rules of interrogative sentences in reported speech

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Interrogative sentences in reported speech: rules and examples

Hey learners! In this post, we will master how to change direct speech to indirect speech when the reported speech in the direct speech is an interrogative sentence. Before we do that, we must know what direct and indirect speech is.

What is a direct speech?

• Important things to understand:

Process/steps of changing Interrogative sentences (reported speech) into indirect speech:

Direct speech definition: It is a way to narrate what someone said using the speaker’s exact words. The reported speech (the speaker’s words) is placed in quotation marks and is offset using a comma.

What is an indirect speech?

Indirect speech definition: it is a way to narrate what someone said but not using the speaker’s exact words. Unlike a direct speech, it is not placed in quotation marks and separated by a comma.

Direct speech: She said to me, “Do you love me?” Indirect speech: She told me if I loved her.

Important things to understand :

1. Directing speech: It is the part (clause) that you (the person who narrates the speaker’s original words) say. In the above examples, “She said to me” and “She told me” are reporting speeches. These are the parts the narrator of the reported speech says.

2. Directed speech: it is the part that comes from the original speaker. In the above examples, “ Do you love me? “ and “ if I loved her “ are reported speeches.

Interrogative sentences in the reported speech

Interrogative sentence definition: Sentences that are used to ask questions are called interrogative sentences. They end with a question mark.

There are two types of interrogative sentences:

• Ones that can be answered in YES or NO .
• Ones that can not be answered in YES or NO . They need to be explained.
• Direct speech : My uncle said to me, “What are you studying?”
• Direct speech : She asked me, “Do you still love me?”
• Indirect speech: My uncle asked me what I was studying.
• Indirect speech: She asked me if I still loved her .

NOTE : Interrogative sentences in direct speech are changed into assertive sentences.

• Remove the quotation marks and the comma from the reported speech.
• Put the question word (WH family word) at the beginning of the reported speech when the question can’t be answered in YES or NO. If the question can be answered in YES/NO, replace the helping verb (auxiliary) with IF or WHETHER.
• Put the subject of the reported speech after it.
• Put the verb after the subject.
• Replace the question mark with a period/full stop.
• The reporting verb SAY in the direct speech is changed into ASK/INQUIRE.

NOTE : Interrogative sentences that can be answered in YES/NO start with auxiliary verbs (is/am/are/do/does/has/have/will/shall/can/could/may/might/should/would…). And interrogative sentences that can’t be answered in simple YES/NO start with WH family words (what/why/where/when/how/who/whom).

Direct speech structure : Auxiliary verb + subject + main verb + subject complement? Auxiliary verb + subject + main verb + object/modifier?

Indirect speech structure : If/whether + subject + main verb + subject complement. If/whether + subject + main verb + object/modifier.

• Direct speech: I asked her, “Will you go out with me?” Indirect speech: I asked her if/whether she would go out with me.
• Direct speech: The guy on the street said to me, ” Do you know whom you are messing with?” Indirect speech: The guy on the street asked me if I knew whom I was messing with.
• Direct speech: On the very first date, she asked me, “Have you kissed a girl?” Indirect speech: On the very first date, she asked me if I had kissed a girl.
• Direct speech: The other night, Jon asked me, “Are you taking drugs?” Indirect speech: The other night, Jon asked me if I was taking drugs.
• Direct speech: She said, “Can you kiss me right now?” Indirect speech: She asked if I could kiss her right then.

In the indirect speech of the reported part, we replace the auxiliary verb with IF or WHETHER . The subject is put before the verb so that the interrogative sentence changes into an assertive sentence.

All these questions can be answered in YES/NO. If the questions can’t be answered in YES/NO, don’t use if/whether . Let’s look at the following examples:

Direct speech structure : WH family word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb + object/modifier (optional)?

Indirect speech structure : WH family word + subject + main verb + object/modifier.

• Direct speech: The police asked, “What were you doing when the incident happened?” Indirect speech: The police asked what I had been doing when the incident had happened .
• Direct speech: He said, “What can I do for you?” Indirect speech: He asked what he could do for me.
• Direct speech: Ron asked my father, “What do you do?” Indirect speech: Ron asked my father what he did.
• Direct speech: She said to us, “What do you think of yourselves?” Indirect speech: She asked us what we thought of ourselves.
• Direct speech: My brother asked, “Who is that girl?” Indirect speech: My brother asked who that girl was.

Now, we know how to change an interrogative sentence into a reported speech. Feel free to share your question, doubt, or feedback in the comment section, and also, share the post with the people that need it.

For one-on-one classes, contact me at  [email protected] .

Ashish Sharma

Ashish found his first love—the English language—a few years back. Since then, he has been immersed in the language, breaking down the language and teaching it to passionate English learners. He has a flair for listening to the English language (podcasts, sitcoms, stories), observing the nuances, and making it easy for English learners. He is known for breaking down complex English topics and making them easy to be understood.

15 thoughts on “Interrogative sentences in reported speech: rules and examples”

Sir in the Wh-question u make wrong indirect speech . Ex.1 The police asked, “what were you doing when the incident happened..? ” Ans-The police asked what I had been doing when the incident had happened.. Plz check this ex if I will wrong then plz tell me where I was wrong…

Hello, Ritesh! Yes, I had forgotten to change the subject of the clause from YOU to I. Thank you for pointing out the mistake!

Sunil said to Sunita, “What was the theme of the story?”

Sunil asked Sunita what the theme of the story was.

Sunita asked sunil that what was the theme of the story. Is it correct or not

It’s not. Correction: Sunita asked Sunil what the theme of the story was. 1) We don’t use two conjunctions together. We can’t. 2) A noun clause does not take a question structure (use inversion in it).

Can it not be, Sunil asked Sunita what had been the theme of the story.

That’s grammatical incorrect. A verb or a verb phrase can’t come before the subject in a dependent clause. Also, the right verb tense of the reported speech is the Simple Past tense.

“Be not so amazed, daughter Miranda”,said Prospero. change this.

That’s not a question.

Calling Miranda as his daughter Prospero forbade/advised her not to be amazed.

the gate keeper said,” who made this mess?”

The gatekeeper asked whom that mess had been made by.

He said to me,” do you know him kiran”.

He asked if me I knew him/kiran.

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• English Grammar
• Reported Speech

Reported Speech - Definition, Rules and Usage with Examples

Reported speech or indirect speech is the form of speech used to convey what was said by someone at some point of time. This article will help you with all that you need to know about reported speech, its meaning, definition, how and when to use them along with examples. Furthermore, try out the practice questions given to check how far you have understood the topic.

Table of Contents

Definition of reported speech, rules to be followed when using reported speech, table 1 – change of pronouns, table 2 – change of adverbs of place and adverbs of time, table 3 – change of tense, table 4 – change of modal verbs, tips to practise reported speech, examples of reported speech, check your understanding of reported speech, frequently asked questions on reported speech in english, what is reported speech.

