How to Use Reported Speech? "Take a Step Back in Tense" with One Action to Turn What Others Say into He said that...
A friend just told you: I'm tired. After a while, you want to tell another person, "He said he was tired." At this moment, you will realize that in English, you cannot just copy the original words directly as He said I'm tired.; instead, it must be changed to He said that he was tired..
Even though it's just reporting a sentence, why did am become was, and I become he? This is what we are going to talk about today: reported speech. It might sound a bit complicated, but behind it, there is actually only one core action: making the tense take a step back. Once you learn this step and combine it with two small conversion tables, you can easily pass on what anyone says.
Direct Speech vs. Reported Speech
First, let's distinguish between two ways of speaking:
- Direct speech (direct speech): Using quotation marks to present the other person's words exactly as they were spoken.
- She said, "I am happy." (She said, "I am happy.")
- Reported speech (reported speech): Using your own words to express what the other person said, without quotation marks.
- She said that she was happy. (She said she was happy.)
In Chinese, there is almost no difference in the verbs between these two ways of speaking; you just change "I am happy" to "She is happy". English is different; when changing from direct speech to reported speech, the tense of the verb must change accordingly. This is where most people get stuck, so let's break it down step by step.
Core Action: Take a Step Back in Tense
When the reporting verb is in the past tense (most commonly said), the tense inside the quotation marks must take a step back as a whole. Think of tenses as a flight of stairs: if you were originally standing in the "present", you take a step back to the "past" when reporting.
The two most common rules:
- Regular verbs: Present tense → Past tense
- "I work here." → He said that he worked there. (He said he worked there.)
- be verbs: am/is → was, are → were
- "She is busy." → He said that she was busy. (He said she was busy.)
Let's look at the changes in the verb say itself, which is also where the title of this article comes from:
- "I love it," she says. → She said that she loved it. (She said she loved it.)
Note: The reporting verb changes from the present tense say/says to the past tense said, and the love inside the quotation marks also steps back to loved. Two verbs in one sentence taking a step back together—this is what "taking a step back in tense" looks like in its entirety.
A Tense Conversion Chart
Here is a summary of common tense shifts in a table, so you can easily look them up when you encounter them:
- Present Simple → Past Simple: work → worked
- Present Continuous → Past Continuous: am working → was working
- Present Perfect → Past Perfect: have finished → had finished
- Past Simple → Past Perfect: saw → had seen
- will → would: will go → would go
- can → could: can swim → could swim
The trick is just one sentence: Shift every tense that can go backward back by one level; auxiliary verbs also shift back by one level (will→would, can→could).
Pronouns Must Change Accordingly
Since the person speaking has changed, the pronouns must change as well. If the other person originally said I, to refer to themselves, you must change it to he or she when reporting.
- Tom said, "I lost my keys." → Tom said that he had lost his keys. (Tom said he lost his keys.)
- Amy said, "You are right." (spoken to you) → Amy said that I was right. (Amy said I was right.)
The tip for deciding: Stand from the perspective of "the you who is reporting now" and think about who everyone is again, and the pronouns will naturally fall into place.
Time and Place Words Must Also Shift
Since the event was spoken of "before," words in the sentence like "now, today, tomorrow" must also shift toward the past:
- now → then (at that time)
- today → that day
- tomorrow → the next day/the following day
- yesterday → the day before
- this → that, here → there
Let's look at a complete sentence:
- He said, "I'll call you tomorrow." → He said that he would call me the next day. (He said he would call me the next day.)
Three-Step Conversion Method
Every time you want to convert a sentence into reported speech, follow these three steps and you won't go wrong:
- Shift back the tense: Move the verb inside the quotation marks back by one step (is→was, work→worked, will→would).
- Change pronouns: Stand from the perspective of the present and reconfirm who I, you, he, and she refer to.
- Shift time and place words: now→then, tomorrow→the next day, here→there.
Let's run through a complete sentence:
Lisa said, "I am reading a book now."
- Shift back the tense: am reading → was reading
- Change pronouns: I → she
- Shift time words: now → then
Result: Lisa said that she was reading a book then. (Lisa said she was reading a book then.) ✓
Correct vs. Incorrect Examples
Mistake 1: Forgetting to shift back the tense and copying the present tense directly.
- She said that she was hungry. ✓ (She said she was hungry.)
She said that she is hungry.✗
Mistake 2: Forcing a comma and quotation marks after "said", mixing up the two formats.
- He said that he was tired. ✓
He said that, "he was tired."✗ (Do not use quotation marks if you use that.)
Mistake 3: Not changing the pronouns, making it sound like you are talking about yourself.
- Tom said that he liked pizza. ✓ (Tom said he liked pizza.)
Tom said that I liked pizza.✗ (Tom was talking about himself.)
By the way, that can be omitted. In spoken English, both He said he was tired. and He said that he was tired. are correct; whether that is present or not does not affect the meaning.
One Exception: Things That Are Always True Don't Need to Shift Back
If the reported content is a fact or habit that "is still true today and will not change," the tense does not have to be shifted back; keeping it in the present tense is also very natural.
- The teacher said that water boils at 100°C. (The teacher said that water boils at 100°C.)
The boiling point of water does not change over time, so keeping boils in the present tense is perfectly fine. For the A1–B1 stages, it's best to master the "always take one step back" rule first, and you can gradually internalize this exception later.
How to Practice on Loopy
The rules of reported speech are easy to understand once you read them, but the hard part is whether you can reflexively shift the tense correctly when speaking. Loopy integrates sentence patterns like He said that… into the real-life dialogues of its graded courses, allowing you to encounter it repeatedly in scenarios like listening to stories and retelling plots. This way, shifting back the tense becomes a rhythm your ears get used to, without you needing to look at a chart every time.
- The listening, speaking, and shadowing mode allows you to shadow native speakers to say the entire sentence She said she was busy. Once you practice saying the shifted tense after said smoothly, it will become second nature.
- If you are unsure of what the past tense or past participle of a verb looks like (work→worked? go→went→gone?), you can easily look it up in the built-in dictionary, which provides both example sentences and pronunciation.
- Graded sentence patterns you have learned will be scheduled for memory curve reviews, appearing again right before you are about to forget them. This helps the sequence of "taking a step back in tense, changing the pronoun, and shifting the time word" gradually become an instinct when you speak.
The next time you want to pass on a message to someone, run through those three steps in your mind first: shift the tense back, change the pronouns, and shift the time words. After practicing a few times, you will realize that He said that… is not actually that difficult.