Ask in indirect speech. Indirect speech in Russian: use

direct speech in English language is formatted a little differently, and this should be remembered, since in serious study of the subject you will have to do this in written exercises, letters or essays. At first glance, the differences are minor, but if you start to ignore them, it will immediately give you a foreigner.

The transfer of the meaning of an utterance from direct speech to indirect speech is also quite different, and the resulting new English text obeys certain rules, which will be discussed in a separate section.

If you need a translation into direct speech in English, you will have to perform diametrically opposite actions. In this case, it is necessary to know the rules of time coordination well. For example, with such an action, it will be necessary to change some pronouns, and the aspectual forms and circumstances of the place should be moved “one step back”. It will look something like this:

Pat said that she would be ready to pass her exam next day. Pat said she would be ready to take the exam the next day.

Pat said, “I will be ready to pass my exam tomorrow.” Pat said, "I'll be ready for the exam tomorrow."

Tables will help you understand the rules of direct speech in English. We offer to compare the design of such sentences when transmitting colloquial statements in Russian and English:

If you look closely, you will notice that in Russian statements, the dot and comma are behind the quotes, and in English - vice versa. If the words of the author are brought forward, then on the left side of the table after them there is a colon, and on the right side of it there is a comma. If the words of the author are embedded inside the statement, then it is striking that both parts of the English direct speech are separated by commas.

It should also be noted that native speakers use the so-called “inverted commas” before direct speech - inverted commas. Usually they are double, but sometimes they are single. Your keyboard has a dedicated key for this.

It is very important to note that direct speech in English is transmitted literally, and examples will help you understand this:

“I'll start learning French soon,” said Steven."I will soon start studying French" Stephen said.

Unlike indirect speech, here we use short form verb “will”, which is not recommended in indirect speech. When paraphrased, the sentence would look like this:

Steven said that he would start learning French soon. Stephen said that he would soon be learning French.

According to the rule of timing, instead of he will used here he would, but this cannot be reduced as he'd.

As an exercise in direct speech in English, you can use any of the tables presented. They will have a double benefit: you will remember how direct speech is formed in your native language, and you will also become experts in English written statements. There is little trick- try to perform this exercise in Word, which has a text editing function.

As a piece of advice, we suggest using Word for both writing essays and composing monologues. In most cases, the program will react to errors and even correct some of them automatically. As for the design of direct speech, everything works flawlessly here.

When studying English, each of us inevitably encounters reading literature. Most often main difficulty consists precisely in retelling what has been read, when you need to turn direct speech into indirect speech (reported / indirect speech).
We have already talked about how to convey direct speech when writing using quotation marks, and now we will deal with the oral nuances of its presentation.
You can often hear the question: "What did he answer you?" You start: "He said that..." Really, what's next?
How to correctly agree on all grammatical aspects, choose right time, word order, reflect the nature of the question or declarative sentence? Today we will consider and give examples to these entertaining questions.

So let's define:

Direct speech- verbatim introduction to the speech of the author of any remarks. Syntactic structures are used in agreement with the face of the speaker.

He says, " I will come." / He says: "I will come."

Indirect speech- a way to introduce someone else's speech into your own speech. In this case, the sentences are built from the third person.

He says that he will come./ He says he will come.

Speaking about the transition from direct to indirect speech, two things should be taken into account. important factors: organization of syntax and punctuation (i.e. agreement and organization of words, rejection of quotation marks, introduction of auxiliary conjunctions, word order) and agreement of tenses within a new sentence.

Syntax and punctuation of indirect speech

In the case of a sentence transition from direct speech to indirect speech, the "loss" of quotes should be taken into account. By and large, from two equivalent independent sentences, we get a complex sentence with a main and a dependent part. Usually in English, such sentences are combined by the union that, although its absence in no way breaks the system:

She told me, "I like black coffee."/ direct speech

She told me that she liked black coffee./ reported speech
She told me she liked black coffee./ reported speech

Note that not only punctuation changes, but also pronouns. We will coordinate the information by analogy with the Russian language. There is a 100% coincidence here, because it is more about the logic of presenting information.

Mary asks me, "Will you come?"
Mary asks me, if I will come.

From this example, it can be seen that the you changes to I, since we are talking about me, respectively, in the presentation, as well as in the Russian language, there will be an agreement on pronouns by person.

This example is also interesting because in direct speech the sentence is a question. In English, there is a certain principle of coordinating word order in translating questions from direct speech into indirect speech. We list the main features of the organization of such proposals:

Firstly, the question mark disappears and is replaced by a simple dot.

