📝 Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)
Reported Speech (also called Indirect Speech) is used to report what someone said without quoting their exact words. We use a reporting verb (say, tell, ask, etc.) followed by changes in tense, pronouns, and time expressions.
Direct: He said, “I am happy.”
Reported: He said (that) he was happy.
🔑 Tense Changes (Backshift)
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| Present Simple (I work) | Past Simple (I worked) |
| Present Continuous (I am working) | Past Continuous (I was working) |
| Present Perfect (I have worked) | Past Perfect (I had worked) |
| Past Simple (I worked) | Past Perfect (I had worked) |
| Will (I will work) | Would (I would work) |
| Can (I can work) | Could (I could work) |
| Must (I must work) | Had to (I had to work) |
No change if the reporting verb is in present tense, or if the reported statement is a universal truth.
📌 Pronouns and Time/Place Changes
Pronoun changes: I → he/she, we → they, you → I/we, my → his/her, etc.
Time and place changes:
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| now | then / at that moment |
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| yesterday | the day before / the previous day |
| here | there |
| this | that |
📝 Reported Questions and Commands
Reported Yes/No Questions: Use “if” or “whether”. Word order changes to statement order.
Direct: “Do you like coffee?” → Reported: He asked if I liked coffee.
Reported Wh- Questions: Keep the question word. Change word order.
Direct: “Where do you live?” → Reported: She asked where I lived.
Reported Commands: Use “tell/ask + object + (not) to + infinitive”.
Direct: “Close the door.” → Reported: He told me to close the door.
Direct: “Don’t be late.” → Reported: She asked me not to be late.
🎯 Bac Exam Exercise
Exercise: Rewrite the following sentences in reported speech.
1. “I am studying for the Bac exam,” Ahmed said.
→ Ahmed said that he was studying for the Bac exam.
2. “Have you finished your homework?” the teacher asked.
→ The teacher asked if I had finished my homework.
3. “I will help you tomorrow,” she told me.
→ She told me that she would help me the next day.
4. “Don’t make noise during the exam,” the supervisor said.
→ The supervisor told us not to make noise during the exam.
5. “Where did you buy this book?” he asked.
→ He asked where I had bought that book.
💡 Summary
For the Bac exam, practice: backshifting tenses one step back (present→past, past→past perfect), changing pronouns and time expressions, and the two types of reported questions (if/wh- word). Remember: commands use “to + infinitive” and negative commands use “not to + infinitive”.
📍 دروس مشابهة: Phrasal Verbs: Separable and Inseparable — Bac Exercises | Conditional Sentences (If-clauses): Types 0, 1, 2, 3 — Bac English
مدونة التربية و التعليم في الجزائر – دروس، فروض، نتائج امتحانات مدونة التربية والتعليم في الجزائر | تحضير الدروس، فروض واختبارات، نتائج البكالوريا وBEM، مسابقات التوظيف، والتوجيه المدرسي للطلاب وأولياء الأمور.