whether the situation is still true.
You visit a workshop, hear a message from one colleague and pass it to another later. Repeating the message is not just swapping verb forms. You need to make the people, place and time clear from your new listener's point of view.
Indirect reports normally leave out quotation marks because they do not claim to reproduce the exact words. You can summarise a message rather than preserve every detail, but keep its meaning accurate. Our examples use invented conversations so you can practise without changing a real person's statement.
Direct vs indirect speech
Direct: Lena said, “The workshop is busy.”
Indirect: Lena said that the workshop was busy.
The direct version quotes Lena's words. The indirect version reports their content. That is often optional after say or tell: “Lena said the workshop was busy” also works.
Use a reporting verb that matches what happened. Someone can say a statement, ask a question or request an action. Do not turn a tentative suggestion into an instruction just to fit a grammar exercise.
Say vs tell: does the sentence need a listener?
Say + message
Omar said he needed a brush. If you name the listener, use to: Omar said to me that he needed a brush.
Tell + person + message
Omar told me he needed a brush. In this pattern, do not leave out me: “Omar told he needed...” is incomplete.
A useful editing check is to underline the reporting verb, then circle the person who heard the message if your pattern requires one. Tell has other patterns, such as “tell a story”; the listener rule here concerns reporting a statement to someone.
Tense changes: common backshift patterns
After a past reporting verb such as said, the reported verb often shifts back. These are common patterns to practise, not changes that every real-life report must make:
Present simple to past simple
“I need a larger shelf.” → She said she needed a larger shelf.
Present continuous to past continuous
“I'm glazing a bowl.” → She said she was glazing a bowl.
Present perfect to past perfect
“I've finished the labels.” → He said he had finished the labels.
Past simple to past perfect
“I packed the vase.” → He said he had packed the vase. Past simple can also remain unchanged when the time is clear.
Will to would
“I'll bring a box.” → She said she would bring a box.
Can to could
“I can help.” → He said he could help. Would, could and should commonly stay unchanged.
A past perfect form usually stays past perfect. When you see had finished in the original, you do not need to invent another step backwards.
Do you always have to backshift?
No. If a situation is still true or relevant, a present form can remain: “Nia said she lives near the studio.” A present reporting verb also commonly keeps the original time reference: “Nia says she lives near the studio.”
Backshift does not automatically mean the statement is false now. “Nia said she lived near the studio” can simply present what she said at the earlier time. In a controlled exercise, follow the stated context and instructions; in a real report, make the timeline clear.
Pronouns and time words depend on context
On Monday, Maya tells you, “I'll bring my tools tomorrow.” Reporting it on Tuesday, you might say: “Maya said she would bring her tools today.” Reporting it later in the week, use “the next day” or simply name Tuesday.
If you pass the message on Monday, tomorrow can still mean the right day. The point is not to replace it mechanically, but to keep the date accurate. The same applies to here/there and this/that.
Ask who each pronoun refers to. If Omar tells you, “I can help you,” a report to someone else can be “Omar told me he could help me.” The original you referred to you, the reporter; it does not automatically become the new listener.
Reported questions use statement word order
Yes/no: “Are the bowls ready?” → She asked whether the bowls were ready.
Question word: “Where do you keep the clay?” → He asked where I kept the clay.
Use if or whether for a yes/no question. Keep the question word for a where, what, when, why or how question. Inside the reported clause, put the subject before the verb: “where I kept,” not “where did I keep.”
In “She asked whether the bowls were ready,” the whole sentence is a statement, so it normally ends with a full stop. If the whole sentence is a question, its punctuation can differ: “Did she ask whether they were ready?”
Requests and instructions: ask/tell someone to
“Please move the tray” can become “She asked me to move the tray.” “Don't touch the wet glaze” can become “He told us not to touch the wet glaze.” Put not before the infinitive for the negative instruction.
“Could you carry this box?” often functions as a request, so “She asked me to carry the box” reports its purpose more clearly than a word-for-word conversion. Keep a genuine ability question distinct when ability is what the speaker wanted to know.
A practical checking routine
Write a two-line conversation, then report it to a different person one day later. Check the speaker and listener, verb time, pronouns, date words and message type. Read your version aloud: would the new listener know what happened and what to do?
Make a reported message useful to the new listener
Name the listener with tell
Omar told me he needed a box includes the listener after told. Omar said he needed a box uses said without that listener object.
Use statement order inside a reported question
She asked me if I had cleaned the table and He asked me where I stored the tools use statement word order. The tutor told us not to open the kiln reports an instruction with not before to.
Keep dates meaningful
Reporting on Tuesday that Maya said she would arrive today makes today refer to Tuesday. A named date can be clearer when a message is passed on more than once.
Practise accurate summaries in project updates, and compare questions with polite requests. For time references, review storytelling with past tenses.
Report the meaning and the context
Optional backshift
A still-true or relevant situation can keep a present form, and clear past references can sometimes stay past simple. Controlled exercises may ask you to demonstrate a particular backshift pattern.
Auxiliaries in reported clauses
Ordinary reported questions use statement word order, so question auxiliaries disappear: “She asked where I worked.” An auxiliary that belongs to the statement, such as had in “what I had done,” can remain.
Context-dependent time words
Change them when the reporter's time or place makes their original reference unclear. A specific date or place can be clearer than a general replacement.
Further reading
British Council: reported statements; British Council: reported questions and requests; Cambridge: reporting what someone told you. References checked on 7 October 2026. The explanations, situations and examples and guidance on this page are original.
Put the grammar into your own sentences
Explore Grammar Practice, then save useful examples in your Word Vault for review.
