Reported Speech: Statements (Backshift)

Level: B1. Reported speech (also called indirect speech) is how you tell someone what another person said, without quoting their exact words. The key move is the backshift: you step the tense one back in time.

The rule

Direct speech gives the exact words inside quotation marks: She said, “I am tired.” Reported speech retells them in your own sentence, with no quotation marks: She said that she was tired. A reporting verb like say or tell introduces it, and an optional word that links the two parts.

When the reporting verb is in the past (said, told, explained), you usually backshift the verb in the original sentence one step into the past. Present simple becomes past simple; present continuous becomes past continuous; present perfect and past simple both become past perfect. The modal will becomes would, can becomes could, may becomes might, and must becomes had to.

You also change the pronouns so they still make sense from your point of view: I may become he or she, my becomes his or her, we becomes they. And you change time and place words: now becomes then, today becomes that day, tomorrow becomes the next day, yesterday becomes the day before, here becomes there, and this becomes that.

Choose the right reporting verb. Tell needs a person straight after it: “She told me she was late.” Say does not take a person directly: “She said she was late” (or “She said to me…”). The linking word that is optional in both: “He said (that) he agreed.”

Forms

Time and place words shift too: now → then, today → that day, tonight → that night, tomorrow → the next day / the following day, yesterday → the day before / the previous day, last week → the week before, next week → the following week, ago → before, here → there, this → that, these → those.

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ She said she is tired. → ✅ She said she was tired. After a past reporting verb, backshift the present to the past.
• ❌ He told that he was busy. → ✅ He said that he was busy. / He told me he was busy. Tell needs a person; say does not take one directly.
• ❌ She said me she was late. → ✅ She told me she was late. / She said she was late. Never say someone; use tell with a person.
• ❌ He said he will call tomorrow. → ✅ He said he would call the next day. Backshift will to would and change the time word.
• ❌ They said they are leaving now. → ✅ They said they were leaving then. Backshift the verb and change now to then.
• ❌ She said she has finished. → ✅ She said she had finished. Present perfect backshifts to past perfect.

A short conversation

A: I spoke to Sam this morning. He said he was moving to London. B: Really? Did he say when? A: He told me he would leave the next week. He said he had already found a flat. B: Wow. He said that so calmly!

Usage notes

• No backshift needed when it’s still true. If the fact is a general truth or still true now, you may keep the present: “She said the train leaves at six” (it still does). Backshifting (left) is also correct and always safe.
• No quotation marks, no comma. Reported statements are not quotes: “He said that he agreed,” not He said, “he agreed.” Drop the quotation marks and the comma.
• that is optional. You can leave out that after common verbs: “She said (that) she was happy.” In careful writing, keeping that can be clearer.
• Reporting verbs beyond say/tell. Explain, mention, admit, reply, add also report statements. Explain and mention work like say (no direct person, or with to): “He explained that…”, “She mentioned to me that…”.

Compared with…

• Reported questions change the word order back to a statement and add if or whether for yes/no questions: “Are you ready?” becomes “She asked if I was ready.” No question mark, no auxiliary do. See Reported Questions.
• Reported commands and requests use tell / ask + person + (not) to-infinitive: “Wait here” becomes “He told me to wait there.” There is no backshift because there is no tense to shift. See Reported Commands and Requests.
• Advanced reported speech covers reporting verbs with special patterns (suggest doing, offer to, promise that) and reporting without backshift. See Reported Speech: Advanced Verbs.

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

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