“I am tired,” she said. Ten minutes later, you tell a friend: “She said she was tired.” Notice what changed: “am” became “was,” and “I” became “she.” That is reported speech, and it is what you use every time you tell someone what another person said. It is also a favorite topic in English exams and a common stumbling block for learners. This guide explains the whole system in plain steps: how tenses shift, how pronouns and time words change, the difference between “say” and “tell,” and the mistakes that give a sentence away as non-native.
Reported speech, also called indirect speech, is a way of telling someone what another person said without repeating their exact words. Direct speech uses quotation marks and the original words: “I love this song,” he said. Reported speech puts the same information inside your own sentence: He said (that) he loved that song.
You use reported speech in real life all the time: telling a friend about a phone call, summarizing a meeting for your boss, reporting what a customer asked, or describing a conversation in a story. Because you are describing the words after the moment they were spoken, English changes the verb tenses, pronouns, and time expressions to match the new situation.
When the reporting verb is in the past (said, told, asked), the tense of the original words usually moves one step back into the past. This is often called “backshift,” and it is the core of the whole topic.
If these tense names feel unfamiliar, review how English verb tenses work first, because backshift is built on top of them. The difference between the past simple and the present perfect matters here too, so present perfect vs past simple is a good companion guide.
Pronouns change to match the new speaker’s point of view. “I love my job,” Tom said becomes Tom said he loved his job. If Tom’s friend is telling you about it, “I” becomes “he,” and “my” becomes “his.”
Words like “now,” “today,” “here,” and “tomorrow” describe the moment of the original speech. When you report the sentence later or somewhere else, they change.
For reported questions, use a normal statement word order and no question mark. Do not use “do” or “did.” “Where do you live?” becomes She asked where I lived. For yes/no questions, use “if” or “whether”: “Are you tired?” becomes He asked if I was tired.
Use “told” or “asked” plus an object plus “to” and the base verb. “Close the door,” she said becomes She told me to close the door. For negative commands, use “not to”: “Don’t be late,” he said becomes He told us not to be late.
Learners constantly mix up “say” and “tell.” The difference is that “tell” always needs a person right after it, while “say” does not.
Wrong: “He said me he was busy.” Wrong: “He told he was busy.” Remember: no person after “say,” a person after “tell.” If you want to use “say” with a person, you need “to”: He said to me.
Backshift is not always required. If what was said is still true, or if you are reporting it right away, you can keep the original tense. “The Earth goes around the Sun,” the teacher said → The teacher said the Earth goes around the Sun. And if the reporting verb is in the present (“She says she is tired”), there is no backshift at all. In everyday conversation, native speakers often skip backshift for recent, still-true statements: “He said he’s coming at six.”
Understanding the rules is one thing. Using them in the middle of a live conversation is another. LexiPath teaches the most common English words and phrases in levelled steps and uses spaced repetition to bring them back before you forget them. Reporting phrases like “he told me that…,” “she asked if…,” and “they said they would…” become natural when you practice them in short real-life phrases, not in long grammar tables.
Start with the free quiz to find your level, and then practice the patterns you will use every day: reporting messages, retelling conversations, and summarizing what someone said at work.
Wrong: “She asked where did I live.” Right: “She asked where I lived.” In reported questions, the word order goes back to a normal statement, with no “do” or “did.”
Wrong: “She said I am tired” (when she was talking about herself). Right: “She said she was tired.” Always ask who is speaking and from whose point of view you are telling the story.
Wrong: “He told that he was late.” Right: “He told me that he was late” or “He said that he was late.” Add a person after “tell,” or use “say” with no person.
Wrong: “He asked me do I like coffee.” Right: “He asked me if I liked coffee.” Yes/no questions need “if” or “whether” in the reported form.
If the statement is a general truth or still current, backshift is optional. Saying “She said the sun rose in the east” is grammatically fine but sounds odd. “She said the sun rises in the east” is more natural.
Reported speech is when you tell someone what a person said without using their exact words. You change tenses, pronouns, and time words to fit the new situation. For example, “I am hungry” becomes “She said she was hungry.”
No. Backshift is required in formal writing and in tests when the reporting verb is in the past. But in everyday speech, you can keep the present tense if the information is still true or was said very recently.
No. “That” is optional. “He said he was tired” and “He said that he was tired” are both correct. In spoken English, it is usually left out.
There is no difference. They are two names for the same thing. Direct speech repeats the exact words, and reported or indirect speech describes them in your own sentence.
“Should” stays the same: “You should rest” becomes He said I should rest. “Must” usually becomes “had to” for obligation: “I must leave” becomes She said she had to leave.
Reported speech comes down to five changes: the reporting verb, the tense, the pronouns, the time and place words, and the word order of questions. Make those five checks each time, and you will sound clear and natural. To keep practicing with real phrases, take LexiPath’s free quiz and build the habits that turn rules into reflexes.
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