Reported speech

Reporting statements

Examples

She says:" I like cats" = she said that she likes cats

She said:" I want to go for a picnic" = she said that she wanted to go to picnic

Rule

Reported speech is when you tell someone what you or someone else said

* Reporting verbs are: ask, tell, question, say, instruct, order.....

Form

* If the reporting verb is in the present nothing changes

Ex: she says:" I love fish" = she says that she loves fish

* If the reporting verb is in the past some changes must occur

Present simple Past simple

Past simple Past perfect
Future simple Would+ verb
Present continuous Past continuous
Present perfect Past perfect
She said:" I play nicely". = She said that she played nicely

* Time and place expressions also change

Now Then
Today That day
Yesterday The previous day
Tomorrow The following day/ the next day
Here There
This That
She said:" I will play tomorrow" = she said that she would play the following day

* When we transform into the reported speech the quotation marks(:" ") become that

*Negative ‫النفي‬

She said:" don,t play with fire" = she said not not play with fire

* Imperative ‫االمر‬

She ordered me:" close the door". = She ordered me to close the door
Reporting questions

We have two types of questions

Yes/ no questions ex: a-do you play football? a-Have you eaten the apple

b-Yes, i do. b-No i have not

Wh questions: questions which start with words including wh

Who, what, where, when, why, how ex: What are you doing?

When we report yes/no questions:

1- we omit the quotation marks

2- we replace them with if or whether

3 we reverse the verb And the subject

4- we change the tense.

Ex: do you play football= she asked me if I played football

Are you OK= she asked me if I was OK

When we report wh questions

1- we omit quotation marks

2- we keep the wh word as it is

3- we reverse the verb and the subject

4- we change the tenses

Ex what are you doing = she asked me what I was doing

Where is she= she asked her where she was

Reporting models

When we report models we keep the sentence as it is but we change only the model

Can Could
Will Would
Shall Should
Must Had to
May Might

Ex: you must work hard= she said that I had to work hard

You can eat= she said that I could eat