Reported speech is the form in which one can convey a message said by oneself or someone else, mostly in the past. It can also be said to be the third person view of what someone has said. In this form of speech, you need not use quotation marks as you are not quoting the exact words spoken by the speaker, but just conveying the message.

Now, take a look at the following dictionary definitions for a clearer idea of what it is.

Reported speech, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is defined as “a report of what somebody has said that does not use their exact words.” The Collins Dictionary defines reported speech as “speech which tells you what someone said, but does not use the person’s actual words.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, reported speech is defined as “the act of reporting something that was said, but not using exactly the same words.” The Macmillan Dictionary defines reported speech as “the words that you use to report what someone else has said.”

Reported speech is a little different from direct speech . As it has been discussed already, reported speech is used to tell what someone said and does not use the exact words of the speaker. Take a look at the following rules so that you can make use of reported speech effectively.

• The first thing you have to keep in mind is that you need not use any quotation marks as you are not using the exact words of the speaker.
• You can use the following formula to construct a sentence in the reported speech.

• You can use verbs like said, asked, requested, ordered, complained, exclaimed, screamed, told, etc. If you are just reporting a declarative sentence , you can use verbs like told, said, etc. followed by ‘that’ and end the sentence with a full stop . When you are reporting interrogative sentences, you can use the verbs – enquired, inquired, asked, etc. and remove the question mark . In case you are reporting imperative sentences , you can use verbs like requested, commanded, pleaded, ordered, etc. If you are reporting exclamatory sentences , you can use the verb exclaimed and remove the exclamation mark . Remember that the structure of the sentences also changes accordingly.
• Furthermore, keep in mind that the sentence structure , tense , pronouns , modal verbs , some specific adverbs of place and adverbs of time change when a sentence is transformed into indirect/reported speech.

Transforming Direct Speech into Reported Speech

As discussed earlier, when transforming a sentence from direct speech into reported speech, you will have to change the pronouns, tense and adverbs of time and place used by the speaker. Let us look at the following tables to see how they work.

Here are some tips you can follow to become a pro in using reported speech.

• Select a play, a drama or a short story with dialogues and try transforming the sentences in direct speech into reported speech.
• Write about an incident or speak about a day in your life using reported speech.
• Develop a story by following prompts or on your own using reported speech.

Given below are a few examples to show you how reported speech can be written. Check them out.

• Santana said that she would be auditioning for the lead role in Funny Girl.
• Blaine requested us to help him with the algebraic equations.
• Karishma asked me if I knew where her car keys were.
• The judges announced that the Warblers were the winners of the annual acapella competition.
• Binsha assured that she would reach Bangalore by 8 p.m.
• Kumar said that he had gone to the doctor the previous day.
• Lakshmi asked Teena if she would accompany her to the railway station.
• Jibin told me that he would help me out after lunch.
• The police ordered everyone to leave from the bus stop immediately.
• Rahul said that he was drawing a caricature.

Transform the following sentences into reported speech by making the necessary changes.

1. Rachel said, “I have an interview tomorrow.”

2. Mahesh said, “What is he doing?”

3. Sherly said, “My daughter is playing the lead role in the skit.”

4. Dinesh said, “It is a wonderful movie!”

5. Suresh said, “My son is getting married next month.”

6. Preetha said, “Can you please help me with the invitations?”

7. Anna said, “I look forward to meeting you.”

8. The teacher said, “Make sure you complete the homework before tomorrow.”

9. Sylvester said, “I am not going to cry anymore.”

10. Jade said, “My sister is moving to Los Angeles.”

Now, find out if you have answered all of them correctly.

1. Rachel said that she had an interview the next day.

2. Mahesh asked what he was doing.

3. Sherly said that her daughter was playing the lead role in the skit.

4. Dinesh exclaimed that it was a wonderful movie.

5. Suresh said that his son was getting married the following month.

6. Preetha asked if I could help her with the invitations.

7. Anna said that she looked forward to meeting me.

8. The teacher told us to make sure we completed the homework before the next day.

9. Sylvester said that he was not going to cry anymore.

10. Jade said that his sister was moving to Los Angeles.

What is reported speech?

What is the definition of reported speech.

Reported speech, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is defined as “a report of what somebody has said that does not use their exact words.” The Collins Dictionary defines reported speech as “speech which tells you what someone said, but does not use the person’s actual words.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, reported speech is defined as “the act of reporting something that was said, but not using exactly the same words.” The Macmillan Dictionary defines reported speech as “the words that you use to report what someone else has said.”

What is the formula of reported speech?

You can use the following formula to construct a sentence in the reported speech. Subject said that (report whatever the speaker said)

Give some examples of reported speech.

Given below are a few examples to show you how reported speech can be written.

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Reported Speech – Rules, Examples

| Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond studied Advanced Writing & Editing Essentials at MHC. She’s been an International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author for over a decade. And she’s worked as an Editor for several mid-sized publications. Candace has a keen eye for content editing and a high degree of expertise in Fiction.

They say gossip is a natural part of human life. That’s why language has evolved to develop grammatical rules about the “he said” and “she said” statements. We call them reported speech.

Every time we use reported speech in English, we are talking about something said by someone else in the past. Thinking about it brings me back to high school, when reported speech was the main form of language!

Learn all about the definition, rules, and examples of reported speech as I go over everything. I also included a worksheet at the end of the article so you can test your knowledge of the topic.

What Does Reported Speech Mean?

Reported speech is a term we use when telling someone what another person said. You can do this while speaking or writing.

There are two kinds of reported speech you can use: direct speech and indirect speech. I’ll break each down for you.

A direct speech sentence mentions the exact words the other person said. For example:

• Kryz said, “These are all my necklaces.”

Indirect speech changes the original speaker’s words. For example:

• Kryz said those were all her necklaces.

When we tell someone what another individual said, we use reporting verbs like told, asked, convinced, persuaded, and said. We also change the first-person figure in the quotation into the third-person speaker.

Reported Speech Examples

We usually talk about the past every time we use reported speech. That’s because the time of speaking is already done. For example:

• Direct speech: The employer asked me, “Do you have experience with people in the corporate setting?”

Indirect speech: The employer asked me if I had experience with people in the corporate setting.

• Direct speech: “I’m working on my thesis,” I told James.

Indirect speech: I told James that I was working on my thesis.

Reported Speech Structure

A speech report has two parts: the reporting clause and the reported clause. Read the example below:

• Harry said, “You need to help me.”

The reporting clause here is William said. Meanwhile, the reported clause is the 2nd clause, which is I need your help.

What are the 4 Types of Reported Speech?

Aside from direct and indirect, reported speech can also be divided into four. The four types of reported speech are similar to the kinds of sentences: imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, and declarative.