Secondly, in indirect speech, sentences regain direct word order. This is explained very simply - there is a dot at the end.

General question introduced by unions if or whether, which translates as " whether" into Russian are not related to subjunctive conjunctions:

Brian asked me, "Will you marry me?"
Brian asked me if I would marry him.

Special questions introduced in question words:

"Why do you love me?" she said.
She said why I loved her.

We are restoring direct word order and omit the auxiliary verb in indirect speech.

Imperative sentences combined in indirect speech through a particle to. Punctuation marks (quotes and exclamation marks, if any) disappear:

Matthew asked me, "Play the piano, please."
Matthew asked me to play the piano.

Negative imperative sentences With don't introduced into indirect speech through not to:

Bobby said, "Don't smoke, Laura!"
Bobby told Laura not to smoke.

Coordination of tenses in indirect speech

Coordination of tenses can cause difficulties when the predicate of the main sentence (directly the words of the author) is used in one of the forms of the past tense. If a predicate the main clause is expressed by the verb in present time, then the sentence in indirect speech retains the verb forms in all parts of the sentence:

Dan says, "You look so fine!"
Dan says I look great.

Julia asks do you come back?"
Julia asks me when I come back.

Agreement with the predicate in the past tense

Here the principle applies - the predicate subordinate clause(what was in quotes) will be introduced into indirect speech in time a step earlier, that is:

present will go to Past
Future will go to Past
Past will go to past perfect

1. The action of the subordinate clause occurs simultaneously with the action of the main or expressed by the verb in the future tense. In this case, it is used past simple or Past Continuous:

He said, "I love my wife."
He said he loved his wife.

He asked, "What are are you doing?"
He asked what I was doing.

Mike was told, "They will arrive tomorrow."
Mike was told that they would arrive the next day.

2. The action of direct speech happened before. In this case Perfect tenses are used:

Alex asked, " Did you go to the party yesterday?"
Alex asked if I had gone to the party the day before.

Please take into account the changing circumstances of the time. Yesterday, for example, according to the rules English grammar can never be used with perfect tenses. We have replaced it with the day before while retaining the essence of the concept yesterday", a tomorrow in the first paragraph on the next day.

Do not do in indirect speech without exceptions. Tenses will not agree, but will be preserved in both sentences if there is a specific date or it is a well-known fact:

He said, "The tower was built in 1255 ."
He said that the tower was built in 1255 .

We wish you interesting practice and success in coordination!

Victoria Tetkina

Everyone has probably heard of such grammatical terms as "direct and indirect speech". In Russian, it is not difficult for us to translate direct speech into indirect speech. "Who is that girl at the window?" - "She's my sister". This is direct speech, i.e. dialogue between two people. In indirect speech, it looks like this: "Sasha asked me who this girl was at the window, and I answered that this was my sister."

How to translate direct speech into indirect

We translate direct speech in English without difficulty, but how can we turn it into indirect? For this there are certain rules. As usual, such sentences begin with a main clause, such as "he says, she said, I was asked, she asked, etc.", followed by a subordinate clause.

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He says she is sick

In this case, “he says” is the main clause, and “that she got sick” is a subordinate clause. There are no particular difficulties with the translation of declarative sentences into indirect speech: the words of the author become the main sentence, and direct speech becomes a subordinate clause, which is introduced by the union that : He says she has fallen ill.

Mary says: “Yesterday I saw a new film with Brad Pitt”	Mary says that yesterday she saw a new film with Brad Pitt.
Mr. Smith says: “I like traveling. I have been to many countries”	Mr. Smith says that he likes traveling and he has been to many countries.

Question in indirect speech

When we translate interrogative sentences into indirect speech, it is necessary to take into account some nuances.

1. Word order in an English indirect direct question , that is, as in the affirmative sentence:

Sentences with let's are translated into indirect speech in two ways: 1) using a verb suggest - suggest and union that + should :
Let's watch a new film on TV. — He suggested that we should watch a new film on TV. - Let's watch New film on TV - He suggested watching a new movie on TV.
Let's go to the beach - She suggested that we should go to the beach. - Let's go to the beach - She suggested going to the beach.

2) using a verb suggest - suggest + ING form of the verb

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Direct speech and indirect speech

In English, as in Russian, there are concepts of direct speech and indirect speech:

Pay attention to the punctuation marks in sentences with direct speech. In English, direct speech is also enclosed in quotation marks, which are placed at the top of the line (“ ”). A period or other punctuation marks are placed inside quotation marks. The words of the author may precede direct speech, or may follow it. In both cases, they are separated from direct speech by a comma.

