direct speech
The English language ends a sentence in the direct speech with a comma , no colon. The quotation marks are superscript.
John,“ I hate maths.“
Tense shift
If the reporting verb is in the past, you will have to pay attention to the following rules:
simple present ➔ simple past
You, “I know the way”. ➔ You said (that) you knew the way.
will ➔ would
You,”I will do it”. ➔ You said (that) you would do it.
present perfect ➔ past perfect
You,”I have done it”. ➔ You said (that) you had done it.
can ➔ could
You, “I can do it”. ➔ You said (that) you could do it.
present progressive ➔ past progressive
present progressive ➔ past progressive
You,”I am doing it”. ➔ You said (that) you were doing it.
would, could, might bleiben unverändert
You, “I would/could/might do it”. ➔ You said (that) you would/could/might do it.
reported question
If the reporting verb is in the past, you will have to pay attention to the following rules:
simple present ➔ simple past
“Do you know the way?” ➔ Johnny asked if (wether) you knew the way.
will ➔ would
”Will you do it?” ➔ Johnny asked if (wether) you would do it.
present perfect ➔ past perfect
”Have you done it?” ➔ Johnny asked if (wether) you had done it.
can ➔ could
“Can you do it?”.➔ Johnny asked if (wether) you could do it.
present progressive ➔ past progressive
”Are you doing it?” ➔ Johnny asked if (wether) you were doing it.
would, could, might bleiben unverändert
“Would/could/might you do it?” ➔Johnny asked if (wether) you would/could/might do it.
There is no kein comma
before the introductory conjunction if or whether
There is no do/does/ did at the beginnig of the question:
“Do you know Ellen?” ➔ I asked you if you knew Ellen.
!Beware of the word order and the position of the question word.
“When is your birthday?” ➔ I asked you when your birthday was.
time indicators
Just as the tenses, also the time indicators are changing in the reported speech:
| direct speech | reported speech |
|---|---|
| this evening | that evening |
| today / this day | that day |
| now | then |
| these days | those days |
| a week ago | a week before |
| last weekend | the previous weekend |
| next week | the following week |
| tomorrow | the next day |
| here | there |
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