Learn English Grammar: INDIRECT SPEECH (REPORTED SPEECH)

Hello. My name is Emma, and today I am going to teach you about reported speech. I have

my sister here who is going to help me teach this lesson today. So, what is reported speech?

Well, I'm going to use my sister to show you. So, I have here a speech bubble. Tell me...

Or tell them, what is your name?

My name is Audra.

Okay. So, this is what Audra said. I have it in quotations. These are her exact words.

We call this direct speech. It's exactly what Audra said. Now, imagine I want to tell someone

else what Audra said. What do I have to do? Well, I actually will have to change her sentence.

So, Audra said, "My name is Audra", which is direct speech. I need to change this to

reported speech. We can also call this indirect speech. And this is what I've done down here.

She told me her name was Audra. So, if I'm telling somebody Audra's words, this is what

I would say. "Oh, Audra told me her name was Audra." And again, this is what we would call

indirect or reported speech.

So, now let's look at more examples of this. Okay. So, I'm going to teach you more about

direct speech and indirect or reported speech. "Audra, you are going to say things. You are

going to say things, and this is going to be direct speech." This means these are Audra's

actual words. I'm going to take Audra's words, and I'm going to pretend I tell them to someone

else. So, I'm going to change her words to reported speech, or we can also call this

indirect speech. Reported and indirect speech have the same meaning.

Okay. So, Audra, let's get started. "How are you?" "I'm happy." Okay. So, "She said she

was happy." So, this is what I would tell someone if they wanted to know what Audra

said. "Oh, Audra told me she was happy." Now, I want to bring attention, and we will talk

about this in a moment, to the fact that I changed the verb Audra used. "Audra, what

did you say again?" "I said I'm happy." So, Audra said, "I am happy" or "I'm happy." So,

that's in the present tense. You'll notice when I changed Audra's words to reported speech,

I had to use the past tense. So, the present tense became the past tense. "She said she

was happy." Although, just to interrupt for a moment here, if you asked me how I was,

I probably wouldn't respond with "I'm happy." That would be a bit odd. I would more likely

say, "I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" or something more along that casual line. So,

Audra just said a lot of words, and I'm too lazy to write down everything she said, so

I'm just going to change "happy" to "fine". It's less work this way. So, let's pretend

Audra just said, "I'm fine." So, I changed that to, "She said she was fine." I can also

change the verb here to "told me". "Audra told me she was fine." So, "said" or "told

me" can both work in this situation. Okay. So, Audra, next question. "Who is the world's

best sister?" "Emma is the best sister." Oh, thank you, Audra. Okay, so there you hear...

There you heard it. You heard it from Audra. "Audra said I was the best sister." And so,

imagine I tell people this, "Oh, guess what my sister, Audra, said? She said I was the

best." So, this is how I would change it. "Audra said I was the best sister." And again,

you'll notice I had to change the verb. So, "Audra said"... Audra, say what you said again.

I like to hear it. Let me read what you wrote. "Emma is the best sister." So, Audra said Emma

is the best sister. I changed the "is" in her direct speech, I changed it to "was" in

the reported speech. And again, we'll talk a little bit more about this after we go through

some examples.

All right, Audra, ask me a question.

"How are you?"

So, now I want to report the question Audra asked me, so I can say, "Audra asked me how

I was." Her actual question was, "How are you?", which is in the present. I had to change the

verb to the past. She asked me how I was.

All right, let's look at another example. Tell me, Audra, what's the weather like tomorrow?

It will snow.

Okay, so, "Audra said it will snow." Those are her exact words, so direct speech. When

I change it, I put, "Audra told me that it would snow." So, you'll notice I changed the

verb from "will" to "would", and I'll explain that in a moment.

Let's look at one more example, and the main point I want you to realize here is that the

verbs change from Audra's speech to reported speech. Okay, Audra, have you ever been to

England?

I have been to England.

Okay, so, Audra said, "I have been to England." She's using the present perfect tense. So,

when I report what Audra said, I have to change the tense. Audra said she had... So, not "have",

"had been to England." So, if I'm telling somebody else, I would change the verb here.

So, let's find out how we change the verbs and why we change the verbs.

Okay, so I just wanted to show you how different grammar tenses change from direct speech,

which is the speech that somebody actually says, to indirect or reported speech, which

is the speech we use when we're telling somebody else someone's words. So, Audra is going to

say the direct speech, and then I'm going to change it into indirect speech, and we're

going to pay close attention to the grammar and the verb changes.

So, Audra, first we're going to look at the simple present. Can you say this sentence?

I am. So, "I am" is the simple present tense. If I want to tell somebody what Audra just

said, I change the simple present tense to the simple past. So, I can say, "Audra said

she was."

Now, let's look at another example. The present progressive or the present continuous is when

we have our auxiliary here, like "am", "are", "is", and we have our verb with "ing".

Audra, can you say the present progressive sentence here?

Sure. I am going.

