Present and Future tenses in Reported speech

Rules for Forming Reported Speech

1. When reporting a statement (not a question), we generally use that:

In short sentences, we often drop that, but in writing it is a good idea to use it all the time, even for short sentences!

NOTE: In reported speech, we repeat that after and, but and or.

NOTE: There are no commas before or after and, but or or in reported speech.

NOTE: There are no commas before or after that!

She said that he was hungry and that he wanted to eat soon.

He told me that he had never been to France but that he wanted to go.

They promised us that they would tell the truth.

2. When reporting a question, we use if for yes/no questions or the appropriate question words (who, what, where, when, how, why) for information questions:

NOTE: You never use that when reporting a question!

NOTE: You never use a question mark (?) when reporting a question!

He asked me if I was going to the office party. ("Are you going to the...")

He asked me when I would call him. ("When will you call me?")

He asked me how much my rent was. ("How much is your rent?")

3a. The following verbs must be used with an indirect object:

(There is no to before these indirect objects!)

told He told me that he was hungry.

informed We informed her that the store was closed.

reminded He reminded the staff that the meeting was at 8 PM.

3b. The following verbs may be used with an indirect object, but the indirect object is optional (up to you).

(There is no to before these indirect objects!)

He asked his wife why she was so angry.

OR He asked why she was so angry.

asked We asked [her] where her husband was.

answered He answered [me] that he couldn't help.

promised She promised [him] that she would stay.

3c. The following verbs need to before the indirect object. For any verb that needs to before the indirect object, the indirect object is optional:

He said to me that he was the chief of police.

OR He said that he was the chief of police.

said He said [to his wife] that he was hungry.

explained We explained [to her] why we had been late.

exclaimed She exclaimed [to the boy] that she was furious.

complained They complained [to us] that the room was too cold.

When talking about some action in present or future tenses, using reported speech, there will no be any tense changes. If we say “He says, He has said, he will say (Present Simple, Presnet Perfect, Future Simple), while changing into indirect speech the tenses stay the same.

Example:

Direct speech: He says, “The weather is fine.”

Indirect speech: He says (that) the weather is fine.

Present Simple He says, “I go to school every day.”	Present Simple He says (that) he goes to school every day.
Present Perfect He has said, “I go to school every day.”	Present Perfect He has said (that) he goes to school every day.
Future Simple He will say, “I go to school every day.”	Future Simple He will say, “I go to school every day.”

NOTE: that is written in parenthesis because it can be omitted in the indirect speech.

He says (that) the weather is fine. – this variant is also correct.

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