Reported Speech
Cuando queremos informar exactamente de lo que otra persona ha dicho, utilizamos el estilo directo. Con este estilo lo que la persona ha dicho se coloca entre comillas (“…”) y deberá ser palabra por palabra.Ejemplos:
“I am going to London next week,” she said. (“Voy a Londres la semana que viene,” ella dijo.)
“Do you have a pen I could borrow,” he asked. (“¿Tienes un bolígrafo que puedas prestarme?,” él preguntó.)
Alice said, “I love to dance.” (Alice dijo, “Me encanta bailar.”)
Chris asked, “Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?” (Chris preguntó, “¿Te gustaría cenar conmigo mañana por la noche?”)
Reported Speech (El estilo indirecto)
El estilo indirecto, a diferencia del estilo directo, no utiliza las comillas y no necesita ser palabra por palabra. En general, cuando se usa el estilo indirecto, el tiempo verbal cambia. A continuación tienes un explicación de los cambios que sufren los tiempos verbales.
A veces se usa “that” en las frases afirmativas y negativas para introducir lo que ha dicho la otra persona. Por otro lado, en las frases interrogativas se puede usar “if” o “whether”.
Nota: Ten en cuenta también que las expresiones de tiempo cambian en el estilo indirecto. Fijate en los cambios de tiempo en los ejemplos más abajo y después, encontrarás una tabla con más explicaciones de los cambios de tiempo en el estilo indirecto.
Direct Speech
Reported Speech
Present Simple
Past Simple
“He is American,” she said.
She said he was American.
“I am happy to see you,” Mary said.
Mary said that she was happy to see me.
He asked, “Are you busytonight?”
He asked me if I was busy that night.
Present Continuous
Past Continuous
“Dan is living in San Francisco,” she said.
She said Dan was living in San Francisco.
He said, “I’m making dinner.”
He told me that he was making dinner.
“Why are you working so hard?” they asked.
They asked me why I was working so hard.
Past Simple
Past Perfect Simple
“We went to the movies last night,” he said.
He told me they had gone to the movies the night before.
Greg said, “I didn’t go to workyesterday.”
Greg said that he hadn’t goneto work the day before.
“Did you buy a new car?” she asked.
She asked me if I had bought a new car.
Past Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous
“I was working late last night,” Vicki said.
Vicki told me she’d been working late the night before.
They said, “we weren’t waiting long.”
They said that they hadn’t been waiting long.
He asked, “were you sleepingwhen I called?”
He asked if I’d been sleepingwhen he called.
Present Perfect Simple
Past Perfect Simple
Heather said, “I’ve alreadyeaten.”
Heather told me that she’dalready eaten.
“We haven’t been to China,” they said.
They said they hadn’t been to China.
“Have you worked here before?” I asked.
I asked her whether she’d worked there before.
Present Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous
“I’ve been studying English for two years,” he said.
He said he’d been studyingEnglish for two years.
Steve said, “we’ve been dating for over a year now.”
Steve told me that they’d been dating for over a year.
“Have you been waiting long?” they asked.
They asked whether I’d been waiting long.
Sacado de: http://www.curso-ingles.com/aprender/cursos/nivel-avanzado/direct-and-reported-speech/direct-and-reported-speech