Okay. Audra said she was going. So, you'll notice that this "am", when we're reporting

what Audra said, it becomes the past progressive tense, so we use "she was going". Let's look

at another tense and see how it changes in reported speech. Oh, the present perfect,

the tense that many students have trouble with. So, let's see what happens to the present

perfect when we change it from direct to indirect. Audra, tell us this present perfect sentence.

I have been.

Okay? So, "I have been" is an example of the present perfect. What does it become? It becomes

the past perfect. We can say, "She had been." So, you might be noticing a pattern by now.

Hmm. Whenever there's the present here, we go back one past. So, this is usually in the

present, and this is the past. And the reason this is happening is because Audra, when she

talks, she's saying something in the present tense. When I report what Audra said, I'm

actually reporting on something that already happened. So, this might be a little bit confusing.

That's okay. The main thing to remember is the present becomes the past in reported speech.

So, let's look at the simple past. Uh-oh. So, what happens when we have Audra say something

in the past tense? What does that become? Let's find out. Can you say this?

Sure. I went.

Okay, so now if I want to change Audra's past tense sentence to reported speech, it becomes

the past perfect as well. "She had gone", because this is more in the past. All right,

so she said she had gone. What about if we're talking about the future, and Audra says something

using "will"? Audra, can you say this?

Sure. I will do it.

Thank you, Audra. What happens to "will"? What does "will" become? Well, "will" becomes

"would". That's right. "Would" is more of the past, so "will" turns to "would", and it becomes

Audra said she would do it. So, this might be confusing to you. It might look a bit difficult,

but the more you practice, the easier this gets. My advice to you is first learn the

verb tenses you already know. So, if you don't know the present perfect, just ignore it.

Focus on simple present, or present progressive, or simple past, and learn how to change those

sentences into reported speech first.

We're now going to look at a couple more examples of reported speech and how we make these sentences.

Okay, so let's now practice what we learned. Audra is going to say some things, and you

are going to change the verb to make it reported speech or also called indirect speech. So,

Audra, you can say your first sentence. "This is actually true. I have tattoos." Okay? So,

Audra said... What did Audra say? Let's change this. "She... She said she _____ tattoos."

So the verb Audra used... Audra, can you say it again? "Sure thing. I have tattoos." Okay,

so you'll notice the verb she used was "have", which is in the simple present tense, so what

does that become? Well, if you said "had", you are correct. The simple present turns

to the simple past in reported speech. All right, let's go for our next sentence. "I

like books." Okay? So, what did Audra say? Imagine we want to tell somebody what Audra

said. We could say, "She said she _____ books." Audra, say it one more time. "I like books."

Okay, so the verb Audra used was "like", that's in the present tense, so we need to change

the verb to the past tense. So we can change this to "She said she liked books", and notice

"ed" because it's the past tense. Okay. Audra, third sentence. Tell us something else. "All

right. According to this paper, I'm filming." Okay, so what is Audra doing right now? She

just said it. Audra, say it again. "I'm filming." Okay. So, "She said she _____ filming." So

this is an example of a present continuous sentence Audra said. Audra said, "I am filming"

or "I'm filming", so present continuous becomes past continuous, or we can call this present

progressive. They're the same thing; we have two different grammar words for them. Present

progressive becomes past progressive. So, "She was filming." Okay. Number four. This

one is also true. "I moved to the US." Okay, and can you say that again one more time and

really pronounce "move" with the "ed"? Wink, wink. "I moved" wink, wink, "to the US." Okay,

so Audra said "moved", so that means it's a past tense word. So, what happens? What

does the past tense become when we change it to reported speech? "She said she had moved."

Sorry, can't fit it on. So, it actually becomes the past perfect. "She had moved." Audra said

she had moved to the US.

All right, number five, Audra. What will you do tomorrow? "I will go to the mall." Okay,

so Audra said she will go to the mall. So, what does "will" become when we're reporting

her speech to someone else? I'll give you a hint, it starts with a "w" as well. "She

said she would go to the mall." So, Audra said... Oh, go ahead.

I was going to say, "This one is not true. I would not go to the mall so close to Canadian

Boxing Day."

Okay. Well, so now let's go for question number six.

Okay.

Audra, what did you study?

I have studied English literature.

Okay, so say that one more time. "I have studied English literature." So, Audra just used the

present perfect tense. She said, "I have studied English literature." Is that true, Audra?

That is actually true. I spent four years studying English literature and reading books.

Okay, so now imagine we want to tell somebody what Audra just said. We can say, "She said

she", so we turn the present perfect tense into the past perfect tense. "She had studied

English literature."

All right, so let's look at one more thing. All right, Audra, tell us the last sentence.

"Thanks for watching." "Thanks for watching," said Audra, so we can say, "She said thanks."

I'm going to just cut it out a little bit. So, Audra said thanks, and I want to say the

same thing. Thank you so much for watching. I know we covered a lot, and I know reported

speech and direct speech can be a little confusing, so I recommend you come and try our quiz at

www.engvid.com to practice what you learned today. Remember, practice makes perfect. And

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and thank you for helping us today. And until next time, take care.