Reported Speech Rules

The rules for reported speech can be complex. But with enough practice, you’ll be able to master them all.

Choose Whether to Use That or If

The most common conjunction in reported speech is that. You can say, “My aunt says she’s outside,” or “My aunt says that she’s outside.”

Use if when you’re reporting a yes-no question. For example:

• Direct speech: “Are you coming with us?”

Indirect speech: She asked if she was coming with them.

Verb Tense Changes

Change the reporting verb into its past form if the statement is irrelevant now. Remember that some of these words are irregular verbs, meaning they don’t follow the typical -d or -ed pattern. For example:

• Direct speech: I dislike fried chicken.

Reported speech: She said she disliked fried chicken.

Note how the main verb in the reported statement is also in the past tense verb form.

Use the simple present tense in your indirect speech if the initial words remain relevant at the time of reporting. This verb tense also works if the report is something someone would repeat. For example:

• Slater says they’re opening a restaurant soon.
• Maya says she likes dogs.

This rule proves that the choice of verb tense is not a black-and-white question. The reporter needs to analyze the context of the action.

Move the tense backward when the reporting verb is in the past tense. That means:

• Present simple becomes past simple.
• Present perfect becomes past perfect.
• Present continuous becomes past continuous.
• Past simple becomes past perfect.
• Past continuous becomes past perfect continuous.

Here are some examples:

• The singer has left the building. (present perfect)

He said that the singers had left the building. (past perfect)

• Her sister gave her new shows. (past simple)
• She said that her sister had given her new shoes. (past perfect)

If the original speaker is discussing the future, change the tense of the reporting verb into the past form. There’ll also be a change in the auxiliary verbs.

• Will or shall becomes would.
• Will be becomes would be.
• Will have been becomes would have been.
• Will have becomes would have.

For example:

• Direct speech: “I will be there in a moment.”

Indirect speech: She said that she would be there in a moment.

Do not change the verb tenses in indirect speech when the sentence has a time clause. This rule applies when the introductory verb is in the future, present, and present perfect. Here are other conditions where you must not change the tense:

• If the sentence is a fact or generally true.
• If the sentence’s verb is in the unreal past (using second or third conditional).
• If the original speaker reports something right away.
• Do not change had better, would, used to, could, might, etc.

Changes in Place and Time Reference

Changing the place and time adverb when using indirect speech is essential. For example, now becomes then and today becomes that day. Here are more transformations in adverbs of time and places.

• This – that.
• These – those.
• Now – then.
• Here – there.
• Tomorrow – the next/following day.
• Two weeks ago – two weeks before.
• Yesterday – the day before.

Here are some examples.

• Direct speech: “I am baking cookies now.”

Indirect speech: He said he was baking cookies then.

• Direct speech: “Myra went here yesterday.”

Indirect speech: She said Myra went there the day before.

• Direct speech: “I will go to the market tomorrow.”

Indirect speech: She said she would go to the market the next day.

Using Modals

If the direct speech contains a modal verb, make sure to change them accordingly.

• Will becomes would
• Can becomes could
• Shall becomes should or would.
• Direct speech: “Will you come to the ball with me?”

Indirect speech: He asked if he would come to the ball with me.

• Direct speech: “Gina can inspect the room tomorrow because she’s free.”

Indirect speech: He said Gina could inspect the room the next day because she’s free.

However, sometimes, the modal verb should does not change grammatically. For example:

• Direct speech: “He should go to the park.”

Indirect speech: She said that he should go to the park.

Imperative Sentences

To change an imperative sentence into a reported indirect sentence, use to for imperative and not to for negative sentences. Never use the word that in your indirect speech. Another rule is to remove the word please . Instead, say request or say. For example:

• “Please don’t interrupt the event,” said the host.

The host requested them not to interrupt the event.

• Jonah told her, “Be careful.”
• Jonah ordered her to be careful.

Reported Questions

When reporting a direct question, I would use verbs like inquire, wonder, ask, etc. Remember that we don’t use a question mark or exclamation mark for reports of questions. Below is an example I made of how to change question forms.

• Incorrect: He asked me where I live?

Correct: He asked me where I live.

Here’s another example. The first sentence uses direct speech in a present simple question form, while the second is the reported speech.

• Where do you live?

She asked me where I live.

Wrapping Up Reported Speech

My guide has shown you an explanation of reported statements in English. Do you have a better grasp on how to use it now?

Reported speech refers to something that someone else said. It contains a subject, reporting verb, and a reported cause.

Don’t forget my rules for using reported speech. Practice the correct verb tense, modal verbs, time expressions, and place references.

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Home » English Grammar » Direct and Indirect Speech of Interrogative Sentences (2025)

Direct and Indirect Speech of Interrogative Sentences (2025)

Direct and Indirect Speech of Interrogative Sentences into statements, maintaining proper punctuation and grammatical rules has been discussed in the following. Explore how to use reporting verbs , change word order , and use appropriate tone to convey the meaning of the original question for the direct indirect speech of interrogative sentences.

Introduction to Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct speech refers to the exact words spoken by a person, enclosed within quotation marks. On the other hand, indirect speech, also known as reported speech, reports what someone else has said without using their exact words. Instead, it paraphrases or summarizes the original statement.

Understanding Interrogative Sentences

An interrogative sentence is a type of sentence that asks a question and requires an answer. We form interrogative sentences by using an auxiliary verb and subject-verb inversion. For example:

• “Do you like pizza?”
• “What is your name?”
• “Where do you live?” etc.

We use these sentences to gather information, express curiosity, or initiate a conversation.

Direct and Indirect Speech of Interrogative Sentences

Interrogative sentences can be identified by their question structure and the use of question words such as “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” “who,” “whose,” “which,” “how,” etc. Interrogative sentences can also be recognized by using question marks (?) at the end of the sentence.

Direct Speech Introduction

In direct narration, reported speech is introduced with an auxiliary verb or a question word.

For example:

(a) Auxiliary Verb Introduction

• He said to me, “Are you ill?”
• He said to me, “Have you done it?”

(b) Question Word Introduction

• The teacher said to me, “Why are you late?”
• You said to me, “How do you do?”

Ending with a Note of Interrogation

In direct speech, the sentence normally ends with a note of interrogation or (?) .

People also ask

Rules for Direct to Indirect Speech of Interrogative Sentences

Study the following rules on how to change direct speech to indirect speech of Interrogative sentences with proper reporting verbs, change word order, and punctuation marks.

Rule 1: Identification of Reported Speech in Direct Narration

The first thing to remember, find out which kind of sentence it is in the quotation mark or inverted commas under direct narration.

For example,

From the example provided above, we observe that the sentence “Have you done it?” is enclosed within quotation marks or inverted commas in direct narration and begins with a question mark. Hence, we can identify it as an interrogative sentence.

