Reported Speech for B1 Learners: Complete Grammar Guide

English has two main reporting verbs that can be used when reporting what was said. If you’re learning how to use reported speech, these are the first verbs you should master. These verbs are say and tell. Though they are similar in form, their grammatical usage differs. It’s quite easy to understand the difference between the two verbs:

• say emphasizes the information
• tell needs an audience

Notice that tell must be followed by a person.

This single rule prevents one of the most common B1-level mistakes.

Reported speech (also known as indirect speech) is how we convey or repeat the saying, thinking, questioning or feeling that someone has expressed. Instead of using the sentence directly, we communicate the idea in our own words. This usually requires alterations in pronouns, tenses, time references and sentence structure.

Direct speech:

Reported speech:

In reported speech, the use of quotation marks is eliminated, and the statement is incorporated into another statement.

How does reported speech differ from direct speech?

The major difference between the two lies in the fact that direct speech includes an actual quote from a person, while reported speech expresses the same message indirectly without quoting the exact words.

Do you see how the meaning does not change, but the sentence structure is different? It happens because pronouns, verbs, and temporal indicators change.

In reported speech grammar, we do more than simply remove quotation marks. We move the entire sentence into a new context.

Your friend says something on Monday and you report it on Tuesday. The sentence that you quoted comes from a different time, from a different speaker, and usually from a different location. There are thus three aspects that are commonly changed:

• The tense shifts backward.
• The pronouns shift perspectives.
• The time and place expressions are adapted.

Let us examine each element separately.

Step 1: Tense backshift

The first one refers to the change in verb tenses in English. If the statement was uttered in the past, its initial present form becomes the past in the reported speech B1.

The most frequent tense transformations are the following:

Modal verb shift

Some modal verbs also change when you convert direct speech into reported speech. The most common changes are:

When is the backshift in reported speech not necessary?

We maintain the original tenses when the reported statement:

• is introduced by a reporting verb in the present:  He says that he is ready.
• when the statement expresses a fact that is still true:  The teacher said that water boils at 100°C.

Step 2: Pronoun change

The second change relates to point of view. If a person uses I, the pronoun tends to be changed when a second person relates the sentence.

An important question is: Who is speaking now? The answer will dictate the personal pronouns used.

Step 3: Time and place expressions

The last rule involves modifying words related to time and place. If the original speaker used tomorrow, that tomorrow may already be in the past by the time you report it.

Now let’s see how all three reported speech rules apply.

Direct speech:

To convert this into reported speech, we need to do three things:

Reported speech:

The above example indicates the basic idea of reported speech: the sentence is perceived differently, from another angle in time. Due to this, it becomes necessary to alter the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions simultaneously.

Or even more visually:

The second version appears to be a small tutorial that explains the rationale behind each change.

Not only are statements used in reported speech, but we can also report questions, orders, and other forms of speech. It is vital to understand the structure of each English reported speech form.

Reported speech statements

Reporting statements are the simplest form of reported speech. One merely needs to introduce the sentence using a reporting verb.

This is completely natural and very common.

Reported speech questions

This is where students tend to go wrong. Golden rule: The reported question follows the structure of a statement, not a question.

Wh- questions

Keep the wh-word (where, what, why, when, how), but change the structure of the rest of the sentence to the statement form.

Notice that do/does/did disappear.

Yes/No questions

If there is no question word, use if or whether.

Reported commands and requests

Reported commands (to/not to) follow a different pattern from statements and questions. Instead of using a tense backshift, they undergo an imperative shift. The imperative verb changes into an infinitive (to + verb), making this one of the simplest reported speech structures to learn.

For negative commands, use not to:

Even those students who know the rules commit the same three errors. Avoid them, and your reported speech will be much more natural.

Mistake #1: Mixing up say and tell

A common mistake among learners is the incorrect use of say and tell. The truth is that in English, there is a difference between them:

• say + something
• tell + someone + something

Mistake #2: Keeping question word order

Reported questions (if/whether) turn into statements. The interrogative word remains, but there is word order change. Note:

• No inversion
• No do / does / did
• Use statement word order

Mistake #3: Backshifting twice

Some students change the auxiliary verb and the main verb. If there is didn’t, the main verb must remain unchanged.

Reported speech becomes much easier once you stop treating it as a pile of exceptions. First, choose say or tell correctly. Then shift the tense, adjust the pronouns, and update time and place markers. 

For questions, remember the main trap: use statement word order. For commands, use to + verb. With these patterns and cheat sheets, reported speech and indirect speech turn from grammar fog into a clear route you can follow in real conversations.