He said, “I am busy today.” / “I'm busy today,” he said.

He asked me, “Are you busy?” / “Are you busy?” he asked me.

He said, “What a nice weather today!” / “What a nice weather today!” he said.

Features of translating direct speech into indirect

In order to convey someone else's statement in indirect speech, it is necessary to take into account what direct speech is: a statement, a question, or an order / request. Below we consider the features of the transmission of declarative sentences in indirect speech.

Statements in indirect speech

If someone else's statement is a statement (i.e., an ordinary declarative sentence), then in order to convey it in indirect speech, you need to pay attention to the following:

That in indirect speech / verbs introducing indirect speech

Indirect speech is introduced by the union that (what), which is often omitted:

He says, “I am busy.” — He says that he is busy. / He says he is busy.
He says, "I'm busy." - He says, what He is busy.

If in the words introducing direct speech (that is, in the words of the author), the verb is used say without an addition indicating the person to whom the speech is addressed, then say is preserved; if the verb say used with an addition (required with to), for example, said to me, then say changes to tell+ addition without the preposition to (told me):

Personal and possessive pronouns

All personal and possessive pronouns direct speech are replaced by meaning:

Present tense of the verb introducing indirect speech

If a verb present or future tense(Present Simple, Present Perfect, Future Simple), then the verb in indirect speech (in the subordinate clause) remains in the same tense as it was in direct speech:

Past tense of the verb introducing indirect speech

If a verb(in the main sentence), introducing indirect speech, used in one of the past tenses, then the tense of the direct speech verb changes in indirect speech (in the subordinate clause) to another corresponding tense according to the tense agreement rule in English:

Direct speech		Indirect speech
present simple He said, “I work every day.” He said, "I work every day."		past simple He said that he worked every day. He said he works every day.
Present Continuous He said, “I am working.” He said, "I'm working."		Past continuous He said that he was working. He said he was working.
Present Perfect He said, “I have finished.” He said, "I'm done."		past perfect He said that he had finished. He said he was done.
Present Perfect Continuous He said, “It has been raining since morning.” He said, "It's been raining since morning."		Past Perfect Continuous He said that it had been raining since morning. He said that it's raining since morning.
past simple He said, “I bought a car.” He said, "I bought a car."		past perfect He said that he had bought a car. He said he bought a car.
Past continuous He said, “I was working.” He said: "I worked."		Past Perfect Continuous He said that he had been working. He said he was working.
Past Perfect* He said, “I had finished my work by 7 o’clock.” He said, "I finished my work by 7 o'clock."		past perfect He said that he had finished his work by 7 o'clock. He said that he had finished his work by 7 o'clock.
Past Perfect Continuous* He said, “I had been working.” He said: "I worked."		Past Perfect Continuous He said that he had been working. He said he was working.
Future Simple* He said, “I will come later.” He said, "I'll come later."		Future-in-the-Past He said that he would come later. He said he would come later.
can He said, “I can speak Spanish.” He said, "I can speak Spanish."		could He said that he could speak Spanish. He said that he could speak Spanish.
may= "opportunity" He said, “I may come later.” He said "I might come later".		might He said that he might come later. He said that he might come later.
may= "permission" He said, “You may wait in the hall.” He said, "You can wait in the lobby."		could He said that we could wait in the hall. He said we could wait in the lobby.
have to He said, “I have to go.” He said, "I have to go."		had to He said that he had to go. He said he had to go.
must= "need" He said, “I must study.” He said "I have to practice".		had to He said that he had to study. He said that he should be engaged.
must= "order/advice, suggestion" He said, “It must be nice to live in London.” He said, "It must be great to live in London."		He said that it must be nice to live in London. He said that living in London must be great.
should He said, “I should call my mum.” He said, "I should call my (my) mother."		should He said that he should call his mum. He said that he should call his (his) mother.
ought to He said, “You ought to help her.” He said, "You should help her."		ought to He said that I ought to help her. He said that I should help her.

* If Past Perfect (or Past Perfect Continuous) is used in direct speech, then this tense is preserved in indirect speech.
* If one of the future tenses was used in direct speech, then in indirect speech it changes to the corresponding future in the past. Simply put, will changes to would.