Next, we need to introduce the appropriate rules for transforming direct speech into indirect speech for interrogative sentences.

Direct: He said to me, ‘ Will you go there?’ Indirect: He asked me if I would go there.

Direct: I said to him, ‘ How did you enjoy the movie?’ Indirect: I asked him how he had enjoyed the movie.

Direct: “ Are you coming to the party?” Indirect: She asked if I was coming to the party.

Direct: “ Did you finish your homework?” Indirect: He wanted to know if I had finished my homework.

Direct: “ Have you seen my keys?” Indirect: She wondered if I had seen her keys.

Direct : “ Could you lend me some money?” Indirect: He asked if I could lend him some money.

Direct: “ Where is the nearest post office?” Indirect: He asked where the nearest post office was.

Direct: “ When did they arrive?” Indirect: She wondered when they had arrived.

Direct: “ Why did you leave so early?” Indirect: The boss asked why I had left so early.

Direct: “ Whose book is this?” Indirect: He wanted to know whose book that was.

Rule 2: Changes of Reporting Verb Direct and Indirect Speech of Interrogative Sentences

In Indirect Narration, interrogative Verbs such as “ ask ”, “ enquire ”, “ demand ”, “ want to know ” etc are used as reporting Verbs before the reported Speech in place of simple verbs “ say ” or “ tell ”.

Direct: “Are you coming to the party?” she asked. Indirect: She asked if I was coming to the party.

Direct: “Do you need any help?” he enquired . Indirect : He enquired if I needed any help.

Direct: “Where is the nearest ATM?” she wanted to know. Indirect: She wanted to know where the nearest ATM was.

Direct: “Why didn’t you attend the meeting?” they demanded. Indirect: They asked why I hadn’t attended the meeting.

Direct: “Will you be able to finish the project on time?” he asked. Indirect: He asked if I would be able to finish the project on time.

Direct: “Are they arriving tomorrow?” she asked. Indirect: She asked if they were arriving the next day.

Direct: “Have you seen my keys?” he wanted to know. Indirect: He wanted to know if I had seen his keys.

Direct: “Did you complete the assignment?” she asked. Indirect: She asked if I had completed the assignment.

Direct: “Can you help me with this problem?” he enquired. Indirect: He enquired if I could help him with that problem.

Direct: “How long will the journey take?” she asked. Indirect: She asked how long the journey would take.

Direct: He said to me, ‘When will the down train arrive?’ Indirect: He inquired of me when the down train would arrive.

Direct: I said to him, ‘Where is the post office?’ Indirect: I wanted to know where the post office was.

Rule 3: Interrogative sentences with Yes/No answers (non ‘wh-word’) Examples

If the reported speech in Direct Narration is introduced by Verbs like “ be ”, “ have ”, “and do ”, or any other auxiliary Verbs like “ can ”, “ shall ”, or “ will ”, or (in a simpler way, the Questions that can be answered by Yes , or No ,) the connective “ if ”, “ whether ” is used after the reporting verb or object of the reporting verb in the Indirect Narration.

Direct: I asked him, ‘ Have you eaten the cake?’

Indirect: I asked him if/whether he had eaten the cake.

Direct: He asked the boy, ‘ Did you pass the exam?’

Indirect: He asked the boy if/whether he had passed the exam.

Direct: She said, “ Did you finish the report?” Indirect: She asked if I had finished the report.

Direct: He said, “ Are you going to the concert?” Indirect: He inquired whether I was going to the concert.

Direct: The manager said, “ Will she be attending the meeting?” Indirect: The manager wanted to know if she would be attending the meeting.

Direct: Thet said, “ Have they decided on a location?” Indirect: They asked if a location had been decided on.

Direct: She said, “ Can you help me with this assignment?” Indirect: She wondered if I could help her with the assignment.

Rule 4: Interrogative sentences with ‘wh-word’

If the Reported Speech in Direct Narration is introduced by interrogative pronouns ( who , which ) interrogative adjectives ( what , how much ), or interrogative adverbs ( why, when, where, how ), we can not use the conjunction if ( or whether ). Instead, the Wh-Word with which the reported speech of direct narration begins replaces the ‘ if’ or ‘ whether ‘ by that Wh-Word in indirect narration .

Direct: I said to him, ‘ When will you do it?’

Indirect: I asked him when he would do it.

Direct: He said to her, ‘ What is your name?’

Indirect: He asked her what her name was.

Direct: He said to her, ‘ Whose type-writer are you using?’

Indirect: He inquired of her whose type-writer she was using.

Direct: Father said, ‘ Where have you been so long in the sun, my son?’

Indirect: Father inquired of the son where he had been so long in the sun.

Direct: The king said, ‘ Who is not ready to die for his land, my countrymen?’

Indirect: The king asked his countrymen who were not ready to die for his land.

Rule 5: Change of Punctuation Mark in Indirect speech of Interrogative sentence.

We have to change The Interrogative Form of the Reported Speech in Direct Narration into a Statement or Assertive Sentence in Indirect Narration . At the end of the sentence of Indirect Narration, we must use a full stop ( . ) instead of a question mark ( ? ). So, in Indirect Narration, the Reported Speech will start with the Subject, then the Verb, and then others.

Direct: He said to me, ‘Did you write to me before ?’

Indirect: He asked me if I had written to him before .

Direct: He said to you, ‘Can you tell me your address?’

Indirect: He asked you if you could tell him your address.

Direct: She said to him, ‘Will you help me lift this luggage?’

Indirect: She asked him if he would help her lift that luggage.

Rule 6: Interrogative Sentences with Modals in Indirect Speech

An Interrogative Sentence beginning with “ Shal l” in the Direct Narration, takes the form “ would ” in the Past Tense in the Indirect Narration. We use “should” only when the statement is a Polite question or involves or implies a matter of propriety or duty.

Direct: He said to me, ‘ Shall we reach the village before dawn ?’

Indirect: He asked me if they would reach the village before dawn .

Direct: They said, ‘ Shall we contribute to the Poor Fund?’

Indirect: They asked if they should contribute to the Poor Fund. [ polite question ]

Direct: Ridhi said to me, ‘Could I be of any help to you?’

Indirect: Ridhi asked me if I could be of any help to her.

Rule 7: Direct to Indirect Speech with Tag Questions

Sentence with Question Tags: Sometimes an Interrogative sentence is formed in the Direct Narration by adding some Interrogative Tags to an Assertive sentence.

In Indirect Narration, the tag is omitted after the meaning of the sentence(Affirmation or Negation) has been guessed from it. Sometimes different verbs such as “ think ”, “ hope ”, “ believe ”, and “ ask ” may be used to express that idea in an Indirect Form.

Direct: Robert said, ‘John is a good boy, isn’t it ?’

Indirect: Robert said that he thought that John was a good boy .

