alpha Lernen - Englisch

Forms of tenses Reported speech

Stand: 07.10.2016

If you use a reporting verb in present tense you don't have to change the tenses.

The article says the majority of Pakistanis came in the 1950s.

If you use a reporting verb in past tense, there is a timeshift!

direct: I am Pakistani.
indirect: He told me that he was Pakistani.

direct: Have you realized that?
indirect: He asked me if I had realized that.

In reported speech you need to change pronouns and certain expressions for place & time, for example from I to he or she, or from yesterday to the previous day and so on.

direct: I went to a club yesterday!
indirect: He said he had been to a club the previous day.