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Direct and Indirect Speech With Examples and Explanation

February 27, 2021 by Vijay Gupta

Today, I’m going to explain direct and indirect speech in deep. It’s the most important topic
for board and competitive exams.

Often, students avoid to study direct and indirect speech because of many rules and
conjunctions, which are used to convert direct speech into indirect speech.

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But, if you are reading this article, I’m promising you that after reading this article you’ll be
aware of all the rules and conjunctions very well.

Moreover, you will learn everything about direct and indirect speech.

Along with telling the rules, I’ll de nitely give some examples on this topic ( direct and
indirect speech ) so that you, don’t have any kind of problem at the time changing.

Hence, without wasting your valuable time let’s start the topic that is about direct and
indirect speech.

Direct and Indirect Speech With Examples and Explanation ? –

Before explaining the rules, you must know, what is direct speech or indirect speech ?

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What is direct speech ? –

When a person expresses the statement of a speaker without any change, it’s called direct
speech.

For example –

( a ) Subhash says, “I love my mother.”

( b ) Zeeshan said to Ayaan, “I worked hard for qualifying the UPSC exam.”

( c ) I said to her, “All your faults will be pardoned.”

What is indirect speech ? –

When a person presents a speaker’s statement by making some necessary changes in

his/her words, it’s called indirect speech.

For example –

( a ) Kavita said that she was going to nish her homework.

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( b ) He said that he would give her his new car.

( c ) The teacher warned Shiva that he would report the whole matter to the Principal.

I hope that you must have understood, what is direct and indirect speech ?
 If you are interested to know about Pronoun, you can read that article by clicking the
provided link.

What is Reporting verb and Reported part ? –

For example –

I said to Kamala, ” You are a good singer. “

Reporting verb – I said to Kamala

Reported part – You are a good singer

Rules for direct and indirect speech –

Now, we will learn how to change Assertive, Negative, Interrogative, Imperative and
Exclamatory sentences into indirect speech.

Before starting conversion, I’m telling you some of the rules which must be followed.

All cases of Pronouns –

Pronouns Nominative Objective Possessive

First Person I, we me, us my, our

Second person you you your

Third Person He, she, they, it him, her, them, it his, her, their, its

Change of modals –

( a ) Shall – Should

( b ) Will – would
 ( c ) May – might

( d ) Can – could

Change in time and place –

( a ) Today – that day

( b ) Yesterday – the previous day/ the day before

( c ) Tonight – that night

( d ) Last – the previous

( e ) Tomorrow – the next day

( f ) This – that

( g ) These – those

( h ) Now – then

( i ) Ago – before

( j ) Here – there

Change in reporting verb –

( a ) Say – say

( b ) Say to – tell

( c ) Says – says
 ( d ) Says to – tells

( e ) Said – said

( f ) Said to – told

Change in tense of reported part –

( a ) Present Inde nite/Simple Present – Past Inde nite/Simple Past

( b ) Present Continuous – Past Continuous

( c ) Present Perfect – Past Perfect

( d ) Present Perfect Continuous – Past Perfect Continuous

( e ) Past Inde nite/Simple Past – Past Perfect

( f ) Past Continuous – Past Perfect Continuous

( g ) Past Perfect – No change

( h ) Past Perfect Continuous – No change

Note –

( a ) If the reporting verb is in present tense, there will be no change in the sentence of
reported part except pronouns.

( b ) If the reporting verb is in past tense, the sentence and the pronouns of the reported
part will be changed as per rules.
( c ) If the sentence of the reported part is a universal truth, there will be no change in that.

How to change Assertive, Negative, Interrogative, Imperative and

Exclamatory Direct Speeches into indirect speech ? –

Firstly, make sure you have learnt all the rules which I have explained above. If you didn’t
learn, it may be a bit di cult to understand conversion.

1. Assertive & Negative sentences –

In these types of sentences, we change reporting verb as described below and use
conjunction that to connect reporting verb and reported part.

Say – say
Say to – tell
Says – says
Says to – tells
Said – said
Said to – told
For example –

( a ) Direct – He said, “I will provide the safety.”

Indirect – He said that he would provide the safety.

( b ) Direct – Roshni said, “I committed the crime.”

Indirect – Roshni said that she had committed the crime.

( c ) Direct – Gopal said to him, “You can do this work for me.”

Indirect – Gopal told him that he could do that work for him.

( d ) Direct – Abhinav said, “I will do it now.”

Indirect – Abhinav said that he would do it then.

( e ) Direct – Kamal said, “My brother is not arriving today.”