Direct: Robin said, ‘The captain did not agree to go, did he?’

Indirect: Robin said that believed that the captain had not agreed to go.

Direct: The teacher said to the boy, ‘You will do the job, won’t you?’

Indirect: The teacher told the boy that he hoped he (the boy) would do the job.

Direct: He said, ‘You are going to market, aren’t you?’

Indirect: He asked me if it was true that I was going to market.

Rule 8: Changes in Persons for Interrogative Sentences

Get the rules on how to make Changes in Persons in indirect narration on the previous page under the General Rules section.

When transforming interrogative sentences from direct to indirect speech, there are changes in the persons involved. Here’s how these changes occur:

Table: Changes in Persons

First Person:

Direct: She asked, “Can I help you?” Indirect: She asked if she could help me.

Second Person:

Direct: He asked me , “Are you coming?” Indirect: He asked if I was coming.

Third Person:

Direct: They asked, “Is she okay?” Indirect: They asked if she was okay.

Rule 9: Change the Tense of Reporting Verb for Interrogative Sentences

Study the rules to change the tense of the Reporting Verb in Indirect Narration and the Verb of the reported speech in indirect narration by going to the above link which is the General Rules section on the previous page.

When converting interrogative sentences from direct to indirect speech, not only the tense of the reporting verb changes, but also its form. Here’s how the tense and forms of the reporting verb are altered:

Table: Change of Tense and Forms

Present Simple:

Direct: He asked, “Do you like ice cream?” Indirect: He asked if I liked ice cream.

Present Continuous:

Direct: She asked, “ Are you watching TV?” Indirect: She asked if I w as watching TV.

Present Perfect:

Direct: They asked, “ Have you finished your homework?” Indirect: They asked if I had finished my homework.

Past Simple:

Direct: He asked, “ Did you enjoy the movie?” Indirect: He asked if I e njoyed the movie.

Past Continuous:

Direct: She asked, “ Were you studying all night?” Indirect: She asked if I had been studying all night.

Some Work Out Examples: Interrogative Sentences Direct Indirect Speech:

Note carefully the Changes in Interrogative Sentences from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech.

Direct: I said to the boy, “Did you go to school?”

Indirect: I asked (enquired of) the boy if he had gone to school.

Direct: “Is not poverty a curse?” my father said to me.

Indirect: My father asked me if poverty was (is) not a curse.

Direct: “Are you weeping?” he asked her.

Indirect: He asked her if she was weeping.

Direct: “Have you brought a pen for me?” the girl said to her father.

Indirect: The girl asked her father if he had brought a pen for her.

Direct: “Can you see a woman seated at a table?” he asked her.

Indirect: He asked her if she could see a woman seated at a table.

Direct: Persome said, “Marie, isn’t the soup boiling yet?”

Indirect: Persome asked Marie if the soup was not boiling by that time.

Direct: “Would you sing for our visitors?” my mother said to my sister.

Indirect: My mother asked my sister if she would sing for our visitors.

Direct: He said to me, “What are you doing ?”

Indirect: He asked me what I was doing.

Direct: He said to me, “When will you go home ?”

Indirect: He enquired of me when I would go home.

Direct: You said to me, “Why have you failed ?”

Indirect: You asked me why I had failed.

Direct: He said to me, “Who has gone to the sea ?”

Indirect: He asked me who had gone to the sea.

Exam Questions Answers 2024:

Direct: Reba said, “Which book is mine ?”

Indirect: Reba asked which book was hers.

Direct: He said to me, “When will the down train arrive ?”

Indirect: He inquired of me when the down train would arrive.

Direct: Mina said, “Why must I stay ?”

Indirect: Mina asked why she must stay.

Direct: He said, “Where is the post office?”

Indirect: He wanted to know where the post office was.

Direct: He said, “How will the Sherpa climb the peak ?”

Indirect: He wondered how the Sherpa would climb the peak.

Direct: She said to me, “Maya can’t speak Hindi, can she”?

Indirect: She told me that she didn’t think Maya could speak Hindi.

Direct: Amal said, “They will not go, will they”?

Indirect: Amal hoped they would not go.

Direct: He said to me, “You are going to the playground, aren’t you?”

Indirect: He asked me whether it was true that I was going to the playground.

Solved Worksheet

Change the following sentences from Direct to Indirect Speech:

1. Ram said to his friends, “Do you want to go to Kolkata with me ?”

2.”Shall we send it to your flat ?” he said.

3. Rina said to Samir, “Are you going today ?”

4. Pradeep said to me, “When will you go home ?”

5. “Whom do you want ?” he said to her.

6. He said to Rita “How is your father ?”

7. “Who told you about my success ?” she said to her friend.

8. The lady said to the man, “May I park my car here ?”

9. “Who has dared to wound you ?” cried the Giant.

10. The workers said to the manager, “When do you like to talk to us ?”

11. The poor woman said, “Will none of you help me today ?”

12. “Can you find your way home ? said I to the little boy.

13. “Which way did you see the thief go ?” asked the policeman.

14. He said to the girl, “Don’t you know my sister ?”

Report the following into Indirect Speech

Turn the following sentences from Direct to Indirect Speech

1. “Have you anything to say on behalf of the prisoner ?”. said the judge to the lawyers.

2. The traveller said, “Are you really telling me the truth ?”

3. He said to the strangers, “Who are you ?”

4. Sanat said to Debu, “Where have you kept my pen ?”

5. She said to the boy, “What are you doing here ?”

6. He said, “What do you want ?”

7. He said to John, “Why are you shouting ?”

8. “Who is our master ?” asked William Tell.

9. Babu said to the stranger, “Who are you?”

10. Pompi said, “Which of the pens do you need ?”

11. “Where do you live”, he asked

Frequently asked questions

1. q: what is an example of direct and indirect speech of an interrogative sentence.

Ans: Interrogative sentence Direct Speech Example: I said to the boy, “Did you go to school?”

Interrogative sentence Indirect Speech Example: I asked (enquired of) the boy if he had gone to school.

2. Q: What is an example of an interrogative sentence indirect?

Ans: interrogative sentence indirect: My father asked me if poverty was (is) not a curse.

3. Q: What is an example of a direct speech for an interrogative sentence?

Ans: Interrogative sentence Direct Speech: “Is not poverty a curse?” my father said to me.

4. Q: What are 10 examples of interrogative?

What is your name? How old are you? Why have you done this? When will you go? Which shirt do you like? Whose car is this? Whom do you prefer most? Have you done this before? Did you notice that? Will he make it?

5. Q: What are the 7 interrogative words?

Ans: What, When, Who, Whose, Whom, How, Why.

