Reported Speech Examples: Rules and Practice
Reported speech (also called indirect speech) is how you tell someone what another person said without quoting them word-for-word. It requires shifting tenses, pronouns, and time expressions — a small set of rules that becomes automatic with practice.
Direct Speech vs Reported Speech
- Direct speech: She said, "I am tired."
- Reported speech: She said (that) she was tired.
Notice: the quotation marks disappear, the pronoun changes, and the verb tense shifts back one step. For the full rules on when quotation marks are used, see our punctuation rules guide.
Tense Shift Rules (Backshifting)
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| "I am tired." | She said she was tired. |
| "I work here." | He said he worked there. |
| "I have finished." | She said she had finished. |
| "I will call you." | He said he would call me. |
| "I can help." | She said she could help. |
Present perfect tense in direct speech becomes past perfect in reported speech — this is one of the trickiest shifts learners forget. See our present perfect exercises guide to strengthen the underlying tense first.
Time and Place Expressions Also Change
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| yesterday | the day before |
| here | there |
| this | that |
| now | then |
"I'll finish it tomorrow," she said. → She said she would finish it the next day.
Reported Questions
Word order changes from question order back to statement order, and question marks disappear.
- Direct: "Where do you live?"
- Reported: He asked where I lived. (not "where did I live")
- Direct: "Are you coming?"
- Reported: She asked if/whether I was coming.
Reported Commands and Requests
Use to + infinitive (affirmative) or not to + infinitive (negative):
- Direct: "Close the door."
- Reported: He told me to close the door.
- Direct: "Don't be late."
- Reported: She told me not to be late.
Reported Speech and Passive Voice
Reported speech sometimes overlaps with passive constructions, especially in news and formal writing ("It was reported that the meeting had been postponed"). Understanding both structures together strengthens your grammar range — see our active and passive voice guide for the full picture.
Practice Exercise
Convert to reported speech:
- "I am studying English," she said. → She said ______.
- "We will arrive tomorrow," they said. → They said ______.
- "Where is the station?" he asked. → He asked ______.
(Answers: she was studying English / they would arrive the next day / where the station was)
External Reference
For additional practice and a detailed rules breakdown, the British Council LearnEnglish reported speech section is a reliable free reference.
FAQ
Do all tenses shift back in reported speech? Not always — if the reporting verb is in the present tense ("She says...") or the statement is a general truth, the tense often stays the same.
Is "that" required in reported speech? No, "that" is optional and frequently dropped in spoken English: "She said she was tired" is just as correct as "She said that she was tired."
Why does word order change in reported questions? Because reported questions are structured as statements, not questions, so the auxiliary verb returns to its normal statement position ("where I lived," not "where did I live").
Continue strengthening your grammar with our English grammar exercises guide.