Reported Speech For Intermediate learners

What is Indirect Speech?

Indirect (reported) speech (estilo indirecto) in Spanish is used to report what someone said without quoting them directly. It usually involves backshifting tenses, changing pronouns, and adjusting time and place expressions.

Structure

To form indirect sentences, a reporting verb like decir, explicar, afirmar, anunciar, etc. is used in the main clause and the reported speech is added after the complementizer "que." The structure is as follows:

main clause (reporting verb) + que + reported clause

For example:

Example

Direct: Juan dice, "Estoy cansado."

Juan says, "I'm tired"

Indirect: Juan dice que está cansado.

Juan says that he's tired.

As you can see in this example, forming the reported clause involves changes compared to the directly quoted speech.

Backshift

If the reporting verb is used in the present tense, the tense of the reported clause remains unchanged, but if it's in the past tense, the verb in the reported clause shifts one tense back in time. Here are the most common tense changes in indirect speech:

Present → Imperfect

Example

"Trabajo mucho." → Dijo que trabajaba mucho.

"I work a lot" → He/she said that he/she worked a lot.

Past simple → Past perfect

Example

"He comido." → Dijo que había comido.

I have eaten. → He/she said that he/she had eaten.

Future → Conditional

Example

"Iré mañana." → Dijo que iría mañana.

I'll go tomorrow. → He/she said he/she would go tomorrow.

Imperative → Imperfect subjunctive

Example

"No hagas eso." → Me dijo que no lo hiciera.

Don't do that. → He/she told me not to do it.

If the verb in the reported clause is in the imperfect, past perfect, conditional, or subjunctive tenses, its tense remains unchanged; however, it must still undergo changes to reflect the change in person (see below).

Changes in Pronouns

When the reporter is not the same person as the original speaker, pronouns shift accordingly. This applies to subject, object, reflexive, and possessive pronouns.

yo → él/ella

Example

"Yo tengo hambre." → Dijo que él/ella tenía hambre.

"I'm hungry." → He/she said he/she was hungry.

subject pronoun

tú/usted → yo

Example

"Te llamo mañana." → Dijo que me llamaría al día siguiente.

"I'll call you tomorrow." → He/she said he/she would call me the next day.

object pronoun

nosotros → ellos

Example

"Nos vemos cada día." → Dijeron que se veían cada día.

"We see each other every day." → They said that they saw each other every day.

reflexive pronoun

ustedes → nosotros

Example

"Ustedes deben llegar temprano." → Dijo que nosotros debíamos llegar temprano.

"You must arrive early." → He/she said that we must arrive early.

él/ella/ellos/ellas → no change

Example

"Él está enfermo." → Dijo que él estaba enfermo.

"He is sick." → He/she said that he was sick.

When the changed pronoun is the subject of the verb, these changes in the grammatical person of the pronoun naturally affect the verb conjugation as well, as you can see in the examples.

Changes in Place and Time Indicators

Time expressions refer to the original moment of speaking in the direct quote. So, in indirect speech, they are adjusted relative to the moment of reporting. Additionally, place expressions undergo changes because the physical location of the speaker changes. Take a look at the table:

Direct speech	Indirect speech
hoy	ese día
mañana	al día siguiente/ al próximo día
ayer	el día anterior
anoche	la noche anterior
ahora	entonces
aquí / ahí	allí
este/a	ese/a / aquel/aquella

Here are some examples:

Example

"Te veo hoy." → Dijo que me veía ese día.

I see you today → He/she said he/she saw me that day.

"Vendré mañana." → Dijo que vendría al día siguiente.

I will come tomorrow. → He/she said he/she would come the next day.

"Ven aquí." → Dijo que fuera allí.

Come here → He told me to go there.

Indirect Questions

Indirect questions are those embedded within another clause. They do not take question marks and do not require inversion of subject and verb. The changes discussed so far apply to indirect questions as well. Take a look at the examples:

Example

¿Qué quieres? → Dime qué quieres.

What do you want? → Tell me what you want.

present tense, no change in tense

"¿Dónde estás?" → Me preguntó dónde estaba.

Where are you? → He asked me where I was.

present tense to imperfect and second person to first-person

If the direct question is a closed question without an interrogative word, "si" is added to introduce the indirect question:

Example

¿Hay entradas disponsibles? → Quiero saber si hay entradas disponibles.

Are there any tickets available? → I want to know if there are any tickets available.

¿Me puedes ayudar? → Me preguntó si podía ayudarlo.