Cuando una persona desea comunicar lo que otra ha dicho, dispone de dos posibilidades:

repetir las palabras textuales (Estilo Directo / Direct Speech) o adaptar las palabras de esa
persona a su propia frase con las consiguientes modificaciones (Estilo Indirecto / Reported
Speech)
En Estilo indirecto:

Siempre daremos un paso atrs en el tiempo verbal, salvo que la situacin est
vigente an.

Cambiarn referencias personales, tiempo y lugar, segn contexto.

Cambios verbales:

Cambios en tiempo y lugar:

Se pueden pasar a estilo indirecto distintos tipos de mensajes:

1.- Enunciados STATEMENTS
Verbos principales:
SAY / SAY TO + complemento Indirecto TELL + complemento indirecto
A estos le seguir una oracin de THAT en la que dicho THAT puede omitirse si se desea.

2.- Peticiones y rdenes - REQUESTS and COMMANDS:

ASK para peticiones y TELL para rdenes, seguidos ambos de complemento indirecto y
TO INFINITIVE

3.- Preguntas QUESTIONS

Existen dos tipos de preguntas:

a) YES / NO questions ASK + Complemento indirecto + IF

b) Wh- questions
ASK + Complemento indirecto + Pronombre interrogativo (recordad que aunque recoge
una pregunta, nuestra frase no es interrogativa y el sujeto ha de ir antes que el verbo, no
aparecen auxiliares etc.

OTROS VERBOS USADOS EN ESTILO DIRECTO

(Reporting verbs)
Verb + infinitive agree, decide, offer, promise, refuse, threaten

They agreed to meet on Friday.

He refused to take his coat off.

Verb + object + infinitive

advise, encourage, invite, remind, warn

Tom advised me to go home early.

She reminded me to telephone my mother.

Verb + gerund
deny, recommend, suggest

They recommended taking the bus.

She suggested meeting a little earlier.

Verb + object + preposition (+ gerund)

accuse, blame, congratulate

He accused me of taking the money.

They congratulated me on passing all my exams.

Verb + preposition + gerund

apologise, insist

They apologised for not coming.

He insisted on having dinner.

Verb + (that) + subject + verb

admit, agree, decide, deny, explain, insist, promise, recommend, suggest

Sarah decided (that) the house needed cleaning.

They recommended (that) we take the bus.

Normally, the tense in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech:
She said, "I am tired." = She said that she was tired.

Phrase in Direct Speech

Equivalent in Reported Speech

Simple present

Simple past

"I always drink coffee", she said

She said that she always drank coffee.

Present continuous

Past continuous

"I am reading a book", he explained.

He explained that he was reading a book

Simple past

Past perfect

"Bill arrived on Saturday", he said.

He said that Bill had arrived on Saturday.

Present perfect

Past perfect

"I have been to Spain", he told me.

He told me that he had been to Spain.

Past perfect

Past perfect

"I had just turned out the light," he explained.

He explained that he had just turned out the

light.

Present perfect continuous

Past perfect continuous

They complained, "We have been waiting for

hours".

They complained that they had been waiting for

hours.

Past continuous

Past perfect continuous

"We were living in Paris", they told me.

They told me that they had been living in Paris.

Future

Present conditional

"I will be in Geneva on Monday", he said.

He said that he would be in Geneva on

Monday.

Future continuous

Conditional continuous

She said, "I'll be using the car next Friday".

She said that she would be using the car next

Friday.

You do not need to change the tense if the reporting verb is in the present, or if the original
statement was about something that is still true, e.g.

He says he has missed the train but he'll catch the next one.
We explained that it is very difficult to find our house.

These modal verbs do not change in reported speech: might, could, would, should, ought to:

We explained, "It could be difficult to find our house." = We explained that it could be
difficult to find our house.
She said, "I might bring a friend to the party." = She said that she might bring a friend to
the party.