reported speech in french

Reported Speech in French: Rules and Examples

Learning reported speech in French can seem daunting at first, but with the right guidance and examples, you can master this essential aspect of the language. Reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is when you convey what someone else has said without quoting them directly. Understanding how to use reported speech in French will not only improve your conversational skills but also enhance your comprehension of written and spoken French.

To make this process easier, let’s break down the rules, various forms, and specific examples of reported speech in French.

Understanding the Basics

In French, as in English, reported speech involves a shift in pronouns, verb tenses, and sometimes even the structure of the sentence. When you report what someone else has said, you need to adjust these elements to fit the new context. There are three main types of sentences where reported speech is used: statements, questions, and commands.

Reported Statements

In reported statements, you are conveying a declarative sentence someone else has made. The key here is to adjust the verb tense accordingly.

Direct Speech: Il dit, “Je suis fatigué.” Reported Speech: Il dit qu’il est fatigué.

Notice how “Je suis” changes to “il est” to match the subject and context in the reported speech. When reporting statements in the past tense, the verb tense in the reported clause must also shift.

Direct Speech: Elle a dit, “Je vais partir demain.” Reported Speech: Elle a dit qu’elle allait partir le lendemain.

In this case, “vais” (present tense) changes to “allait” (imperfect tense) and “demain” (tomorrow) changes to “le lendemain” (the next day) to maintain the meaning in the past context.

Reported Questions

Reporting questions in French can be a bit more complex because you need to adjust the word order and sometimes the question words themselves.

Direct Speech: Il demande, “Où vas-tu?” Reported Speech: Il demande où tu vas.

Notice how the subject “tu” comes before the verb “vas” in the reported speech. If the original question is a yes/no question, you need to use “si” (if) to introduce the reported question.

Direct Speech: Elle demande, “Est-ce que tu viens?” Reported Speech: Elle demande si tu viens.

Reported Commands

Reporting commands involves changing the imperative mood to an infinitive construction.

Direct Speech: Il dit, “Ferme la porte!” Reported Speech: Il dit de fermer la porte.

Here, “Ferme” (close) changes to “de fermer” (to close) to match the reported speech format.

Verb Tense Shifts in Reported Speech

One of the most challenging aspects of reported speech in French is understanding the verb tense shifts. Here is a guide to help you navigate these changes:

Present to Imperfect

When the reporting verb is in the past tense, the present tense in the direct speech typically changes to the imperfect tense in the reported speech.

Direct Speech: Il a dit, “Je mange.” Reported Speech: Il a dit qu’il mangeait.

Future to Conditional

Future tense in the direct speech changes to conditional tense in the reported speech.

Direct Speech: Elle a dit, “Je partirai demain.” Reported Speech: Elle a dit qu’elle partirait le lendemain.

Passé Composé to Plus-que-parfait

Passé Composé in the direct speech changes to Plus-que-parfait in the reported speech.

Direct Speech: Il a dit, “J’ai fini mes devoirs.” Reported Speech: Il a dit qu’il avait fini ses devoirs.

Common Reporting Verbs

Here are some common verbs used to introduce reported speech in French:

– dire (to say) – demander (to ask) – répondre (to answer) – expliquer (to explain) – annoncer (to announce) – déclarer (to declare)

Each of these verbs can be used to introduce a reported statement, question, or command. The choice of verb can slightly change the nuance of the reported speech, so it’s important to choose the one that best fits the context.

Examples and Practice

Now that we have covered the rules and structures, let’s look at some examples and practice converting direct speech to reported speech.

Example 1: Direct Speech: Marie a dit, “Je vais au marché.” Reported Speech: Marie a dit qu’elle allait au marché.

Example 2: Direct Speech: Paul a demandé, “Quand est-ce que tu arrives?” Reported Speech: Paul a demandé quand tu arrivais.

Example 3: Direct Speech: Le professeur a dit, “Écrivez vos réponses.” Reported Speech: Le professeur a dit d’écrire vos réponses.

