REPORTED SPEECH

1. Transformaciones del estilo indirecto

a) Del verbo
Debemos prestar atención al tiempo del verbo introductor, salvo en aquellos casos en
los que lo dicho continúa siendo verdad:
“Everest is about 29,000 feet high”, she said
She said (that) Everest is about 29,000 feet high
O se dice algo imaginario:
“If I committed a crime, i wouldn`t talk about it online”, he said.
He said that if he committed a crime, he wouldn`t talk about it online.
En el resto de los casos se producen los siguientes cambios verbales en la forma
indirecta:

Direct speech Reported speech

Present Simple Past Simple
“She studies English”, Joan said. Joan said (that) she studied
English.

Past Simple Past Perfect Simple

“She studied English”, Joan said. Joan said (that) she had studied
English.

Future Simple (Will) Would (Condicional)

“She will study English”, Joan said. Joan said (that) she would study
English.
Can Could
“She can study English”, Joan said. Joan said (that) she could study
English.
b) De los pronombres personales y los posesivos
Generalmente éstos cambian de 1ª a 3ª persona, excepto cuando el que habla se refiere a
lo que él mismo ha dicho.

I ..................................... he/she
We ..................................... they
My ..................................... his/her
Our ..................................... their
Mine ..................................... his/hers
Ours ..................................... theirs

Ej: He said, “I want a piece of cake” He said (that) he wanted a piece of cake
They said, “ Our car is in the garage” They said (that) their car was ...

En el caso de la segunda persona, you, your, yours, todo depende de a quién se refiere la
oración entre comillas.

Ej: He said, “You are clever” He said (that) you were clever
He said (that) they were clever
He said (that) he/she was clever
He said (that) I was clever, etc...
c) De los demostrativos
This that
These those

Ej: She said “I’ll buy these” She said she would buy those

d) De los adverbios o expresiones adverbiales de tiempo y lugar. Los cambios más

frecuentes son:
DIRECT INDIRECT
now then, at that moment
today that day
yesterday the day before, the previous day
tomorrow the next day, the day after
next week/month... the following week/month
last week/month... the previous week/month
the week/month before
 Ej: Tom said: “I will help you tomorrow” Tom said (that) he would help me the
following day
He said: “I’ve left my glasses here” He said he had left his glasses there

2. ORACIONES ENUNCIATIVAS (afirmativas y negativas)

** Diferencia entre SAY y TELL: Tell aparece en estilo indirecto cuando en la oración
introductora se menciona la persona a la que se dirige el mensaje.
Ej: He said: “I can help you” He said (that) he could
help me.
He said to me: “I can help you” He told me (that) he could
help me.
Cuando después de SAY se menciona a la persona a la que nos dirigimos, ésta va
precedida de TO (He said to me). TELL, sin embargo, no lleva ninguna preposición
(He told me).
3. ORACIONES INTERROGATIVAS

Observa: She asked: “Where are my fans?”

V. S.
She asked where her fans were.
S. V.

a) Nunca se utiliza THAT.

b) Se cambia el orden del sujeto y el verbo al transformar una pregunta directa en
indirecta. Y además, desaparece el signo de interrogación.
c) Se realizan las mismas transformaciones de tiempos verbales, pronombres, adjetivos
posesivos, etc... que en las oraciones enunciativas.
Yes/No questions
d) Hay dos tipos de oraciones interrogativas
WH-word questions

3.1 Yes/No questions

El nexo entre la oración introductora y la indirecta es IF o WHETHER (esta forma tiende a

usarse donde hay alternativas, por ejemplo: She asked whether I preferred to travel by
car or by bus).

Ej: She wanted to know: “Did you lock the car last night?”
She wanted to know if I had locked the car the night before.

3.2. WH-word questions

La partícula interrogativa de la oración directa se repite en la interrogativa indirecta.

Ej: She asked me: “Where did you park the car last night?
She asked me where I had parked the car the previous night.

Cuando preguntamos por el sujeto, no hay cambio de orden de las palabras.

Ej: “Who is taking the car to the garage?”, he asked.
He asked who was taking the car to the garage.
4. Preguntas Indirectas

Las usamos en casos más formales:

- Usamos frases hechas para introducir la pregunta de manera indirecta.
- En preguntas con WH-words se elimina el auxiliar y se utiliza el orden de las oraciones
enunciativas (sujeto delante del verbo).
- Con preguntas indirectas de Yes/No usamos if.

Direct question wh-word Indirect question

What time does the train
leave?
Direct Yes/No question
Do you know this man?
Can/Could you tell me…
what time the the train
Can/Could I ask you… leaves?
I was wondering… what time the train leaves.
Indirect question
Can/Could you tell me if…
you know this man?
Can/Could I ask you if…
I was wondering if … you know this man.