Lesson 45: Reported speech (estilo indirecto)

Part 1: What is reported speech?

Direct speech — we quote the words exactly:

Ana dice: «Tengo hambre.»

Reported (indirect) speech — we pass on the content through que:

Ana dice que tiene hambre. — Ana says (that) she's hungry. Ana dijo que tenía hambre. — Ana said (that) she was hungry.

Two things to notice:

1. A que appears — and it is obligatory (unlike English "that", which you can drop).
2. When the reporting verb is in the past (dijo), the inside verb also slides into the past (tengo → tenía).

This slide is called sequence of tenses (concordancia de los tiempos) or simply backshift.

Remember: reported speech without que is impossible. Dice que viene. — correct. Dice viene. — wrong.

Part 2: The main rule — present vs past reporting

Everything depends on the reporting verb (dice / dijo / decía / ha dicho).

If the reporting verb is in the PRESENT — tenses do NOT shift

This group includes: dice, está diciendo, ha dicho (if the result is still current), dirá.

If the reporting verb is in the PAST — all tenses "slide back"

This group includes: dijo, decía, había dicho.

Metaphor: a past reporting verb is "a time machine that drove backwards". What was said at the moment of utterance is now perceived from a later vantage point — so each tense slides "one step back".

Part 3: The backshift table

This is the most important table of the lesson. Print it, stick it over your desk.

Pattern: three tenses are already "in the past" and so they don't shift: imperfecto, pluscuamperfecto, condicional. There's nowhere further back for them to go.

Examples row by row

Presente → Imperfecto: «Vivo en Madrid.» → Dijo que vivía en Madrid. Pretérito perfecto → Pluscuamperfecto: «He visto eso.» → Dijo que había visto eso. Indefinido → Pluscuamperfecto (or stays in Lat. Am.): «Llegué tarde.» → Dijo que había llegado tarde. (Spain) / Dijo que llegó tarde. (often Lat. Am.) Futuro → Condicional: «Iré.» → Dijo que iría. / «Te llamaré mañana.» → Me prometió que me llamaría al día siguiente. Presente subj. → Imperfecto subj.: «Quiero que vengas.» → Me pidió que viniera. Imperative → Imperfecto subj.: «¡Ven!» → Me dijo que viniera. / «¡No fumes aquí!» → Me prohibió que fumara allí.

Part 4: Pronoun shifts

When we pass on someone else's words, we speak from our own viewpoint — so the pronouns slide too.

Examples

Pedro: «Yo tengo mi coche aquí.» → Pedro dijo que él tenía su coche allí. María (to me): «Tú eres mi mejor amigo.» → María me dijo que yo era su mejor amigo. Juan: «Este libro es mío.» → Juan dijo que ese libro era suyo.

This works exactly the way it does in English: "I'm hungry," she said → She said she was hungry. The first-person "I" becomes third-person "she". Spanish does the same — yo becomes él/ella.

Part 5: Time and place shifts

If the event is being retold later, words like "today", "tomorrow", "here" no longer make sense — they need to be swapped.

Examples

«Llegaré mañana.» → Dijo que llegaría al día siguiente. «Hoy no trabajo.» → Comentó que aquel día no trabajaba. «Vivo aquí desde el año pasado.» → Dijo que vivía allí desde el año anterior.

Part 6: Reported questions

Questions are reported with two patterns — depending on whether there's a question word.

Yes/No questions → SI

«¿Vienes a la fiesta?» → Me preguntó si venía a la fiesta. «¿Has comido?» → Preguntó si había comido.

Heads up: si here means "whether / if" (the question particle), NOT "if" in the conditional sense. Same as English "She asked if/whether I was coming". No question marks needed — it's no longer a question, it's a retelling.

Wh- questions (qué, dónde, cuándo, cómo, por qué, quién) → keep the question word

«¿Qué quieres?» → Me preguntó qué quería. «¿Dónde vives?» → Preguntó dónde vivía. «¿Por qué no viniste?» → Me preguntó por qué no había venido. «¿Quién es ese hombre?» → Preguntó quién era ese hombre.

Important: in a reported question there are no ¿…? marks — it's not a question anymore, it's a retelling. But the accent on the question word stays: qué, dónde, cuándo, cómo, quién, cuál, cuánto. The accent is what marks them as interrogative words even inside a statement.

Also note: no subject-verb inversion inside the reported question. Dónde vives? (direct) → dónde vivía (reported) — subject still follows the question word in form, but no inversion or question intonation.

Part 7: Reported requests and commands

The imperative (order or request) in reported speech always turns into the imperfecto de subjuntivo after verbs like pedir, ordenar, decir (in the sense "to tell to do something"), rogar, prohibir, sugerir, aconsejar.

Watch out: the verb decir in reported speech can mean two different things:

• Me dijo que venía. — "He said that he was coming" (information). → indicative.
• Me dijo que viniera. — "He told me to come" (order). → subjunctive.

The difference is in the mood: indicative = information, subjunctive = command / request. English makes the same distinction with "said that…" vs "told me to…".