Report someone's words exactly
I can pass on exactly what another person said, asked or asked me to do.
Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.
Grammar
16 minIn A2 #29 you learnt to recognise a report: He said he was tired — and to understand that was here does not mean the past. Now you need to build reports yourself, and not only of statements, but of questions and requests too. There are three patterns, but one logic: you are speaking for yourself about a conversation that is already over.
A statement: the tense shift. It is introduced by said (what was said) or told + a person (who it was said to) — you know this pair from A2 #29. If the reporting verb is in the past, the tense of the report moves one step back. English matches the tense of the reported part to the main verb: the words were said "then", and everything inside them is also seen from "then". This is the same logic as the Past Perfect in B1 #1: events are lined up from the point of the story.
| direct speech | report |
|---|---|
| "I am tired." | He said he was tired. |
| "I work in a bank." | She said she worked in a bank. |
| "I'm waiting for a bus." | He said he was waiting for a bus. |
| "I've finished." | She said she had finished. |
| "I lost my keys." | He said he had lost his keys. |
| "I'll call you." | She said she would call me. |
| "I can help." | He said he could help. |
| "I must go." | She said she had to go. |
| "We may be late." | They said they might be late. |
The Past Perfect, would, could, should and might do not shift: they have nowhere further back to go. "I had finished" → She said she had finished.
When the shift is not necessary. If the reporting verb is in the present, there is no shift: She says she's tired — this is how you pass on what has just been said. If what was said is still true now, the tense can stay: He said he lives in Leeds — and he still lives there. The shifted lived is correct in this case too.
The Past Simple: the shift is the main rule, no shift is also correct. "I lost my keys" → He said he had lost his keys — this follows the rule, and it is the safest choice in writing. But the Past Simple is often left as it is in a report: He said he lost his keys. This is not a mistake: the order of events is clear anyway — first he lost them, then he said so — and the Past Perfect adds nothing. People say it this way especially often when the time is named: She said she arrived on Monday. In the exercises of this course both versions are accepted; if in doubt, shift.
Pronouns, place and time. Now a different person is speaking, so I turns into he or she, and my into his or her. If the report is given on another day or in another place, the words of time and place change too:
| in direct speech | in a report |
|---|---|
| now | then |
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day |
| yesterday | the day before |
| next week | the following week |
| here | there |
On the same day you don't need to change them: She said she'd call me tomorrow — if tomorrow hasn't come yet.
A question: normal word order and if. In a report a question stops being a question: you are not asking it, you are telling someone about it. So it has the word order of an ordinary statement — first the subject, then the verb — do, does, did disappear, and there is no question mark. It is introduced by asked or wanted to know.
| direct question | report |
|---|---|
| "Where do you live?" | He asked me where I lived. |
| "What time does the train leave?" | She asked what time the train left. |
| "Are you coming?" | He asked if I was coming. |
| "Have you seen my keys?" | She asked whether I had seen her keys. |
A question with a word like where, what, why keeps that word. A question without such a word — a yes/no question — gets if or whether, like French and Spanish si or German ob.
A request and an instruction: to + a verb. A request is introduced by asked, an instruction or an order by told, and after them come a person and to + a verb. The negative is not to.
| direct speech | report |
|---|---|
| "Please wait here." | She asked me to wait there. |
| "Close the door." | He told me to close the door. |
| "Don't be late." | She told us not to be late. |
| "Could you help me?" | He asked me to help him. |
Could you…? is a question in form but a request in meaning, so it is reported with asked me to.
Compare asked me to and asked me if:
| He asked me to call Anna. | A request: "Call Anna." |
| He asked me if I had called Anna. | A question: "Have you called Anna?" |
After to comes a request, after if — a question.
Don't say this. ✗ She asked if I was coming? → ✓ She asked if I was coming. A reported question is a statement, and it ends with a full stop.
Check yourself. How do you report Anna's words "I've lost my phone"? Why is it She asked where I lived, and not where did I live? How do you pass on "Don't touch it!"?
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Common learner errors
written for your languageQuestion word order in a report
✗ He asked where did I live
✗ She asked what time was it
✓ He asked where I lived
She asked what time it was. In Spanish (me preguntó dónde vivía), Italian, Chinese and Japanese a reported question looks just like a direct one, so changing the order seems unnecessary. English makes the difference: when you ask, you use question order; when you report a question, statement order.
A yes/no question without if
✗ She asked me do I want a coffee
✓ She asked me if I wanted a coffee
Chinese marks such a question with "want-not-want" (yào bu yào), Japanese with ka at the end, and learners of many languages simply keep the direct question. In English the reported yes/no question needs if or whether, and it goes at the start.
A request with don't or that
✗ She told me don't be late → ✓ She told me not to be late. ✗ He asked me close the door, ✗ He asked me that I close the door → ✓ He asked me to close the door. Learners often keep the words of the request as they were, and Spanish me pidió que cerrara la puerta reports it with "that" and a new subject. In English told me and asked me are followed by to, and the negative is not to.
said me and told without a person
✗ He said me that…
✗ He told that…
✓ He told me that…
He said that… or He said to me that…. French il m'a dit, Spanish me dijo and German er hat mir gesagt use one verb with or without a person. In English say is about what was said, tell — about who heard it.