Related Posts:

Reported Speech: Important Grammar Rules and Examples

Reported speech is a very common aspect of the English language. You use it nearly every day, both in conversations and in writing. This reference covers key sections about reported speech, including what it is, examples, rules, and verb tense changes. You’ll also learn about modal verbs, changes in time and place, and different reporting verbs.

Reported Speech

What Is Reported Speech?

Reported speech is simply when you tell somebody what someone else said. You can do this in your writing, or in speech. Reported speech is very different from  direct speech , which is when you show what somebody said  in the exact way that they said it . In reported speech though, you do not need to quote somebody directly.

Instead, you use a reporting verb, such as ‘say’ or ‘ask’. These reporting verbs are used to report the speech to someone else. There are many different reporting verbs that can be used.

In short, reported speech is the linguistic technique that you use to tell somebody what someone else’s  direct speech  was. In reported speech though, you may need to make certain changes to the grammar to make the sentence make sense. Some examples below highlight what needs to be changed.

Reported Speech Examples

When using reported speech, you are usually talking about the past. The verbs, therefore, usually have to be in the past too.

For example :

• Direct speech:  I’ve lost my umbrella .
• Reported speech:  He said (that) he had lost his umbrella.

Another example :

• Direct speech:  She is doing her homework .
• Reported speech:  He said (that) she was doing her homework.

Table of Changes :

Reported Speech Rules

Verb tense changes in reported speech.

When the reporting verb is in the present tense, only small changes are needed.

• Direct speech:  I like dogs.
• Reported speech:  She  says  she likes dogs.

When the reporting verb is in the past tense, you need to change the tense of both the reporting verb and the main verb.

• Reported speech:  She  said  she  liked  dogs.

The tenses generally move backward as follows:

For sentences about the future, you also need to change the future verbs.

• Direct speech:  I shall leave in a moment.
• Reported speech:  She said that she would leave in a moment.

Here are the changes for future tenses:

Modal Verbs and Reported Speech

Modal verbs also change when used in reported speech.

• Direct speech:  Will I see you later?
• Reported speech:  He asked if he  would  see me later.

Some modal verbs do not need to change tense because they fit naturally.

• Direct speech:  I should go to the park.
• Reported speech:  He told me he  should  go to the park.

Here are both correct and incorrect examples of reported speech for clarity:

• Reported speech:  He told  me  he should go to the park.
• Reported speech:  He said he should go to the park.
• Incorrect reported speech:  He told he should go to the park.
• Incorrect reported speech:  He said me he should go to the park.

To correct these:

• Add ‘me’: He told  me  he should go to the park.
• Remove ‘me’ or add ‘to’: He said he should go to the park or He said  to  me he should go to the park.

Direct and Indirect Speech

Changes in time and place in reported speech.

References to  time  and  place often need to change when you use indirect speech. Here is a useful guide to these changes:

No Change in Verb Tenses in Reported Speech

In some cases,  verb tenses  do not change when you report speech indirectly. Here are the key instances:

• When the introductory verb is in the present , present perfect , or future .
• When the reported sentence deals with a  fact  or  general truth .
• When the reported sentence contains a  time clause .
• If the verb of the sentence is in the  unreal past  (the  second  or the  third conditional ).
• The  subjunctive  stays unchanged in the  subordinate clause .
• Had better ,  could ,  would ,  used to ,  should ,  might ,  ought to , and  mustn’t  remain unchanged.
• If the speaker reports  something immediately  or  soon after it was said .

Reporting Verbs in Indirect Speech

Reporting verbs are crucial in indirect speech. Here is a list categorized by their usage:

• Basic Verbs : Tell, say, ask
• Verb + that + clause : Complain, deny, explain, exclaim, remark, promise, boast, inform somebody, claim, agree, suggest
• Verb + to + infinitive : Agree, offer, refuse, demand, threaten, promise, claim
• Verb + indirect object + to + infinitive : Advise, allow, beg, command, encourage, forbid, invite, want, instruct, permit, urge, order, remind, warn
• Verb + “ing” form : Admit (to), accuse somebody of, apologize for, boast about/of, complain to somebody of, deny, insist on, suggest
• Verb + how : Explain to somebody

Reported Questions

When converting questions from direct to indirect speech, you follow rules similar to those for statements.  Verbs  used include inquire, wonder, want to know, ask.

Reported Commands and Requests

Commands and requests  in Indirect Speech are formed using the  to-infinitive  and  not to-infinitive . Common reporting verbs include order, shout, demand, warn, beg, command, tell, insist, beseech , threaten, implore, ask, propose, forbid.

Pronoun and tense changes  are needed when shifting from direct to indirect speech.

Reported Speech Video

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Reported speech: indirect speech

Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words. In indirect speech , the structure of the reported clause depends on whether the speaker is reporting a statement, a question or a command.

Indirect speech: reporting statements

Indirect reports of statements consist of a reporting clause and a that -clause. We often omit that , especially in informal situations:

The pilot commented that the weather had been extremely bad as the plane came in to land. (The pilot’s words were: ‘The weather was extremely bad as the plane came in to land.’ )

I told my wife I didn’t want a party on my 50th birthday. ( that -clause without that ) (or I told my wife that I didn’t want a party on my 50th birthday .)

Indirect speech: reporting questions

Reporting yes-no questions and alternative questions.

Indirect reports of yes-no questions and questions with or consist of a reporting clause and a reported clause introduced by if or whether . If is more common than whether . The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:

She asked if [S] [V] I was Scottish. (original yes-no question: ‘Are you Scottish?’ )

The waiter asked whether [S] we [V] wanted a table near the window. (original yes-no question: ‘Do you want a table near the window? )

He asked me if [S] [V] I had come by train or by bus. (original alternative question: ‘Did you come by train or by bus?’ )

Questions: yes-no questions ( Are you feeling cold? )

Reporting wh -questions

Indirect reports of wh -questions consist of a reporting clause, and a reported clause beginning with a wh -word ( who, what, when, where, why, how ). We don’t use a question mark:

He asked me what I wanted.

Not: He asked me what I wanted?

The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:

She wanted to know who [S] we [V] had invited to the party.

Not: … who had we invited …

Who , whom and what

In indirect questions with who, whom and what , the wh- word may be the subject or the object of the reported clause:

I asked them who came to meet them at the airport. ( who is the subject of came ; original question: ‘Who came to meet you at the airport?’ )

He wondered what the repairs would cost. ( what is the object of cost ; original question: ‘What will the repairs cost?’ )

She asked us what [S] we [V] were doing . (original question: ‘What are you doing?’ )

Not: She asked us what were we doing?

When , where , why and how

We also use statement word order (subject + verb) with when , where, why and how :

I asked her when [S] it [V] had happened (original question: ‘When did it happen?’ ).

Not: I asked her when had it happened?

I asked her where [S] the bus station [V] was . (original question: ‘Where is the bus station?’ )

Not: I asked her where was the bus station?

