Reported Speech - Complete Guide for Spanish Speakers

🎯 Why This Matters

Transmitting words of others.

Learning Outcome

Retelling skill.

🇪🇸 The Challenge

Tense backshift. When reporting what someone said, English shifts tenses back (said → had said). Spanish has similar rules but less strict application.

🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 Less strict backshift in Spanish

Problem: Spanish often allows present tense in indirect speech

Watch out: Keeping present tense: 'He said he IS tired'

✅ Fix: Always shift tenses back in English: is→was, will→would, can→could

🧠 Mental Note: Spanish: 'Dijo que está/estaba cansado' (both OK). English: 'He said he WAS tired' (only)

❌ 'She said she likes pizza' → ✅ 'She said she liked pizza'

🇪🇸 Same backshift challenge

Problem: Castilian Spanish has similar flexibility

Watch out: Not applying backshift consistently

✅ Fix: Think of reported speech as moving everything one step into the past

'Dijo que vendrá' → 'He said he WOULD come' (not 'will come')

🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)

The Time Machine Shift

When reporting speech, everything shifts ONE STEP BACK in time: ⏰ THE BACKSHIFT RULE: Direct → Reported - 'I AM happy' → She said she WAS happy - 'I LIKE pizza' → He said he LIKED pizza - 'I WENT home' → She said she HAD GONE home - 'I WILL call' → He said he WOULD call - 'I CAN help' → She said she COULD help PRONOUNS also change: - I → he/she - you → I/he/she - my → his/her TIME WORDS shift: - today → that day - tomorrow → the next day - yesterday → the day before - here → there

Everything moves one step into the past. Present → Past. Past → Past Perfect. Will → Would.

🗣️ Pronunciation Guide

How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:

Said vs Told

Spanish Habit: Using 'said' with person directly

English Reality: SAID = no person object. TOLD = needs person object

Examples:

He SAID he was tired (correct)
He SAID ME he was tired (wrong)
He TOLD ME he was tired (correct)

Practice: SAID + that clause. TOLD + person + that clause.

📖 How It Works

Transformation drills with tense concordance.

Learning Strategy

Teacher Recommendation: Teacher recommended

Time Investment: 6 hours

🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)

These words/phrases appear with this structure:

English	Spanish	Example
said (that)	dijo que	She said that she was busy
told me (that)	me dijo que	He told me that he would help
asked if/whether	preguntó si	She asked if I was coming
explained that	explicó que	He explained that it was difficult
mentioned that	mencionó que	She mentioned that she had been there

💬 Real Examples

Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:

Example 1: Present to Past

✅ CORRECT: "He said he was tired."

🇪🇸 Translation: "Él dijo que estaba cansado."

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "He said he is tired."

Why wrong? In reported speech, present (is) becomes past (was)

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Spanish allows both: 'dijo que está/estaba'. English requires backshift!

Direct: 'I am tired' → Reported: 'He said he was tired'

Example 2: Past to Past Perfect

✅ CORRECT: "She said she had seen the movie."

🇪🇸 Translation: "Ella dijo que había visto la película."

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "She said she saw the movie."

Why wrong? Past (saw) should become Past Perfect (had seen) in reported speech

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Spanish often skips this step. English formal writing requires it.

Direct: 'I saw the movie' → Reported: 'She said she had seen the movie'

Example 3: Will to Would

✅ CORRECT: "He told me he would come tomorrow."

🇪🇸 Translation: "Me dijo que vendría mañana."

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "He told me he will come tomorrow."

Why wrong? Will becomes would in reported speech

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Spanish conditional matches! 'vendría' = 'would come'

Also: can → could, may → might

✏️ Practice Exercises

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