Practice converting these sentences to reported speech:

1. Direct Speech: Jean a dit, “Je suis content.” 2. Direct Speech: Elle a demandé, “Pourquoi es-tu en retard?” 3. Direct Speech: Il a dit, “Prenez vos livres.”

1. Jean a dit qu’il était content. 2. Elle a demandé pourquoi tu étais en retard. 3. Il a dit de prendre vos livres.

Special Cases and Exceptions

There are some special cases and exceptions that you should be aware of when using reported speech in French.

Time and Place References

Time and place references often need to be adjusted in reported speech to match the new context.

Direct Speech: Il a dit, “Je viendrai demain.” Reported Speech: Il a dit qu’il viendrait le lendemain.

Direct Speech: Elle a dit, “Je suis ici.” Reported Speech: Elle a dit qu’elle était là.

Subjunctive Mood

In some cases, especially when expressing doubt, necessity, or emotion, you may need to use the subjunctive mood in the reported speech.

Direct Speech: Il a dit, “Il faut que tu viennes.” Reported Speech: Il a dit qu’il fallait que tu viennes.

Questions Without a Question Word

For yes/no questions without a question word, use “si” to introduce the reported question.

Direct Speech: Elle a demandé, “Tu viens?” Reported Speech: Elle a demandé si tu venais.

Mastering reported speech in French requires practice and a good understanding of verb tense shifts, pronoun changes, and sentence structure adjustments. By familiarizing yourself with the rules and practicing with examples, you can become more confident in using reported speech in your conversations and writing.

Remember, language learning is a gradual process, and making mistakes is part of the journey. Don’t be discouraged if you find reported speech challenging at first. With consistent practice and exposure, you’ll find yourself improving over time.

We hope this guide has been helpful in breaking down the complexities of reported speech in French. Keep practicing, and soon you’ll be able to report speech with ease and accuracy. Bonne chance!

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Reported Speech in French: How to use it?

What is the reported speech in french and how to use it.

In French, reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is used to repeat or report what someone else said or thought, without directly quoting them.

Here’s h ow to use reported speech in French :

1. To form a sentence in reported speech, use a conjugated form of the verb “dire” (to say) followed by the reported statement in its original form.

Example: “Il a dit qu’il allait venir.” (He said that he was going to come.)

2. When reporting speech in the past, the tense of the original statement must be shifted to reflect the fact that it’s being reported in the present. For example, if the original statement was in the present tense, it must be shifted to the past.

3. In French, the pronoun usage and verb conjugation must agree with the original speaker, not the person reporting the speech.

Example: “Il a dit qu’il est fatigué.” (He said that he is tired.)

4. When reporting questions, use the conjunction “si” (if) followed by the reported statement in its original form.

Example: “Il a demandé si je voulais venir.” (He asked if I wanted to come.)

It’s important to practice forming sentences in reported speech in context to get a feel for how it’s used in French.

With time and practice, you’ll be able to express what others have said or thought in French using reported speech with ease.

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Related posts:

• Subject pronouns in french
• French stressed pronouns: Moi, toi, lui, eux… (Short lesson with examples)
• Should I write Quoique or Quoi que in French?
• How to form the French subjunctive? (+Examples)

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How to Use Reported Speech in French : Concordance des Temps

To become proficient in French , you must know how and when to use the different verbal tenses. This applies to reported speech (or indirect speech ) because you have to monitor the verb you’re using because it often changes to express that the speaker is talking about something that has happened.

Tenses used with reported speech

There are different tenses that can be used with a reported speech in french that you want to keep in mind when you’re using it because you might need to change a few things for you to use the verb correctly .

Since you’re expressing what someone else said in the past, and you’re not citing them word by word, you need to change the direct speech rules and keep in mind that some tenses change from one form of speech to the other.

Learn more about the Guide to Indirect and Direct Speech how and when to use them

You need to keep in mind that while using Reported Speech, the verb in the past tense usually appears in the third person of the singular (il/elle) or plural (ils/elles).

