Reported Speech at a glance
She said (that) the deploy was broken.
Read the rule, inspect the example, then check yourself.
Overview
Reported speech (also called indirect speech) is how we report what someone said without quoting it directly. The reporting verb (say, tell, ask) decides the structure; the reported clause usually back-shifts its tense one step into the past.
Reporting verbs come first
Choose between say, tell, ask, reply, explain, mention, claim, admit, suggest. The pattern after each verb differs.
say does not take a person; tell does. We say something. We tell someone something.
- She said (that) the deploy was broken.
- She told me (that) the deploy was broken.
- He asked whether the tests had passed.
Tense back-shifts one step into the past
When the reporting verb is past (said, told, asked), the reported tense usually moves one step back.
Present Simple → Past Simple. Present Continuous → Past Continuous. Past Simple → Past Perfect. Present Perfect → Past Perfect. will → would. can → could. must → had to.
- "I work on the API." → He said he worked on the API.
- "I am debugging." → She said she was debugging.
- "I will ship it tomorrow." → He said he would ship it the next day.
Main Rules
Three things change when speech is reported: tense, pronouns, and time/place references.
Tense back-shift
After a past reporting verb, every tense in the reported clause shifts one step back, unless the situation is still true now.
When you want to mark the statement as still relevant, keep the present tense — "She said React is fast" is fine if React is still fast.
- "I am ready." → He said he was ready.
- "We have shipped." → She said they had shipped.
- "The bug is in main." → He said the bug is in main. (still true → no shift)
Pronouns shift to the new speaker
I/me/my/mine usually become he/she/him/her/his/hers when reported by another person.
- "I own the auth service." → He said he owned the auth service.
Time and place words shift too
today → that day, yesterday → the day before, tomorrow → the next day, now → then, this → that, here → there, ago → before.
- "I deployed yesterday." → She said she had deployed the day before.
- "I will fix it tomorrow." → He said he would fix it the next day.
Reported questions reverse the inversion
In a direct question, the auxiliary comes before the subject (Did you deploy?). In a reported question, it returns to statement order (asked if I had deployed).
Yes/No questions use if or whether. Wh-questions keep the wh-word.
- "Did the tests pass?" → He asked if the tests had passed.
- "When are you on-call?" → She asked when I was on-call.
Patterns
These transformation patterns cover ~90% of real reporting situations.
Tense back-shift table
| Direct speech | Reported speech (after past verb) |
|---|---|
| Present Simple — "I work" | Past Simple — said he worked |
| Present Continuous — "I am working" | Past Continuous — said he was working |
| Present Perfect — "I have worked" | Past Perfect — said he had worked |
| Past Simple — "I worked" | Past Perfect — said he had worked |
| will — "I will work" | would — said he would work |
| can — "I can work" | could — said he could work |
| must (obligation) — "I must work" | had to — said he had to work |
| may — "I may work" | might — said he might work |
Examples
Common reporting scenarios at work.
The client said the API was broken.
Direct: "The API is broken." Back-shifted to past after said.
My tech lead asked if I could review the PR.
Reported yes/no question with if + statement order. can shifts to could.
She told me she had already deployed the fix.
told takes a person object. Present Perfect → Past Perfect.
He explained that the timeout was a known issue.
explained is a reporting verb. that is optional but common in writing.
The PM asked when the feature would be ready.
will → would. Wh-question keeps when at the start.
Common Mistakes
Russian has no obligatory tense back-shift — when reporting, Russian keeps the original tense. That is the main source of errors here.
He said he is working on the deploy.
He said he was working on the deploy.
After said (past), the Present Continuous usually shifts to Past Continuous.
She asked did I finish the task.
She asked if I had finished the task.
Reported questions return to statement word order — no auxiliary inversion.
He told that I retry the deploy.
He told me to retry the deploy.
tell + person + to-infinitive for commands. tell + that-clause is for reports, not commands.
She told the tests were green.
She said the tests were green.
told needs a person object: She told me / told the team.