Reported speech

TENSES

	Direct speech	Reported speech
Present simple	I want to go	She told me she wanted to go	Past simple
Present continuous	I’m eating	She said she was eating	Past continuous
Past simple	I saw her arrive	He told me he had seen her arrive	Past perfect
Past continuous	People were queuing	Paul said people had been queuing	Past perfect continuous
Present perfect	I have drunk a lot	He said he had drunk a lot	Past perfect
Present perfect continuous	The film has been long	My cousins said the film had been long	Past perfect continuous
Past perfect	The train had arrived on time	She said the train had arrived on time	Past perfect (no change)
Past perfect continuous	We had been going for days	He told me they had been going for days	Past perfect continuous (no change)
Future simple (will)	I will give you a lift	He said he would give me a lift	Would
Future perfect	By next week, I will have done my exam	She told me that by the following week he would have done his exam	Would have
Present passive	The book is written in French	He said that the book was written in French	Past passive
Present passive continuous	Many shops are being closed	She told me that may shops were being closed	Past passive continuous

PRONOUNS

Direct speech	Reported speech
I	He / she
We	They
You	I / They Them
Me	Him / her
My	His / her
Mine	His / hers
Us	Them
Our	Their
Ours	Theirs
Your	My Their
Yours	Mine Theirs
This	That
These	Those / the

MODALS

	Direct speech	Reported speech
Can	I can do it	She said she could do it	Could
Must	You must leave	He told me I had to leave	Must Had to
May (possibility)	We may go to the cinema	They said they might go to the cinema	Might
May (permission)	May I open the window?	He asked if he could open the window	Could
Shall	What shall we get her as a gift?	They wondered what they should/could give her	Should Could
Might	I might arrive late	He said he might arrive late	Might
Ought to	You ought to study	He said to me I ought to study	Ought to
Would	I would do it	She said she would do it	Would
Should	You should sleep	She said to me I should sleep	Should
Could	I couldn’t speak French when I was a child.	She said she couldn’t speak French when she was a child	Could
Would	I wouldn’t do it	He said he wouldn’t do it	Would

TIME & PLACE

Direct speech	Reported speech
Today	That day
Tonight	That night
Tomorrow	The next day The following day
Yesterday	The day before The previous day
Now	At that moment Then
Present/current	Existing/current
In one hour/day/month	One hour/day/month later
Last week/night/month	The previous week/night/month The week/night/month before
Next week/day/month	The following week/day/month The next week/day/month The week/day/month after
Ago	Previously/before
At the present	At the time
Here/there	There

REPORTED QUESTIONS

Direct speech	Reported speech
Do you like…?	He asked me if I liked…
Are you sleeping?	He asked me if I was sleeping
Will you come?	He asked me if I would come
Did you eat?	He asked me if I had eaten
Have you slept?	He asked me if I had slept
Were you queuing?	He asked me if I had been queuing

REPORTED QUESTIONS WITH WH-

Direct speech	Reported speech
What are you eating?	She asked me what I was eating
Where is the station, please?	She asked me where the station was
Who’s that man?	She asked me who that man had been
When are you leaving?	She asked me when I was leaving
How are you?	She asked me how I was
Why is he shouting?	She asked me why he was shouting

REPORTED COMMANDS

Direct speech	Reported speech
Come with me	He told me/us to go with him
Don’t answer the phone	He told me/us not to answer the phone

REPORTED SUGGESTIONS

Direct speech	Reported speech
Let’s go to the zoo	He suggested going to the zoo He suggested that we go to the zoo
Why don’t we go to the zoo?	He suggested that we should go to the zoo He suggested that we go to the zoo
I wouldn’t buy that one	He advised me not to buy that one