Reported Speech and Reporting Verbs

Puntos clave

El reported speech o estilo indirecto se usa para contar o explicar algo que alguien ha dicho.

Info 1: Reported Speech

Para reproducir las palabras de otra persona, se usa el reported speech. A la hora de reproducir la oración en tercera persona, los verbos dan un salto al pasado:

DIrect Speech	Reported Speech	Examples
Present Simple	Past Simple	"I play the piano" She said that she played the piano
Present Continuous	Past Continuous	"I am thinking" He said that he was thinking
Past Simple	Past Perfect Simple	"I walked home" She said that she had walked home
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous	"I was studying in the library" He said that he had been studying in the library
Present Perfect Simple	Past Perfect Simple	"I have eaten a salad" She said that she had eaten a salad
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous	"I have been reading this book" He said that he had been reading that book

Recuerda que: Si el verbo en estilo directo está en Past Perfect Simple o Past Perfect Continuous no cambia, ya que no tienen forma en pasado.

Ejemplos

"I had studied when Tom arrived"

She said that she had studied when Tom arrived

Info 2: Modal verbs

Las oraciones con verbos modales también pueden expresarse en reported speech cambiando su forma:

DIrect Speech	Reported Speech	Examples
Will	Would	"I will cook" She said that she would cook
Can	Could	"I can run fast" He said that he could run fast
Must	Had to	"You must study" She said that I had to study
May	Might	"It may rain tomorrow" He said that it might rain the following day

Info 3: Time and place expressions

Al dar un salto al pasado, las expresiones de tiempo y lugar cambian en el reported speech. Además, los determinantes y posesivos deben concordar con la persona que dijo la frase original.

DIrect Speech	Reported Speech
Now	Then / At that moment
Today / Tonight	That day / That night
Tomorrow	The next day /The following day
Yesterday	The previous day / The day before
Next day / week / month	The following day / week / month
Last day / week / month	The previous day / week / month
Here	There
This / These	That / Those
My	His / Her

Info 4: Reporting verbs

Una parte fundamental del reported speech son los reporting verbs, que son los verbos que se usan para introducir las palabras de otra persona. Los más comunes son say y tell.

SAY	TELL
Uso Decir algo (en general) Estructura Suj. + said + that + rep. speech	Uso Decir algo a alguien Estructura Suj. + told + obj. directo + that + rep. speech

Ejemplos

"I am tired"

He said that he was tired

He told me that he was tired

Inglés; Grammar; 3. ESO; Reported Speech and Reporting Verbs