Direct and indirect speech is often a confusing topic for English learners. The basic idea is this:
The critical difference is that direct speech uses the exact words spoken by a person, while indirect speech summarizes what was said. While the definition is simple, the challenge for English language learners is using the proper tenses when converting a phrase from direct to indirect and vice versa.
There are several occasions – in your professional and personal – where you might need to describe an action or event to others. For example, you might have to repeat the team leader’s instructions to your teammates at the workplace. In this scenario, you convert your team leader’s direct to indirect speech.
Knowing conversion rules can help you present or describe the event correctly without making any grammatical errors or spoken English blunders.
In this post, we walk you through the rules of converting direct to indirect speech, helping you speak English fluently online and offline.
The rule is simple: Use direct speech when you want to repeat what someone says as it is, and ensure that the spoken text is sandwiched between quotation (speech) marks.
John said, “I want to learn to speak English fluently.”
It’s common to see the direct speech in newspaper articles and books. For example,
The District Collector announced, “The Chief Minister will inaugurate the city centre next week.”
As you can notice, in direct speech, we use the verb say (said in the past tense) to denote what was spoken. You can also use related verbs like ‘asked,’ ‘replied,’ ‘told,’ ‘informed,’ ‘shouted,’ etc.
Indirect speech is also reported speech, as we use it to inform/repeat what someone else said. Using the two examples above, we can convert it into indirect speech as follows:
John said that he wanted to learn to speak English fluently.
The District Collector announced that the Chief Minister would inaugurate the city centre the week after.
Direct Speech: “I feel cold.”
Indirect Speech: She says that she feels cold.
If you notice these examples carefully, you can see that the tense changes when converting from direct to indirect speech. To illustrate this point, in the following example, direct speech is in the present simple tense, while indirect speech is written in the simple past tense.
Direct Speech: “I live in the city centre.”
Indirect Speech: He said he lived in the city centre.
Similarly, other tenses follow similar rules when changing from direct to indirect speech. Use the following table to help you better understand the tense change rules:
| Direct Speech | Tense | Indirect Speech | Tense |
| The kids said, “We play football.” | Present Simple | The kids said that they played football. | Past Simple |
| He said, “I’m having lunch.” | Present Continuous | He said that he was having lunch. | Past Continuous |
| She said, “I have bought a new home.” | Present Perfect | She said that she had bought a new home. | Past Perfect |
| The teacher said, “I have been teaching English for the last five years.” | Present Perfect Continuous | The teacher said she had been teaching English for the last five years. | Past Perfect Continuous |
| The students exclaimed, “We won a prize.” | Past Simple | The students exclaimed that they had won a prize. | Past Perfect |
| Jenifer said, “I was watching a movie.” | Past Continuous | Jenifer said that she had been watching a movie. | Past Perfect Continuous |
| The project manager said, “We had resolved the issue.” | Past Perfect | The project manager said they had resolved the issue. | Past Perfect (Remains the same) |
| The chef said, “I had been peeling onions since morning.” | Past Perfect Continuous | The chef said that he had been peeling onions since morning. | Past Perfect Continuous (Remains the same) |
| Rahul said, “I will celebrate New Year’s Eve in Chennai.” | Future Simple | Rahul said he would celebrate New Year’s Eve in Chennai. | Note that “will” changes to “would” |
| Neha said, “We will be waiting for you.” | Future Continuous | Neha said that they would be waiting for me. | Note that “will” changes to “would be” |
| The scientist said, “We will have completed the mission in 2023.” | Future Perfect Continuous | The scientist said that they would have completed the mission in 2023. | Note that “will” changes to “would have” |
When converting direct to indirect speech, you must change modal verbs accordingly. Here are a few examples to help you understand better:
| Direct Speech | Modal Verbs | Indirect Speech | Modal Verbs |
| The kid said, “I can swim.” | Can | The kid said that she could swim. | “Can” changes to “could” |
| Priya said, “I must go.” | Must | Priya said that she had to go. | “Must” changes to “had” |
| Dad asked, “Shall we start?” | Shall | Dad asked if we should start. | “Shall” becomes “should” |
Sometimes it becomes necessary to change the time expressions when converting from direct to indirect speech. A few examples,
Here are a few examples of other typical time expressions and how they change:
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
| Yesterday | The day before |
| Now | At that time, then |
| Today | That day, on Sunday/Monday, etc. |
| Tonight | That night |
| Last night | The night before |
| Last month | The previous month |
| This week | That week, last week |
| Five minutes ago | Five minutes before |
| In one hour | One hour later |
Like time expressions, you might also have to change words representing places when reporting indirect speech. For example,
Here are a few examples of other common place expressions and how they change:
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
| here | There (or) the place |
| this | that |
| This pen | That pen |
| In this room | In that room |
However, the place words only change when you report something from a different location.
Now that you’ve seen the rules to convert direct to indirect speech, it’s time to put them into practice. The most efficient way to improve English speaking is to practice what you’ve learned. Join online English-speaking practice classes to gain confidence and mastery in your daily conversations.
