Direct and Indirect Speech

When using indirect or reported speech, the form changes. Usually indirect speech is introduced by the verb said, as in I said, Bill said, or they said. Using the verb say in this tense, indicates that something was said in the past. In these cases, the main verb in the reported sentence is put in the past. If the main verb is already in a past tense, then the tense changes to another past tense; it can almost be seen as moving even further into the past.

Verb tense changes also characterize other situations using indirect speech. Note the changes shown in the chart and see the table below for examples. With indirect speech, the use of that is optional.

Direct Speech	Þ	Indirect Speech
simple present He said, “I go to school every day.”	Þ	simple past He said (that) he went to school every day.
simple past He said, “I went to school every day.”	Þ	past perfect He said (that) he had gone to school every day.
present perfect He said, “I have gone to school every day.”	Þ	past perfect He said (that) he had gone to school every day.
present progressive He said, “I am going to school every day.”	Þ	past progressive He said (that) he was going to school every day.
past progressive He said, “I was going to school every day.”	Þ	perfect progressive He said (that) he had been going to school every day,
future (will) He said, “I will go to school every day.”	Þ	would + verb name He said (that) he would go to school every day.
future (going to) He said, “I am going to school every day.”	Þ	present progressive He said (that) he is going to school every day.
		past progressive He said (that) he was going to school every day
Direct Speech	Þ	Indirect Speech
auxiliary + verb name He said, “Do you go to school every day?” He said, “Where do you go to school?”	Þ	simple past He asked me if I went to school every day.* He asked me where I went to school.
imperative He said, “Go to school every day.”	Þ	infinitive He said to go to school every day.

*Note than when a Yes/No question is being asked in direct speech, then a construction with if or whether is used. If a WH question is being asked, then use the WH to introduce the clause. Also note that with indirect speech, these are examples of embedded questions.