Direct and Indirect Speech Rules

What is Direct Speech?

Direct speech repeats or quotes the expressed or the words spoken. When we use direct speech, we place the words spoken between the quotation marks (“ First-person”). Direct speech is directly conveyed either in speech or in writing.

Examples of Direct Speech

He said, “I will work hard to succeed.” The Commander said, “We will defeat all the enemies.”

What is Indirect Speech?

Indirect speech or Reported speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken into. We use reporting verbs like ‘tell’, ‘say’, ‘ask’ and we can use the word ‘that’ to introduce the reported in place of (“ ”) Direct and Indirect speech also introduces the concept of ‘Reported speech’ and ‘Reported Verb’.

Examples of Indirect Speech

He said that he will work hard to succeed. The Commander said that they will defeat all the enemies.

Reported Speech and Reported Verb

Both direct and indirect speech has two parts which are complete sentences in themselves. They are:

Reported speech is more of ‘Mood/ Tone’ of a speaker. The reported speech can be Assertive/Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory.

Reported verb is the tense in which the sentence is spoken. It can be ‘Past’, ‘present’, ‘Future’.

Example: He said to me, “I will go there tomorrow.” In the above example,

Reporting verb – Who said to whom.

‘He said to me’: it is reporting verb

Reported speech –The exact words spoken, put within inverted commas “_______”.

I will go there tomorrow-: it is reported speech

An assertive/declarative sentence is one that states a general fact, a habitual action, or a universal truth.  For example, ‘Today is Wednesday.’

An imperative sentence is used to give a command or make a request. Unlike the other three types of sentences, imperative sentences do not always require a subject; they can start with a verb. For example, ‘Turn off the lights and fans when you leave the class.’

An interrogative sentence asks a question. For example, ‘Where do you stay?’

An exclamatory sentence expresses sudden emotions or feelings. For example, ‘What a wonderful sight!’

How to Convert Between English Grammar Direct and Indirect Speech?

When converting speech from direct to indirect, you must change the present tense verbs to the past tense. 

Here’s an easy way to remember them using direct and indirect speech rules.

Rule #1

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple Tense do /does V1	Past Simple Tense  did + V1 V2
Present Progressive Tense is/am/are + V4	Past Progressive Tense was /were + V4
Present Perfect Tense has /have + V3	Past Perfect Tense had + V3
Present Perfect Progressive has been /have been + V4	Past Perfect Progressive had been + V4
Past Simple Tense did + V1 V2	Past Perfect Tense had + V3
Past Perfect Tense had + V3	Past Perfect Tense had + V3
Past Perfect Progressive had been + V4	Past Perfect Progressive had been + V4
Future Simple Tense will + V1	would + V1
Future Progressive Tense will be + V4	would be + V4
Future Perfect Tense will have + V3	would have + V3
Future Perfect Progressive will have been + V4	would have been + V4

Rule #2: If the reporting verb is given in present or future tense, then there shall be no change in the tense of reported speech in direct and indirect speech rules.

Reported Verb	Reported Speech
Subject	First person (I, we) Changes according to the subject of the reported verb
Object	Second person (you) Changes according to the object of the reported verb
No Change	Third person (he, she, it, they) No change

Example:

He said,” I will go.“

“I” will change according to the subject of the reported verb that is “he”

So in place of “I“, “he” will be used for Indirect speech.

Rule #3

Learn about the direct indirect speech rules below!

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Direct and Indirect Speech examples
He had said to me, “We play.”	He had said to me that they played.
He had said to me, “We are playing.”	He had said to me that they were playing.
He had said to me, “We have played.”	He had said to me that they had played.
He had said to me, “We have been playing.”	He had said to me that they had been playing.
He had said to me, “We played.”	He had said to me that they had played.
He had said to me, “We were playing.”	He had said to me that they had been playing.
He had said to me, “We had played.”	He had said to me that they had played.
He had said to me, “We had been playing.”	He had said to me that they had been playing.

Rule #4: Changing Certain Words

Use of Direct and Indirect Speech in Different Types of Sentences

Here are tips on how to use Direct and Indirect Speech in different sentences form using direct indirect rules.

Interrogative Sentences

Those sentences, which ask questions, are called interrogative sentences. Every interrogative sentence ends at a sign of interrogation.

Example:

Do you live here?

Have you ever watched the Terminator III movie?

Is it raining?

To convert interrogative sentences into Indirect Speech, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

Reporting Verb said to is changed into asked.

If reporting speech is having reporting verb at it its start, then if is used in place of that.

If the reporting speech is having interrogative words like who, when, how, why, when then neither if is used nor any other word is added.

Full Stop is placed at the end of the sentence instead of the mark of interrogation.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Direct and Indirect Speech examples
I said to her, “When do you do your homework?”	I asked her when she did her homework.
We said to him, “Are you ill?”	We asked him if he was ill.
You said to me, “Have you read the articles?”	You asked me if I had read the article.
He said to her, “Will you go to the Peshawar Radio Station?”	He asked her if she would go to the Peshawar Radio Station.
She says, “Who is he?”	She asked who he was.
Rashid says to me, “Why are you late?”	Rashid said to me why I was late.

Exclamatory Sentence

Those sentences, which express our feelings and emotions, are called exclamatory sentences. Mark of exclamation is used at the end of an exclamatory sentence.

Example:

Hurray! We have won the match.

Alas! He failed the test.

How beautiful that dog is!

What a marvellous personality you are!

To change exclamatory sentences into Indirect Speech using direct indirect rules, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

In case, there is an interjection i.e., alas, aha, hurray, aha etc in the reported speech, then they are omitted along with the sign of exclamation using reported speech rules.

Reporting verb i.e. said is always replaced with exclaimed with joy, exclaimed with sorrow, exclaimed joyfully, exclaimed sorrowfully or exclaimed with great wonder or sorrow.

In case, there is what or how at the beginning of the reported speech, then they are replaced with very or very great.

In an indirect sentence, the exclamatory sentence becomes an assertive sentence.( a sentence that states a fact.)

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Direct and Indirect Speech examples
He said, “Hurray! I have won the match.”	He exclaimed with great joy that he had won the match.
She said, “Alas! My brother failed the test.”	She exclaimed with great sorrow that her brother had failed the test.
They said, “What a beautiful house this is!”	They exclaimed that that house was very beautiful.
I said, “How lucky I am!”	I said that I was very lucky.
You said to him, “What a beautiful drama you are writing!	You said to him in great wonder that he was writing a beautiful drama.

Optative Sentence

Those sentences, which express hope, prayer, or wish, are called optative sentences. Usually, there is a mark of exclamation at the end of an optative sentence.

Example:

May you succeed in the test!

May you get well soon!

Would that I were rich!

To change optative sentences in direct to indirect speech, follow the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:

In case, the reported speech starts with the word may, then the reporting verb said is replaced with the word prayed.

In case, the reported speech starts with the word would, then the reporting verb said is replaced with the word wished.

May is changed to might.

Mark of exclamation is omitted.

In Indirect Speech, the optative sentences become assertive sentences.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Example:
He said to me, “May you live long!”	He prayed that I might live long.
My mother said to me, “May you succeed in the test!”	My mother prayed that I might succeed in the test.
She said, “Would that I were rich!”	She wished she were rich.
I said to him, “Would that you were here on Sunday!”	I wished he had been here on Sunday.
You said, “I pray you find your camera!”	You prayed that I might find my lost camera.