Arbeitsblatt: Englisch: Indirekte Rede

Here how it works: We use reporting verb like ay or tell. If this verb is in the present tense, it easy. We just put he says and then the sentence: Direct speech: I like ice cream. Reported speech: She says she likes ice cream. We dont need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the person from I to he, for example. We also may need to change words like my and your. But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech: Direct speech: I like ice cream. Reported speech: She said she liked ice cream. Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech present simple I like ice cream She said (that) she liked ice cream. present continuous I am living in London She said she was living in London. past simple I bought car She said she had bought car OR She said she bought car. past continuous I was walking along the street She said she had been walking along the street. present perfect I havent seen Julie She said she hadnt seen Julie. Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech past perfect* I had taken English lessons before She said she had taken English lessons before. will Ill see you later She said she would see me later. would* I would help, but She said she would help but. can I can speak perfect English She said she could speak perfect English. could* I could swim when was four She said she could swim when she was four. should* I should call my mother She said she should call her mother must I must study at the weekend *does not change She said she had to study at the weekend Reported Questions So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions? Direct speech: Where do you live? How can we make the reported speech here? In fact, it not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to someone else, it isnt question any more. So we need to change the grammar to normal positive sentence. Confusing? Sorry, maybe this example will help: Direct speech: Where do you live? Reported speech: She asked me where lived. Do you see how made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make present simple question with do or does so need to take that away. Then need to change the verb to the past simple. Another example: Direct speech: where is Julie? Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was. The direct question is the present simple of be. We make the question form of the present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past simple. Here are some more examples: Direct Question Reported Question Where is the Post Office, lease? She asked me where the Post Office was. What are you doing? She asked me what was doing. Who was that fantastic man? She asked me who that fantastic man had been. So much for wh questions. But, what if you need to report yes no question? We dont have any question words to help us. Instead, we use if: Direct speech: Do you like chocolate? Reported speech: She asked me if liked chocolate. No problem? Here are few more examples: Direct Question Reported Question Do you love me? He asked me if loved him. Have you ever been to Mexico? She asked me if had ever been to Mexico. Are you living here? She asked me if was living here. Reported Requests There more! What if someone asks you to do something (in polite way)? For example: Direct speech: Close the window, please Or: Could you close the window please? Or: Would you mind closing the window please? All of these requests mean the same thing, so we dont need to report every word when we tell another person about it. We simply use ask me to infinitive: Reported speech: She asked me to close the window. Here are few more examples: Direct Request Reported Request Please help me. She asked me to help her. Please dont smoke. She asked me not to smoke. Could you bring my book tonight? She asked me to bring her book that night. Could you pass the milk, please? She asked me to pass the milk. Would you mind coming early tomorrow? She asked me to come early the next day. To report negative request, use not: Direct speech: Please dont be late. Reported speech: She asked us not to be late. Reported Orders And finally, how about if someone doesnt ask so politely? We can call this an order in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example: Direct speech: Sit down! In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as request. We just use tell instead of ask: Reported speech: She told me to sit down. Direct Order Reported Order Go to bed! He told the child to go to bed. Dont worry! He told her not to worry. Be on time! He told me to be on time. Dont smoke! He told us not to smoke. Time Expressions with Reported Speech Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time expressions too. We dont always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech. For example: It Monday. Julie says Im leaving today. If tell someone on Monday, say Julie said she was leaving today. If tell someone on Tuesday, say Julie said she was leaving yesterday. If tell someone on Wednesday, say Julie said she was leaving on Monday. If tell someone month later, say Julie said she was leaving that day. So, there no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was said. Here table of some possible conversions: now then at that time today yesterday that day Tuesday the 27th of June yesterd ay the day before yesterday the day before Wednesday the 5th of December last night the night before, Thursday night last week the week before the previous week tomorr ow today the next day the following day Friday