No tense shift at all
✗ At lunch Tom said he is tired, but now he's fine
✓ At lunch Tom said he was tired, but now he's fine
In Chinese, Japanese and Korean the verb of the reported words stays as it was, and learners carry this over. The present can stay only if the words are still true now.
Pronunciation
3 minIn a reported question the intonation falls:
He asked where I lived ↘. She asked if I was coming ↘.
It is a statement about a question, not the question itself. A rise at the end would turn the sentence back into a question — a frequent mistake in speech: the sentence is built correctly but sounds like a question.
said and says: said /sed/, says /sez/ — with a short /e/, not /eɪ/ as in say.
asked /ɑːskt/ — one syllable: /sk/ and /t/ come one after the other, with no vowel between them.
that in a report is unstressed: He said that he was tired — /ðət/, hardly heard.
Text
5 minYesterday I rang the shop about my missing order. The receptionist said that the manager was in a meeting and asked if I wanted to leave a message. I told her that I had sent two emails the week before and that nobody had answered.
She said she was very sorry and asked me what my order number was. Then she asked whether I had paid by card or by bank transfer. I told her that I had paid by card on the first of the month. She said the parcel had left the warehouse ten days earlier, but she couldn't see where it was now.
She asked me to wait for a moment and put me on hold. Two minutes later she came back and told me not to worry. The parcel was at the local post office, she said, and it would be delivered the next day. She also asked me to check my spam folder, because they had sent me a tracking number.
I checked. She was right: the email was there, with the tracking number and a message that said my parcel was on its way.
Exercises
30 min1. Rewrite in reported speech.
- "I'm tired." (Tom)
- "I work in a bank." (Anna)
- "I've finished the report." (Mark)
- "I'll call you tomorrow." (Sarah told me)
- "I can't come to the party." (Ben)
- "We must leave at six." (they)
- "I lost my wallet yesterday." (Kate)
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2. Rewrite the questions in reported speech.
- "Where do you live?" (he asked me)
- "Are you coming to the party?" (she asked me)
- "What time does the train leave?" (I asked)
- "Have you seen my keys?" (Mum asked me)
- "Why are you laughing?" (the teacher asked us)
- "Can you speak French?" (they asked her)
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3. Rewrite the requests and instructions in reported speech.
- "Please wait here." (she asked me)
- "Don't be late." (he told us)
- "Could you open the window?" (she asked him)
- "Don't touch anything." (the guide told the children)
- "Send me the file by Friday." (my manager told me)
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4. Error correction.
- He asked me where did I live.
- She asked me do I want a coffee.
- She told me don't worry.
- He told that he was busy.
- They asked what time was it.
- He asked me close the door.
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5. Put in said, told, asked, if or to.
- She me that she was busy
- He that the shop closed at six
- I him where the station was
- She asked me I had a pen
- He asked me wait outside
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6. Say it in English.
Each line describes a situation in simple words. Report the words in one sentence, with the forms of this lesson. 1) A man said: "I'm tired." 2) A woman asked you: "Where do you work?" 3) A man asked you: "Are you coming?" 4) Your doctor said to you: "Don't work for a week." 5) Some friends said: "We've already eaten."
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7. Report a conversation.
Think of a recent phone call or a conversation in a shop. Report it in five sentences: what you were told, what you were asked, what you were asked to do.
Example: Yesterday I rang my dentist. The receptionist said that the dentist was ill. She asked if I could come the following week. I said that Tuesday was fine for me. She asked me to arrive ten minutes early.
Summary
Covered: the shift of all the tenses and modal verbs you know, when the shift is not needed, the Past Simple with and without the shift, words of place and time, reporting a question — statement word order, if and whether, reporting a request and an instruction — asked me to, told me not to. Next — lesson 16: pass on someone's advice.
End of the core
The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.
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Vocabulary for your deck
14 words- receptionist /rɪˈsepʃənɪst/ a person who answers the phone and meets visitors in an office, a hotel or a shop
- whether /ˈweðə/ if (in a reported yes/no question)
- the day before /ðə deɪ bɪˈfɔː/ on the previous day (in a report)
- the next day /ðə nekst ˈdeɪ/ on the following day (in a report)
- the following week /ðə ˌfɒləʊɪŋ ˈwiːk/ the week after (in a report)
- order /ˈɔːdə/ what you ask a shop to send you; to ask a shop or café for something
- parcel /ˈpɑːsl/ a box or a packet that you send or get by post
- warehouse /ˈweəhaʊs/ a large building where goods are kept before they are sent out
- missing /ˈmɪsɪŋ/ lost; not where it should be
- bank transfer /ˈbæŋk ˌtrænsfɜː/ sending money from one bank account to another
- put on hold /ˌpʊt ɒn ˈhəʊld/ to make a caller wait on the phone line
- tracking number /ˈtrækɪŋ ˌnʌmbə/ a number that lets you follow where your parcel is
- leave a message /ˌliːv ə ˈmesɪdʒ/ to give information for someone who cannot answer now
- on its way /ɒn ɪts ˈweɪ/ travelling towards you; coming
Writing
Six sentences reporting a phone call or an exchange of messages: what you were told, what you said, what you were asked and what you were asked to do.
Example
Last week I rang a hotel in Bath. The receptionist said that all the double rooms were booked for Saturday. She asked if I would like a single room instead. I told her that I was travelling with my wife. She asked me to wait while she checked another date. Then she said that they had a free room the following weekend.
Checklist
Practise this lesson in the other sections
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