Normally, the tense in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech:
She said, “I am tired.” = She said that she was tired.
Here is the full table of conversion:
| Phrase in Direct Speech | Equivalent in Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| Simple present | Simple past |
| “I always drink coffee”, she said | She said that she always drank coffee. |
| Present continuous | Past continuous |
| “I am reading a book”, he explained. | He explained that he was reading a book |
| Simple past | Past perfect |
| “Bill arrived on Saturday”, he said. | He said that Bill had arrived on Saturday. |
| Present perfect | Past perfect |
| “I have been to Spain”, he told me. | He told me that he had been to Spain. |
| Past perfect | Past perfect |
| “I had just turned out the light,” he explained. | He explained that he had just turned out the light. |
| Present perfect continuous | Past perfect continuous |
| They complained, “We have been waiting for hours”. | They complained that they had been waiting for hours. |
| Past continuous | Past perfect continuous |
| “We were living in Paris”, they told me. | They told me that they had been living in Paris. |
| Future | Present conditional |
| “I will be in Geneva on Monday”, he said. | He said that he would be in Geneva on Monday. |
| Future continuous | Conditional continuous |
| She said, “I’ll be using the car next Friday”. | She said that she would be using the car next Friday. |
You do not need to change the tense if the reporting verb is in the present, or if the original statement was about something that is still true, e.g.
- He says he has missed the train but he’ll catch the next one.
- We explained that it is very difficult to find our house.
These modal verbs do not change in reported speech: might, could, would, should, ought to:
- We explained, “It could be difficult to find our house.” = We explained that it could be difficult to find our house.
- She said, “I might bring a friend to the party.” = She said that she might bring a friend to the party.