How to use the indirect speech

Reported speech (or indirect speech) is used to quote or cite what someone else said without quoting them directly and because it’s used to express something that happened in the past, you need to be extra careful with the verb endings and the tense you’re using.

Here are a few examples of indirect speech with different tenses:

Il dit qu’il est en train de manger.

He says he’s eating.

• Imparfait :

Il a dit qu’il mangeait quand j’étais arrivé.

He said he was eating when I arrived.

• Plus-que-parfait:

Il a dit qu’il avait fini quand j’étais arrivé.

He said he had finished when I got there.

• Conditionnel présent:

Il a dit qu’il viendrait s’il avait le temps.

He said he would come if he had the time.

• Conditionnel passé :

Il aurait dit qu’il serait venu s’il avait eu le temps.

He would have said he would have come if he had the time.

Ready to use different verbal tenses with Reported Speech

We hope that the examples, grammar tips, and definitions helped you understand and employ indirect speech correctly when quoting someone else’s actions that happened in the past. Remember that you have to keep an eye on the tense of the verb in the original statement, so you can choose the correct tense in the reported speech.

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Reported Speech in French

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Lesson outline

• 1. What is the reported speech in French ?
• 2. Recap: what is the direct speech in French ? 
• 3. Formation of the indirect speech in French 
• 4. Grammatical rules of the indirect speech in French
• 4.1. Change of tenses
• 4.2. Change in time markers
• 4.3. ​Change in personal pronouns 
• 4.4. Change in demonstrative pronouns 
• 4.5. Change in possessive adjectives and pronouns 
• 5. Exercises
• 5.1. Fill in the blank exercise for the reported speech with change of tenses and personal pronouns in French
• 5.2. Fill in the blanks exercise about the reported speech with change of time markers in French
• 5.3. Fill in the blank exercise of the reported speech with change in demonstrative, possessive pronouns in French
• 5.4. Fill in the blank exercise for the formation of the reported speech in French

What is the reported speech in French ?

In French, we distinguish the same as in English, between direct (French:  le discours direct ) and indirect speech (French: le discours indirect ). You use the indirect speech when you want to report words that someone said or thoughts . The content of the statement should be reproduced more logically with the use of indirect speech.  The report requires some grammatical transformations.

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Recap: what is the direct speech in french  .

In the direct speech, words are enclosed in quotation marks and without a linking term after the verb of speech. 

• Il pense: "c'est dommage" (he thinks: "it is too bad")
• Il dit 'peut être je devrais aller lui parler" (he says "maybe I should go talk to him")
• Maman a dit "viens me voir tout de suite" (mom said "come see me right now")

Formation of the indirect speech in French 

In the indirect style, the words are connected to the verb of speech by a conjunction as :

• 'que' in the indirect speech to assert something said in the direct speech
• 'si ' in the indirect speech to report a simple question (yes or no)
• 'de' + infinitive in the indirect speech to report an imperative sentence
• 'ce qui' or 'ce que' in the indirect speech to report a 'qu'est ce que/qui ?' or 'que' sentence
• interrogative pronoun in the indirect speech to report an interrogative question 

The indirect speech is initiated by the following verbs: 

• dire  (to say)
• demander (to ask)
• répondre  (to answer)
• affirmer  (to assert, affirm)
• déclarer  (to declare)
• annoncer  (to announce)
• raconter  (to tell)
• expliquer  (to explain)
• prétendre  (to pretend)
• croire  (to believe)
• penser  (to think)
• ordonner  (to order)

Grammatical rules of the indirect speech in French

As you know, the indirect speech is no longer in quotation marks and in colon, therefore the sentence will undergo grammatical transformations in relation with:

• time markers
• personal pronouns
• possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• possessive adjectives

Change of tenses

When the sentence that designates the speaker is in the present tense , the tense remains in the indirect speech:

When the phrase that designates the speaker is in the  past,  the tense in the indirect speech change:

• present → imperfect
• future simple → conditional present
• future perfect (futur antérieur) → past conditional 
• completed past (passé composé) → pluperfect 

Change in time markers

You always keep the previous tenses matched but these changes are useful in narrations when doing indirect speech. 