Indirect – Kamal said that his brother was not arriving that day.

( f ) Direct – I said to Karan, “My brother is not a good singer”

Indirect – I told Karan that my brother was not a good singer.

( g ) Direct – Ramesh says to me, “I am going to the market.”

Indirect – Ramesh tells me that he is going to the market.

( h ) Direct – They said, “We have done our work properly.”

Indirect – They said that they had done their work properly.

( i ) Direct – He said to me, “You have nished reading the newspaper.”

Indirect – He told me that I had nished reading the newspaper.

( j ) Direct – The writer said, “It took me ve years to complete the book.”

Indirect – The writer said that it had taken him ve years to complete the book.

2. Interrogative sentences –

At the time of changing interrogative sentences into indirect speech, we change reporting
verb as described below and use conjunction if/whether to connect reporting verb and
reported part.

Said – asked
Said to – asked

For example –

( a ) Direct – Kamlesh said to Meena, “Can you solve this puzzle ?”

Indirect – Kamlesh asked Meena if she could solve that puzzle.

( b ) Direct – Geeta said to her brother, “Did you do this mischief deliberately ?”

Indirect – Geeta asked her brother if he had done that mischief deliberately.
( c ) Direct – Josef said to me, “Do you see the cricket match ?”

Indirect – Josef asked me if I saw the cricket match.

( d ) Direct – Pinky said, “Rohan, do you really want a new car ?”

Indirect – Pinky asked Rohan if he really wanted a new car.

( e ) Direct – Laxman said to Ram, “Will you buy an English book ?”

Indirect – Laxman asked Ram if he would buy an English book.

3. Wh type Sentences –

To convert these types of sentences into indirect speech, we don’t use any conjunction to
connect reporting verb and reported part.

But, reporting verb is changed as described below.

Said – asked
Said to – asked

For example –

( a ) Direct – Abhay said to her, “What can I do for you ?”

Indirect – Abhay asked her what he could do for her.

( b ) Direct – Ravi said to Naveen, “Why are you working so hard ?”

Indirect – Ravi asked Naveen why he was working so hard.

( c ) Direct – He said, “Why did you not go to the party ?”

Indirect – He asked why I had not gone to the party.

( d ) Direct – Kartikeya said to Rohan, “Where are you going ?”

Indirect – Kartikeya asked Rohan where he was going.

( e ) Direct – They said to us, “Why will your team win ?”

Indirect – They asked us why our team would win.

4. Imperative Sentences –

To convert these types of sentences into indirect speech, we change reporting verb
according to reported part and use conjunction to.

For example –

( a ) Direct – Kamal said to me, “Go away.”

Indirect – Kamal ordered me to go away.

( b ) Direct – The teacher said to the students, “Don’t come in.”

Indirect – The teacher forbade the students to come in or The teacher ordered the students
not to come in.

( c ) Direct – The judge said, “Call the witness of this case.”

Indirect – The judge ordered to call the witness of that case.

( d ) Direct – My father said to me, “Always help the poor.”

Indirect – My father advised me to always help the poor.

( e ) Direct – The captain said to the soldiers, “Lean down.”

Indirect – The captain commanded the soldiers to lean down.

5. Exclamatory Sentences –

To change exclamatory sentences into indirect speech we use conjunction that and
reporting verb is changed according to exclamatory words.

You can see below.

( a ) Said + Alas ! – Exclaimed with sorrow

( b ) Said +Wow ! – Exclaimed with joy

( c ) Said + Oh ! – Exclaimed with Surprise/regret

( d ) Said + Hurray ! – Exclaimed with Joy

For example –

( a ) Direct – He said, “Alas ! we lost the match.”

Indirect – He exclaimed with sorrow that they had lost the match.

( b ) Direct – Karan said, “how beautiful the weather is !”

Indirect – Karan exclaimed with joy that the weather was very beautiful.

( c ) Direct – She said, “Hurray ! I have got the trophy.”

Indirect – She exclaimed with joy that she had got the trophy.

( d ) Direct – Kavita Kaushik said, “Bravo! You worked hard.”

Indirect – Kavita Kaushik applauded me that I had worked hard.

( a ) Direct – Mahesh said, “What a lovely car.”

Indirect – Mahesh exclaimed with surprise that it was a lovely car.

Eventually, I hope that all your doubts must have cleared by this article because I have
covered here all types of sentences which are used to convert into indirect speech.

Now, there will be no problem of direct and indirect speech.

If you really enjoyed the article, please share it to those need it.

Thank you.

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