Direct and indirect speech
Are we repeating someone's words or telling what they said?
Meaning
We can repeat someone's words or report their message in our own words. Repeating the words is direct speech; reporting the message is indirect speech, which can also report thoughts or questions. Languages differ in how they mark these reports, and some have no special verb forms for them. Unlike According to whom, which identifies whose view a statement expresses, this block is about how we report words or thoughts.
How to spot it
Look for words or thoughts presented as someone else's, and check whether they are quoted or fitted into the reporter's own sentence.
In your native language
English quotes direct speech and uses verbs such as say or ask to introduce indirect speech. After a past reporting verb, the reported verb often shifts into a past form, though this is not always needed if the message is still true. Reported questions normally use statement word order, not the order of a direct question.
Anna said, "I am tired."
The quotation presents Anna's words directly.
Anna said that she was tired.
I becomes she, and am shifts to was after the past reporting verb.
Ben asked where I lived.
The reported question puts the subject before the verb and does not use did.
In your learning language
Direct speech repeats someone's words, usually marked in writing with quotation marks or a dash. Indirect speech reports a message with que for statements, si for yes/no questions, or a question word for other questions. Pronouns and time and place words follow the reporting viewpoint, and a past reporting verb often brings a shift to a past form, though this is not automatic if the information still applies.
Lucía dijo: «Estoy cansada».
Lucía said, “I'm tired.”
The quotation keeps Lucía's first-person wording.
Lucía dijo que estaba cansada.
Lucía said that she was tired.
Estoy becomes estaba when her state is reported from a later viewpoint.
Diego me preguntó si tenía tiempo.
Diego asked me if I had time.
Si introduces a reported yes/no question, not a condition.
Learners whose language does not shift tense in reports may keep every original verb form after dijo or preguntó. Learners whose language preserves the original speaker's pronouns in reports may also fail to adjust who yo or tú refers to.