REPORTED SPEECH in English - Indirect Speech | Reported Speech | Direct Speech (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

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- Hello, lovely students.

And welcome back to English With Lucy.

Today, we are going to talk about reported speech.

Reported speech can seem really complicated at first,

but my goal in this lesson is to make it really easy

and understandable for you

so that you can use it with confidence.

To assist you, I've also created a free PDF

that goes with this lesson.

It covers everything we're going to discuss today,

and it has a quiz.

So you can test your understanding

and put what you've learned into practise.

One of the most important parts.

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All right, let's get started with the lesson.

Firstly, let's take a look at direct speech.

The speech is, I like chocolate.

Then we have to follow a couple of simple rules.

Number one, we have to add a reporting verb.

Number two, and this one's really important.

We have to backshift our tenses by one.

And number three, we have to change the pronouns.

This sounds very complicated.

Let's put it into practise.

It's easier to see it.

If we want to change that into reported speech,

she said that she liked chocolate.

We've added the reporting verb, she said,

we've back shifted our tense, like, liked

and we've changed the pronouns, I has gone to she.

The most common reporting verbs are to say and to tell,

which are conjugated to said and told.

Remember to always include your reporting verbs

when using reported speech.

A couple more examples.

She said that she loved the movie.

That here is optional.

She said she loved the movie.

She said that she loved the movie.

You can use whichever you'd like.

They said they ate breakfast.

They said that they ate breakfast.

We can also use the structure to say to someone,

Robert said to his teacher that he finished the assignment.

Robert said to his teacher

that he had finished the assignment

or Alison said to her mother

that she was feeling ill.

When we use tell, we must always remember to add in

the person we're reporting to.

We use the structure tell plus who we're reporting to.

She told me that she loved the movie.

They told us that they had eaten breakfast.

So let's talk about that backshift in tenses.

When we use reported speech,

we're changing the perspective.

English has 12 basic tenses that can be broken down

into three groups, the past, the present and the future.

It might sound like a lot of changes,

but I've created a list for you.

You can download the PDF and keep that list with you.

I've also got it on screen now.

Focus now on the past perfect

and the past perfect continuous.

You will see that there are no changes.

This is because we can't really go

any further back in the past.

I had been doing my homework.

Lucy said that she had been doing her homework,

no change to the tense.

The future tenses are also really easy.

They all use will, and they simply changes to would.

I will be going to university next year.

Lucy said that she would be going to university next year.

I think those six tenses are a gift from the grammar gods.

(laughs)

You just have to focus on the first six.

I'm going to give you some examples in direct speech

and I want you to change them into reported speech.

I'm going to give you a few seconds,

but feel free to pause the video.

And let's look at the present simple to past simple.

For all of these, I'm going to say I,

and you have to change it to Lucy said that she.

So the first one, I want to buy a car.

You need to start it with Lucy said that she.

I'll give you a few seconds.

Lucy said that she wanted to buy a car,

present simple to past simple.

Let's try it present continuous to past continuous.

I am doing my homework.

I'll give you a couple of seconds.

Lucy said that she was doing her homework.

What about present perfect to past perfect?

I have finished my homework.

Lucy said that she had finished her homework,

past simple to past perfect.

I washed the dishes.

Lucy said that she had washed the dished.

Those are the hard ones.

Let's try a couple with will and would.

I will call you later.

Lucy said that she would call you later.

Now as always with English, there are some exceptions.

With reported speech, we usually don't change the tense

if the information is current and ongoing, like a habit.

I love my parents.

Lucy said that she loves her parents.

I still love my parents is ongoing.

So we might keep it in the present tense.

Right, that is it for your introduction to reported speech.

Now it's time to review everything you've learned

and put it into practise.

I have got some exercises for you on the PDF.

Just click on the link in the description box

and sign up to my mailing list.

If you're interested in taking my pronunciation course,

you can click on the link in the description box.

I teach British English pronunciation,

the modern RP accent, that is my accent.

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And all of the vlogs are fully subtitled

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and you can use them to acquire

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I've also got my website Englishwithlucy.co.uk,

or I've got a fab pronunciation tool

and lots of my previous lessons.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

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