• Elle pensait: "je vais aller faire les courses demain " → Elle pensait qu'elle allait faire les courses le lendemain .  (She thought that she would go shopping the next day)
• Le juge a dit: "vous ne sortirez pas aujourd'hui " → Le juge a dit qu'il ne sortirait pas ce jour-là .  (The judge said that he will not go out on that day)
• Mon père a dit " hier , j'ai acheté un cadeau pour ta mère" → Mon père a dit qu'il avait acheté un cadeau pour ma mère, la veille .  (My father said that he had bought a gift for my mother, last night)
• Elle m'a dit: " mardi prochain , je vais à Londres" → Elle m'a dit qu'elle allais à Londres, le mardi suivant .  (She told me that she was going to London, next Tuesday)

​Change in personal pronouns 

In the indirect style the tense stays the same, but you have to be logical with the situation. When the speaker talks about himself, you logically use the 3rd personal pronoun and as the others pronouns.

Change in demonstrative pronouns 

In the indirect speech, you use a demonstrative pronoun to report what the speaker has said. 

Change in possessive adjectives and pronouns 

In the indirect speech, you use a possessive pronoun  and adjectives  to report what is said. In this case, you also have to logically adapt to the situation just like the personal pronouns. 

Fill in the blank exercise for the reported speech with change of tenses and personal pronouns in French

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A1 grammar guides.

• Verbs: Present Tense
• Nouns: Singular and Plural
• Articles: Definite and Indefinite
• Verbs: 'être' and 'avoir'
• Personal Pronouns
• Adjectives: Agreement
• Interrogative Sentences
• Prepositions: Location
• Conjunctions
• Demonstratives
• Direct Object Pronouns
• Possessive Adjectives
• Verbs: Near Future Tense

A2 Grammar Guides

• Present Tense Verbs
• Past Tense Verbs
• Future Tense Verbs
• Interrogative Form
• Reflexive Verbs
• Prepositions
• Imperative Mood
• Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns
• Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns
• Comparative and Superlative
• Present Participle
• Direct and Indirect Speech
• Simple Conditional
• Relative Pronouns
• Compound Tenses
• Subjunctive Mood

B1 Grammar Guides

• Intermediate Verb Conjugation
• Past Perfect Tense
• Pluperfect Tense
• Present Subjunctive
• Conditional Mood
• Adjectives and Agreement
• Passive and Active Voice
• Demonstrative Pronouns
• Object Pronouns
• Superlative forms
• Past Subjunctive
• Causative Construction
• Future Perfect Tense
• Interrogative Pronouns

B2 Grammar Guides

• Advanced Verb Tenses
• Conditional and Concessive Phrases
• Advanced Relative Clauses
• Impersonal Constructions
• Reflexive Verbs in Passive Sentences
• Indirect Speech
• Participle Agreement Rules
• Negation Forms
• Complex Adjective Usage
• Superlative Usage
• Gerund Usage
• Idiomatic Usage of Avoir and Être
• Coordinate and Subordinate Clauses
• Indirect Object Pronouns
• Advanced Preposition Usage
• Reflexive Pronouns

C1 Grammar Guides

• Advanced Tenses Review

Indirect Discourse

• Passive Voice Enhancement
• Subordinate Clauses: Inversion and Conjunctions
• Past Historic Tense
• Causal Relationships and Correlation
• Negation & Partial Negation
• Hypothesis and Supposition
• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Rhythmic Patterns in Complex Sentences

C2 Grammar Guides

• Complex Sentences and Conjunctions
• Perfecting shifts in Tense
• Advanced Adjectival Agreement rules
• Advanced Subjunctive Use
• Mastering Grammatical Mood
• Optimal Pronoun Usage
• Exploring the Passive Voice
• The Conditional Perfect
• Exploring Compound Tenses
• Advanced Prepositions and Conjunctions
• Complex Ethical Formulations
• Advanced Nominalization

In French, indirect discourse (also known as reported speech) is used to report someone else's statements or thoughts in a polished manner. It allows us to convey information from another person without directly quoting them. Indirect discourse is essential in both written and spoken French, and it helps to differentiate between different levels of certainty and different sources of information.

