Tense Changes
Because we usually report about something later, we usually change the verb tense:
Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
---|---|
present simple ‘I play football,’ said Claire. |
→ past simple Claire said (that) she played football. |
present continuous ‘I am playing football,’ said Claire. |
→ past continuous Claire said (that) she was playing football. |
past simple ‘I played football,’ said Claire. |
→ past perfect Claire said (that) she had played football. |
past perfect ‘I had played football,’ said Claire. |
→ past perfect Claire said (that) she had played football. |
am going to ‘I am going to play football,’ said Claire. |
→ was going to Claire said (that) she was going to play football. |
will ‘I will play football,’ said Claire. |
→ would Claire said (that) she would play football. |
can ‘I can play football,’ said Claire. |
→ could Claire said (that) she could play football. |
may ‘I may play football,’ said Claire. |
→ might Claire said (that) she might play football. |
must ‘I must play football,’ said Claire. |
→ had to / must (less common) Claire said (that) she had to / must play football |
These verbs stay the same:
Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
---|---|
could ‘I could play football,’ said Claire. |
→ could Claire said (that) she could play football. |
should ‘I should play football,’ said Claire. |
→ should Claire said (that) she should play football. |
might ‘I might football,’ said Claire. |
→ might Claire said (that) she might play football. |
ought to ‘I ought to play football,’ said Claire. |
→ ought to Claire said ought to play football. |
used to ‘I used to play football,’ said Claire. |
→ used to Claire said (that) she used to play football. |