The teacher asked them how [S] they [V] wanted to do the activity . (original question: ‘How do you want to do the activity?’ )

Not: The teacher asked them how did they want to do the activity?

Questions: wh- questions

Indirect speech: reporting commands

Indirect reports of commands consist of a reporting clause, and a reported clause beginning with a to -infinitive:

The General ordered the troops to advance . (original command: ‘Advance!’ )

The chairperson told him to sit down and to stop interrupting . (original command: ‘Sit down and stop interrupting!’ )

We also use a to -infinitive clause in indirect reports with other verbs that mean wanting or getting people to do something, for example, advise, encourage, warn :

They advised me to wait till the following day. (original statement: ‘You should wait till the following day.’ )

The guard warned us not to enter the area. (original statement: ‘You must not enter the area.’ )

Verbs followed by a to -infinitive

Indirect speech: present simple reporting verb

We can use the reporting verb in the present simple in indirect speech if the original words are still true or relevant at the time of reporting, or if the report is of something someone often says or repeats:

Sheila says they’re closing the motorway tomorrow for repairs.

Henry tells me he’s thinking of getting married next year.

Rupert says dogs shouldn’t be allowed on the beach. (Rupert probably often repeats this statement.)

Newspaper headlines

We often use the present simple in newspaper headlines. It makes the reported speech more dramatic:

JUDGE TELLS REPORTER TO LEAVE COURTROOM

PRIME MINISTER SAYS FAMILIES ARE TOP PRIORITY IN TAX REFORM

Present simple ( I work )

Reported speech

Reported speech: direct speech

Indirect speech: past continuous reporting verb

In indirect speech, we can use the past continuous form of the reporting verb (usually say or tell ). This happens mostly in conversation, when the speaker wants to focus on the content of the report, usually because it is interesting news or important information, or because it is a new topic in the conversation:

Rory was telling me the big cinema in James Street is going to close down. Is that true?

Alex was saying that book sales have gone up a lot this year thanks to the Internet.

‘Backshift’ refers to the changes we make to the original verbs in indirect speech because time has passed between the moment of speaking and the time of the report.

In these examples, the present ( am ) has become the past ( was ), the future ( will ) has become the future-in-the-past ( would ) and the past ( happened ) has become the past perfect ( had happened ). The tenses have ‘shifted’ or ‘moved back’ in time.

The past perfect does not shift back; it stays the same:

Modal verbs

Some, but not all, modal verbs ‘shift back’ in time and change in indirect speech.

We can use a perfect form with have + - ed form after modal verbs, especially where the report looks back to a hypothetical event in the past:

He said the noise might have been the postman delivering letters. (original statement: ‘The noise might be the postman delivering letters.’ )

He said he would have helped us if we’d needed a volunteer. (original statement: ‘I’ll help you if you need a volunteer’ or ‘I’d help you if you needed a volunteer.’ )

Used to and ought to do not change in indirect speech:

She said she used to live in Oxford. (original statement: ‘I used to live in Oxford.’ )

The guard warned us that we ought to leave immediately. (original statement: ‘You ought to leave immediately.’ )

No backshift

We don’t need to change the tense in indirect speech if what a person said is still true or relevant or has not happened yet. This often happens when someone talks about the future, or when someone uses the present simple, present continuous or present perfect in their original words:

He told me his brother works for an Italian company. (It is still true that his brother works for an Italian company.)

She said she ’s getting married next year. (For the speakers, the time at the moment of speaking is ‘this year’.)

He said he ’s finished painting the door. (He probably said it just a short time ago.)

She promised she ’ll help us. (The promise applies to the future.)

Indirect speech: changes to pronouns

Changes to personal pronouns in indirect reports depend on whether the person reporting the speech and the person(s) who said the original words are the same or different.

Indirect speech: changes to adverbs and demonstratives

We often change demonstratives ( this, that ) and adverbs of time and place ( now, here, today , etc.) because indirect speech happens at a later time than the original speech, and perhaps in a different place.

Typical changes to demonstratives, adverbs and adverbial expressions

Indirect speech: typical errors

The word order in indirect reports of wh- questions is the same as statement word order (subject + verb), not question word order:

She always asks me where [S] [V] I am going .

Not: She always asks me where am I going .

We don’t use a question mark when reporting wh- questions:

I asked him what he was doing.

Not: I asked him what he was doing?

Word of the Day

get away from it all

to go somewhere, usually on holiday, where you can completely relax and forget your responsibilities or problems

Trial, judge, and jury: talking about what happens when a criminal is caught

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Reported Speech: Practice Exercises in Interrogative Sentences

• Post last modified: 1 March 2023
• Post category: Grammar Exercises / School Grammar

Do practice converting Direct Speech Interrogative sentences into Indirect Speech. The exercises are based on both types of Questions – Starting with an Auxiliary Verb and the other type starting with a Q Word. Try to first attempt yourself then see the answers given in the last of every set of questions.

More exercises are added from time to time, so keep coming here 😊

Click here more English Grammar study materials

I – Interrogative Sentences – Yes/No Type (Questions starts with an auxiliary verb)

See some examples before attempting practice exercises.

Direct speech: “Are you the one who stole the money?”

Indirect speech: He asked if I was the one who had stolen the money.

Direct speech: “What are you doing here at this time?”

Indirect speech: She asked what I was doing there at that time.

Direct speech: “Have you ever been to Europe before?”

Indirect speech: He asked if I had ever been to Europe before.

Direct speech: “Who taught you how to play the guitar so well?”

Indirect speech: She asked me who had taught me how to play the guitar so well.

Direct speech: “Why did you leave your previous job?”

Indirect speech: He asked me why I had left my previous job.

Q. Change the following sentences into Indirect Speech.  

1. “Are there any more files?” He asked. “Yes, sir,” said the peon.  

2. The teacher said to Rena, “Did you break the window pane?” “No, sir,” said Reena, “I did not.” 

3. “If you find my answers satisfactory, will you give me five rupees?” said the astrologer. “No,” replied the customer.  

4. I said to him, “Do you want to go to Delhi?” He said, “No, sir.”  

5. Rahul said to me, “Does Mohit still play?” I said, “Yes, sir.”  

6. Malik said to her, “Has Sara invited you to dinner?”  

7. I said to her, “Did you enjoy the film?” She said, “No, sir.”  

8. Sachin said, “Sonam, do you see what I see?” Sonam said, “Yes.”  

9. He said, “Do you not like it?” She said, “Yes.”  

10. She said to me, “Shall we ever see each other again?” I said, “Perhaps, never.” 

1. He asked the peon if there were any more files. The peon replied respectfully in the affirmative.  

2. The teacher asked Reena if she had broken the window pane. Reena replied respectfully that she had not done it.  

3. The astrologer asked the customer if he would give him five rupees if he found his answers satisfactory. The customer replied in negative.  

