Si has estudiado alguna vez inglés, probablemente te hayas tenido que enfrentar a lo que se conoce como reported speech o discurso indirecto. El discurso indirecto sirve para contar un hecho con tus propias palabras, sin necesidad de decirlo de manera textual.

Veamos algunos ejemplos:

• He said, “I saw a small cat on the street”.
• He said (that) he had seen a small cat on the street.

• “He is leaving Madrid”, Maria told me.
•  Maria told me he was leaving Madrid.

• “I’ve already been to London”, Clara said.
• Clara said she’d already been to London.

A simple vista no parece muy complicado, en la práctica tampoco lo es, sin embargo hay que tener en cuenta una serie de puntos fundamentales a la hora de usarlo.‍

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Los tiempos verbales cambian

Present Simple → Past Simple

• “I love summer”, she said. → She said she loved summer.

Present Continuous → Past Continuous

• “I am eating ice cream”, she said. →  She said she was eating ice cream.

Present Perfect → Past Perfect

• “She has worked this morning” → She said she had been working this morning. 

Past Simple → Past Perfect 

• “Clara did it”, she said. → She said that Clara had done it. 

Past  Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous

• “I was crying”, she said. →  She said she had been crying. 

Present Perfect → Present Perfect Continuous

• “He has been running this week”, she said. → She said he had been running this week.

Los únicos que no cambian son:

• Past Perfect Simple 

• “He had worked as a doctor”, she said. → She said he had worked as a doctor. 

• Past Perfect Continuous

• “He had been working as a doctor”, she said. → She said he had been working as a doctor.

Ambos permanecen en el mismo tiempo verbal. 

Ésta es la clave fundamental para realizar el reported speech, realizar ejercicios de inglés para practicarlo puede ser una buena forma de cometer errores antes de llevarlo a la práctica, puede resultar confuso al principio pero acaba siendo un acción automática.

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‍Los verbos modales también cambian.

Este tipo de cambios afecta también a muchos de los modal verbs, especialmente a los más usados.

• Can → Could

• “I can speak italian” she said. → She said she could speak italian.

• Must → Had to

• “He must be there at 17:00” she said. → She said he had to be there at 17:00

• Will → Would

• I’ll teach spanish tomorrow she said. → She said she would  teach spanish tomorrow.

• May → Might

• “I may speak to Carmen” → She said she might speak to Carmen. 

• Shall → should

• “What shall we do?” she said. → she asked what should we do.

Importante: Con “would”, “could”, “should”, “might” y “ought to”, el tiempo no cambia.

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Los adverbios también cambian al usar el discurso indirecto.

Por regla general lo hacen ya que solemos pasar la acción al pasado

• Today → That day
• Tonight→ That night
• Tomorrow →  The next day
• Next day /week/ month → The following day / week month / year
• Now → Then
• Here →  There
• Yesterday → The previous day
• Last week / month / year → the previous week / month/year

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Con estas reglas ya tienes la claves para realizar un reported speech perfecto. Todo se basa en la práctica pero si tienes en cuenta estas reglas básicas podrás manejarte sin problema. 

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