Direct Speech

Reported Speech

Past Simple Present Simple "He's American" she said. "I'm happy to see you," Mary said. He asked, "Are you busy tonight?" Present Continuous "Dan is living in San Francisco," she said. He said, "I'm making dinner." "Why are you working so hard?" they asked. Past Simple "We went to the movies last night," he said. Greg said, "I didn't go to work yesterday." "Did you buy a new car?" she asked. Past Continuous "I was working late last night," Vicki said. They said, "We weren't waiting long." He asked, "Were you sleeping when I called?" Present Perfect Simple Heather said, "I've already eaten." "We haven't been to China," they said. "Have you worked here before?" I asked. Present Perfect Continuous "I've been studying English for two years," he said. Steve said, "We've been dating for over a year now." She said he was American. Mary said that she was happy to see me. He asked me if I was busy tonight. Past Continuous She said Dan was living in San Francisco. He told me that he was making dinner. They asked me why I was working so hard. Past Perfect Simple He told me they had gone to the movies last night. Greg said that he hadn't gone to work yesterday. She asked me if I had bought a new car. Past Perfect Continuous Vicki told me she'd been working last night. They said that they hadn't been waiting long. He asked if I'd been sleeping when he called. Past Perfect Simple Heather told me that she'd already eaten. They said they hadn't been to China. I asked her whether she'd worked there before. Past Perfect Continuous He said he'd been studying English for two years. Steve told me that they'd been dating for over a year.

"Have you been waiting long?" they asked. They asked whether I'd been waiting long. Past Perfect Simple "I'd been to Chicago before for work," he said. Past Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Simple (*NO CHANGE) He said that he'd been to Chicago before for work. Past Perfect Continuous (*NO CHANGE)

She said, "I'd been dancing for years before She said she'd been dancing for years the accident." before the accident.

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word. When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too. For example: