Direct discourse / Indirect discourse

Direct discouse describes the direct reporting of what someone said in another

context. It is usually marked by quotes:

Philippe a dit, “Je viendrai si j’ai le temps.” (Philippe said, “I’ll come if I have the
time.”)
Mon camarade de chambre a dit, “Fais le ménage, ou décampe!” (My roommate
said, “Clean the place up, or get out of here!”)

Indirect discourse consists of reporting such statements indirectly, without using

quotes. In French indirect discourse entails a number of differences from direct
discourse:

A. If the related statement contains a conjugated verb, the word que must be added,

and the subject may have to be changed to retain the logic of the sentence.

Direct discourse: Il m’a dit, “Tu es bête.” (He told me, “You’re stupid”)
Indirect discourse: Il m’a dit que j’étais bête. (He told me [that] I was stupid.)

B. With verbs like dire, permettre, ordonner, demander, when one is being

instructed to do something, the related statement may use an infinitive construction:

Direct discourse: Il m’a dit, “Ecris-moi.” (He told me, “Write to me.”)

Indirect discourse: Il m’a dit de lui écrire. (He told me to write him.)

C. Care must be taken to make sure the verb tense reflects the change of context
that occurs when one moves from direct discourse to indirect discourse.

Direct discourse: Elle a dit, “Je serai à l’heure.” (She said, “I will be on time.”)

Indirect discourse: Elle a dit qu’elle serait à l’heure. (She said she would be on
time.)

Direct discourse: Quand il a téléphoné, il a dit, “Je suis à l’aéroport.” (When he

telephoned he said, “I’m at the airport”)
Indirect discourse: Quand il a téléphoné, il a dit qu’il était à l’aéroport. (When he
telephoned he said he was at the airport.)
When you’re using English on a day to day basis, talking about what people are saying or might have
told you is going to come up a lot!
But there’s an art to it – read on to find out more about how to use direct and indirect forms of speech
correctly.
What’s the difference between direct and indirect speech?
Both terms describe a way of recounting something that may have been said – but there is a subtle
difference between them.
Direct speech describes when something is being repeated exactly as it was – usually in between a
pair of inverted commas. For example:
She told me, “I’ll come home by 10pm.”
Indirect speech will still share the same information – but instead of expressing someone’s comments
or speech by directly repeating them, it involves reporting or describing what was said. An obvious
difference is that with indirect speech, you won’t use inverted commas. For example:
She said to me that she would come home by 10pm.
Let’s take a closer look at each one!
Direct speech
Direct speech can be used in virtually every tense in English. You can use it to describe something in
the present tense – to express something that is happening in the present moment, or make it feel like
it is happening right now.
For example:
“While she’s on the phone, she’s saying to him, “I’m never going to talk to you again.”
You can also use direct speech in the past and future tenses. You’ll often come across direct speech
in the past tense to describe something that has already happened. Most written forms of English will
use direct speech in this way.
For example:
“He said to her, “I’ll catch the last train home.”
Direct speech can be used in the future tense too, to create a feeling of anticipation, or expectation. It
can also be used to express something that you plan to say to someone.
While you might not come across this in formal or professional forms of written English, you will
probably see this commonly in creative forms of writing, such as a story or novel.
For example:
Before I go away I’ll tell him, “I’m never coming back.”
Direct speech isn’t always a description of what someone may have spoken. You can also quote from
other texts in a similar way, by using inverted commas before and after the quote. Here, instead of
using the verb “to say”, you might want to use a different verb instead, such as “to write”, “to state” or
“to describe”.
Indirect speech
Indirect speech is used to report what someone may have said, and so it is always used in the past
tense. Instead of using inverted commas, we can show that someone’s speech is being described by
using the word “that” to introduce the statement first.
For example:
“She said that she was not hungry.”
You can use different verbs to express what is being reported – while “to say” is quite commonly used,
you might also want to use “to tell”, to describe something that has been told to you.
For example:
“He told me that he didn’t have enough money.”
Your turn
You’ll want to use both direct and indirect speech a lot when you use English – so make sure that you
are familiar with both of them, and can use them correctly!
One effective way to practice is by keeping a little diary of what has been said around you – describe
what people have said, and try to write a few examples in each form.

French Direct and Indirect Speech (Discours direct et indirect)

In French, there are two different ways to express the words of another person:
direct speech (or direct style) and indirect speech (indirect style).

 In direct speech, you are quoting the words of another person.

 In indirect speech, you are referencing what another person has said
without quoting them directly.

Direct Speech (Discours direct)

Direct speech is very simple. You will use it to impart the exact words of the
original speaker are reported in quotes.

 Paul dit : « J'aime les fraises ». - Paul says, "I like strawberries."
 Lise répond : « Jean les déteste ». - Lisa replies, "Jean hates them."
 « Jean est stupide » déclare Paul.* - "Jean is stupid" Paul declares.
Notice the use of « » around the quoted sentences. The quotation marks used
in English (" ") don't exist in French, instead the guillemets (« ») are used. 
Indirect Speech (Discours indirect)
In indirect speech, the original speaker's words are reported without quotes in
a subordinate clause (introduced by que). 

 Paul dit qu'il aime les fraises. - Paul says that he loves strawberries.

 Lise répond que Jean les déteste. - Lisa replies that Jean hates them.
 Paul déclare que Jean est stupide. - Paul declares that Jean is stupid.

The rules associated with indirect speech are not as simple as they are with
direct speech and this subject requires further examination.

Reporting Verbs for Indirect Speech

There are many verbs, called reporting verbs, that can be used to introduce
indirect speech:

 affirmer - to assert
 ajouter - to add
 annoncer - to announce
 crier - to shout
 déclarer - to declare
 dire - to say
 expliquer - to explain
 insister - to insist
 prétendre - to claim
 proclamer - to proclaim
 répondre - to answer
 soutenir - to maintain

Switching From Direct to Indirect Speech

Indirect speech tends to be more complicated than direct speech because it

requires certain changes (in both English and French). There are three primary
changes that may need to be made.

#1 - Personal pronouns and possessives may need to be changed:

DSDavid déclare : « Je veux David declares, "I want to
voir mamère ». see my mother."

IS David déclare qu'il veut David declares that he wants to

 voir sa mère. see his mother.

#2 - Verb conjugations need to change to agree with the new subject:

DSDavid déclare : « Je veux voir ma David declares, "I want to see my
mère ». mother."

IS David déclare qu'il veut voir sa David declares that he wants to see his

mère. mother.

#3 - In the above examples, there is no change in the tense because the

statements are in the present. However, if the main clause is in the past tense,
the verb tense of the subordinate clause may also need to change:
DSDavid a déclaré : « Je veux voir ma David declared, "I want to see my
mère ». mother."

IS David a déclaré qu'il voulait voir David declared that he wanted to see

sa mère. his mother.

The following chart shows the correlation between verb tenses

in direct and indirect speech. Use it to determine how to rewrite direct speech
as indirect speech or vice versa.
Note: Présent/Imparfait to Imparfait is by far the most common - you don't
need to worry too much about the rest.
  Main verb Subordinate verb may
change...

  Direct speech  Indirect speech

Au Passe Présent or Imparfait Imparfait

Passé composé or Plus-que-parfait Plus-que-parfait

Futur or Conditionnel Conditionnel

Futur antérieur or Conditionnel Conditionnel passé

passé

Subjonctif Subjonctif

Au no change
présent