Reported Speech: Telling People What Was Said

When you tell someone what another person said, English usually shifts the verb one step further into the past. This is called backshift, and it is one of the highest-value B1 structures: it appears constantly in exams, emails and everyday retelling.

The basic shift

"I am tired," she said. → She said she was tired. "We finished it," he said. → He said they had finished it.

Direct	Reported
present simple	past simple
present continuous	past continuous
past simple	past perfect
will	would
can	could
must / have to	had to

Past perfect does not shift again — it is already as far back as English goes.

What else changes

Words that point to the speaker's here and now have to move:

• I / my → he / his, she / her
• here → there
• this → that
• today → that day; tomorrow → the next day; yesterday → the day before
• now → then

"I'll call you tomorrow," he said. → He said he would call me the next day.

When you do NOT backshift

If the statement is still true, backshift is optional and often avoided:

"Water boils at 100°C." → She said water boils at 100°C. ✅ "I live in Prague." → He said he lives in Prague. ✅ (he still does)

If the reporting verb is in the present (says, tells me), nothing shifts at all:

He says he is busy.

Reported questions

Two things change: the word order goes back to normal, and do/does/did disappears.

"Where do you live?" → She asked where I lived. (not where did I live) "Are you coming?" → He asked whether/if I was coming.

Yes/no questions need if or whether. There is no question mark.

Reported requests and orders

Use to + verb:

"Please wait." → She asked me to wait. "Don't touch it." → He told me not to touch it.

Say and tell

Tell needs a person; say does not.

❌ He said me he was late. ✅ He told me he was late. / He said he was late.

Test yourself

The quiz below covers backshift, reported questions and say versus tell.