Reported Speech: How to Say What Someone Else Said

ByKhamis Maiouf
🎓 B2 · UPPER INTERMEDIATE
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Quick answer

Reported speech tells someone what another person said. After a past reporting verb, we often use backshift: “I am tired,” she said becomes She said she was tired. Backshift is common, but it is not compulsory in every report. Choose tenses, pronouns and time words that fit the meaning.

Common Backshift Patterns

  • present simple → past simple: “I work here.” → She said she worked there.
  • present continuous → past continuous: “I am working.” → He said he was working.
  • past simple → past perfect: “We finished it.” → They said they had finished it.
  • present perfect → past perfect: “I have finished.” → He said he had finished.
  • will → would: “I will call you.” → She said she would call me.
  • can → could: “I can help.” → He said he could help.

The past perfect does not shift further back. Modals also need attention to meaning: must expressing a past obligation often becomes had to, while must expressing a deduction can remain must. This list covers useful patterns, rather than every possible report.

When the Original Tense Can Stay

If the information is still true or relevant, a present tense can remain after said: He said he lives in Leeds. This presents his home in Leeds as current information. He said he lived in Leeds is also possible; backshift alone does not prove he has moved.

A general fact can also remain in the present: The teacher said the sun rises in the east. Do not reject a valid present-tense report simply because the reporting verb is past. In a transformation exercise, follow an explicit instruction such as “use backshift”.

Pronouns, Time and Place Follow the Situation

Change words only when the reference changes. I might become he, she or they when someone else reports the statement. If you report your own words, it can stay I.

If someone says “I will call you tomorrow” on Monday and you report it on Wednesday, tomorrow needs a different reference: She said she would call me the next day. If you report the words on the same day, tomorrow can still fit. The same principle applies to here/there and this/that.

Statements, Questions and Requests

  • Statements: She said (that) she was tired. The word that is often optional.
  • Questions: He asked where I worked. Use statement word order, not where did I work. For a yes/no question, use if or whether: She asked if I was ready.
  • Requests or instructions: He asked me to wait. / She told me not to run.

Say or Tell?

Use tell + person: She told me the news. Use say + something, with to if you name the listener: She said something to me. The pattern She said me the news is incorrect.

Before you answer the quiz, check whether each question asks for backshift, a present-tense report, or the correct word order. The requested task matters as well as grammatical possibility.

Your Turn — Quick Quiz

Five questions. Use the backshift table above if you get stuck.

Question 1 of 5

1. Use backshift to report: “I am hungry,” he said.

2. Which verb takes the person directly in “___ me the news”?

3. Use backshift: “I will help you.” She said she ___ help me.

4. “Where do you work?” He asked where ___.

5. Report the statement while keeping the general fact in the present: “The sun rises in the east,” said the teacher.

Keep Going

You have practised reporting statements and questions. When reporting a real conversation, check the time, place and people before choosing the forms.

But what about the sentences where someone talks about something that never actually happened? “If I had known, I would have come.” That is a different structure again, and it is how English talks about regret.

Next lesson: The Third Conditional — Talking About a Past That Never Happened

Sources

Further reference: British Council: reported statements and backshift.

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