Introduction to Indirect Discourse

Indirect discourse is used to report statements, questions, and thoughts from a different speaker or source while maintaining grammatical correctness and clarity. When using indirect discourse, there are a few key points to keep in mind:

Shift in Pronouns and Verb Forms: When reporting statements or thoughts, there is usually a shift in pronouns and verb forms from the original speaker's perspective to the reporting perspective.

Introduction Verb: An introduction verb is used to introduce the reported speech. The choice of the introduction verb can vary depending on the type of speech being reported, the level of certainty, and the source of information.

Tense Changes: The tense of the verb often changes when the speech is reported indirectly. This helps to indicate whether the reported speech is in the past, present, or future relative to the reporting verb.

Now let's dive into the details of how to construct indirect discourse and differentiate between different levels of certainty and sources of information.

Levels of Certainty

In indirect discourse, the level of certainty can be conveyed through the choice of introduction verb. Here are some commonly used introduction verbs and their levels of certainty:

Affirmative : The speaker is certain about the information.

• affirmer que - to affirm that
• certifier que - to certify that
• déclarer que - to declare that
• garantir que - to guarantee that
• assurer que - to assure that

Neutral : The speaker presents the information without implying certainty or doubt.

• dire que - to say that
• annoncer que - to announce that
• rapporter que - to report that
• informer que - to inform that
• expliquer que - to explain that

Doubt / Uncertainty : The speaker is unsure about the information.

• penser que - to think that
• croire que - to believe that
• imaginer que - to imagine that
• supposer que - to suppose that
• craindre que - to fear that

Sources of Information

When reporting indirect discourse, it's essential to indicate the source of the information. Here are some common expression used for that:

Direct Attribution : The speaker explicitly mentions the source of the information.

• Selon Paul, - According to Paul,
• D'après Marie, - According to Marie,
• Comme le dit Marc, - As Marc says,
• Mentionnant Jean, - Mentioning Jean,
• En citant Sophie, - Quoting Sophie,

Indirect Attribution : The speaker indirectly refers to the source of the information.

• Il/Elle affirme - He/She affirms
• On rapporte - It is reported
• Une source explique - A source explains
• Des études montrent - Studies show

Now let's see how to construct indirect discourse using the information discussed above:

Direct Speech: "Je suis fatigué." (I am tired.)

• Indirect Speech (Neutral): Elle dit qu'elle est fatiguée. (She says that she is tired.)
• Indirect Speech (Certainty): Il affirme qu'il est fatigué. (He affirms that he is tired.)
• Indirect Speech (Doubt): Je pense qu'il est fatigué. (I think he is tired.)

Direct Speech: "Nous irons à la plage demain." (We will go to the beach tomorrow.)

• Indirect Speech (Neutral): Il annonce qu'ils iront à la plage demain. (He announces that they will go to the beach tomorrow.)

Direct Speech: "Selon les experts, il faut manger sainement." (According to experts, one should eat healthily.)

• Indirect Speech (Direct Attribution): Selon les experts, il faut manger sainement. (According to experts, one should eat healthily.)
• Indirect Speech (Indirect Attribution): Il est expliqué qu'il faut manger sainement. (It is explained that one should eat healthily.)

Remember to adapt the pronouns and verb forms accordingly based on the shift from direct to indirect speech.

Congratulations! You now have a solid understanding of indirect discourse in French. Practice constructing sentences using this grammar rule to further reinforce your skills.

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