Demonstrative pronouns and adverbs of time/place

Demonstrative pronouns, some adverbs of time and place in indirect speech are replaced in meaning by other words:

Replacement of demonstrative pronouns and adverbs of time/place
Direct speech Indirect speech
this(this, this, this) that(that, that, that)
these(these) those(those)
now(now, now) then(then)
yesterday(yesterday) the day before(the day before)
tomorrow(tomorrow) the next day / the next day(the next day)
here(here) there(there)
today(today) that day(that day)
the day after tomorrow(day after tomorrow) two days later(Two days later)
the day before yesterday(the day before yesterday) two days before(two days earlier)
ago(ago) before(before)
last week(last week) the week before / the previous week(one week earlier)

Note that this substitution of demonstrative pronouns and adverbs must be done by meaning, not automatically. It all depends on when we heard direct speech and when we transmit it in indirect speech.
For example:
Ann says, “I am leaving today.”- Ann says "I'm leaving today" .
Let us convey what Ann said in indirect speech:
Ann said that she was leaving today. - Ann said that she was leaving today (today is not over yet, so we say that “she is leaving today”; in this case, replacing today with that day would not be logical).
Ann said that she was leaving that day.- Ann said that she was leaving that day (a week has passed since then, and only a week later we transmit this information, so in this case it is logical to replace today with that day).

Read about the features of the transmission of interrogative and imperative sentences in indirect speech in the following sections.

When learning English, it is necessary to read literature, and the most difficult thing is to retell it when direct speech ( direct speech) becomes indirect ( reported/indirect speech).

Let's take a closer look.

Direct speech is a literal introduction to the speech of the author of any replicas. Syntactic structures are used in agreement with the face of the speaker.

She says, "I will come"/ She says: "I will come."

Indirect speech is a way of introducing someone else's speech into your speech. In this context, sentences are built in the third person.

She says that she will come/ She says she will come.

When considering the transition from direct to indirect speech, it is important to consider two factors: the organization of syntax and punctuation (coordination and organization of words, the rejection of quotation marks, the introduction of auxiliary conjunctions, word order) and the coordination of tenses within a new sentence.

Syntax and punctuation of indirect speech:

When a transition is made from direct speech to indirect speech, the first thing that changes is the quotation marks. In fact, from two equivalent independent sentences, a complex sentence is obtained with a main and dependent part, which are united by the union that. But in some cases, you can do without it.

He told me, "I like black coffee" / direct speech

He told me that he liked black coffee. / reported speech

He told me he liked black coffee. / reported speech

Not only punctuation has changed, but also pronouns, and in this case, by analogy with the Russian language, because we are talking about the logic of presenting information.

Ann asks me, "Will you come?"

Ann asks me if I will come.

This example shows that the pronoun you changes to I, because it is about me, so in the presentation, as in Russian, there will be an agreement on pronouns by person.

This example uses an interrogative sentence in direct speech, which allows us to consider the principle of matching word order in translating questions from direct speech into indirect speech in English:

The question mark disappears and is replaced by a simple dot;

In indirect speech, sentences regain direct word order and end with a dot.

The general question is introduced by conjunctions if or whether, which can be translated into Russian as " whether».

John asked me, "Will you marry me?"

John asked me if I would marry him.

Special questions are introduced with interrogative words:

"Why do you love me?" she said.

She said why I loved her.

The direct word order is restored, and the auxiliary verb is omitted in indirect speech.

Imperative sentences are combined in indirect speech through a particle to. Punctuation marks are missing:

Paulo asked me, "Play the piano, please."

Paulo asked me to play the piano.

Negative imperative sentences with don't introduced into indirect speech through not to:

Sean said, "Don't smoke, Lisa!"

Sean told Laura not to smoke.

Coordination of tenses in indirect speech:

Coordination of tenses can cause difficulties when the predicate of the main sentence (directly the words of the author) is used in one of the forms of the past tense. If the predicate of the main sentence is expressed by a verb in the present tense, then the sentence in indirect speech retains the verb forms in all parts of the sentence:

Michael says, "You look so fine!"

Michael says I look great.

Sarah Askes - When do you come back?

Sarah asks me when I come back.

Agreement with the predicate in the past tense:

The predicate of the subordinate clause (what was in quotation marks) will be introduced into indirect speech in time a step earlier, that is:

Present will go to Past

Future will go to Past

Past will go to Past Perfect

True, it is worth considering the changing circumstances of the time. For example, yesterday, according to the rules of English grammar, can never be used with perfect tenses. So it should be replaced the day before, keeping the essence of the concept of "yesterday", and tomorrow - on the next day.

Last but not least, tenses will not agree, but will be preserved in both sentences if it is a well-known fact or a specific date is used in the sentence.

Today we studied the translation of direct speech into indirect!