4. I asked him if he wanted to go to Delhi and he replied respectfully in negative.  

5. Rahul asked me if Mohit still played and I replied respectfully in positive.  

6. Malik asked her if Sara had invited her to dinner.  

7. I asked her if she had enjoyed the film. She replied respectfully in negative.  

8. Sachin asked Sonam if she saw what he saw. She replied in affirmative.  

9. He asked if she did not like that and she replied in affirmative.  

10. She asked me if we would ever see each other again but I replied that we would perhaps never. 

II – Interrogative Sentences – Q. Word Type (Question begins with a Q. Word)

Q. change the following sentences into indirect speech.  .

1. He said to me, “Whom does she want to contact?”  

2. They said to her, “Whose house are you purchasing?”  

3. You said to him “Why are you making mischief?”  

4. They said to us, “How have you solved this sum?”  

5. We said to them, “Who has misguided you?”  

6. They said to him, “Where have you been wandering since yesterday?”  

7. She said to me, “Why were you hiding today?”  

8. Raja said to us, “When do you expect to see me again?”  

9. He said to her, “What shall I be offering you with tea?”  

10. We said to them, “When shall we have paid you a visit?” 

1. He asked me whom she wanted to contact.  

2. They asked her whose house she was purchasing.  

3. You asked him why he was making mischief.  

4. They asked us how we had solved that sum.  

5. We asked them who had misguided them.  

6. They asked him where he had been wandering since the previous day.  

7. She asked me why I had been hiding that day.  

8. Raja asked us when we expected to see him again.  

9. He asked her what he would be offering her with tea.

10. We asked them when we would have paid them a visit. 

Miscellaneous Exercises on Interrogative Sentences

I. change the following sentences into indirect speech..

• “What is your name?” asked the teacher. Indirect speech:
• “Where did you go yesterday?” she asked me. Indirect speech:
• “Are you feeling better now?” he asked her. Indirect speech: .
• “Will you come with me?” he asked her. Indirect speech: .
• “Why did you break the vase?” he asked his son. Indirect speech:
• “What are you doing here?” asked John.
• “Have you finished your homework?” the teacher asked.
• “Why did you leave the party so early?” she asked
• “Are you going to the concert tonight?” Tom asked.
• “Where did you put my phone?” asked Sarah.
• The teacher asked me what my name was.
• She asked me where I had gone the previous day.
• He asked her if she was feeling better then
• He asked her if she would go with him
• He asked his son why he had broken the vase.
• John asked what I was doing there.
• The teacher asked if I had finished my homework.
• She asked why I had left the party so early.
• Tom asked if I was going to the concert that night.
• Sarah asked where I had put her phone.

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Active and passive voice: english grammar school cbse/icse, subject verb agreement rules, reading comprehension passages english grammar cbse/icse, reported speech: exclamatory sentences practice questions with answers, this post has 5 comments.

N Yashvanth 8th C

Sarman Rathore Rath Hamirpur Uttar pradesh

Cool…!!

Hi Safa, we have added a few more questions. You can also see and attempt them.

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Reported Speech

Perfect english grammar.

Reported Statements

Here's how it works:

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. ( Click here for more about using 'say' and 'tell' .) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: I like ice cream.
• Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'. (As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

But , if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

• Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

* doesn't change.

• Direct speech: The sky is blue.
• Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Click here for a mixed tense exercise about practise reported statements. Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?

• Direct speech: Where do you live?
• Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
• Direct speech: Where is Julie?
• Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

• Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
• Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

Click here to practise reported 'wh' questions. Click here to practise reported 'yes / no' questions. Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

• Direct speech: Close the window, please
• Or: Could you close the window please?
• Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
• Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

• Direct speech: Please don't be late.
• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

• Direct speech: Sit down!
• Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

• Click here for an exercise to practise reported requests and orders.

• Click here for an exercise about using 'say' and 'tell'.
• Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

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Narration Change of Interrogative Sentences

Back to: Direct and Indirect Speech (Narration)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Interrogative sentence poses question. This type of sentence is very much different from assertive sentence which makes a statement. In interrogative sentence predicate (verb) comes first, then comes the subject. In some cases the helping verb comes before the subject and the main verb remains behind to form question. The entire verb can also be placed before subject in some instances. 

Interrogative sentence are two types –

English Saga

Interrogative Sentences-Direct & Indirect speech

An interrogative sentence is a type of sentence that asks a question. It may either be started with some Interrogative Word (who, when, why, where, how, whom, etc.) or may have a helping verb (is, are, am, do, does, etc.)

Changes in the pronouns, other words, and tenses can be made by following the following rules:

• Pronouns Changing Rules
• Other Words Changing Rules
• Rule # 1, Rule # 2, and Rule # 3 of Changes in the Tenses

However, some extra rules must be followed while converting an Interrogative Sentence from Direct Narration to Indirect Narration.

General Rules for Converting Interrogative Sentences from Direct Narration to Indirect Narration

When there is an Interrogative Sentence in the Reported Speech, the following rules must be followed:

• “said to” of the Reporting Speech must be converted to the word, “asked” or “inquired of”, because someone asks a question.
• Make the word arrangement as it must take the form of simple Assertive Sentence, i.e; Subject + Verb+ Object.
• If the Interrogative Sentence is started with an Interrogative Word, then there is no need to add any word.
• But if Interrogative Sentence is started with a helping verb, then add the word “if” or “whether” to connect Reporting and Reported Speech.
• Replace the Mark of Interrogation (?) with a full stop (.) mark, so that it must represent the Simple Assertive Sentence.    

Examples of the Interrogative Sentences with Interrogative Words

• I asked him when he got up.
• She asked me where I was going then.
• I inquired of him what he had eaten the previous day.
• She inquired of him why he had been weeping the previous day.
• We asked them who would be visiting their factory the next day.
• He asked her which books she had bought from that shop.
• He asked me what I was doing there.
• She asked him why he had not gone to the doctor that day.
• I asked them where they were going then.
• I asked them where they were going the previous day.
• The policeman asked the taxi driver why he had refused to take those ladies to the railway station.
• He asked me why I had been beating his servant the previous day.
• He asked me who my father was.
• She asked me how many sisters I had.
• You asked him when he had bought that house.
• She asked us where we had been going the previous day with that man
• He inquired of me how far Mecca was from Madina.
• The policeman asked him why he had beaten that old man the previous day.
• The goldsmith asked the thief how he had broken the lock of that safe.
• The doctor asked me why I had not taken that medicine the previous day.
• The old man asked his son where he was coming from then.
• She asked me what my name was.
• I asked him where he lived in that city.
• I asked the boy why he was weeping.
• She asked him when he was going for the Hajj.
• They asked him how he managed to escape from that place.
• She asked her brother where he was going with those boys then.
• He asked us why we were making noise over there.
• The passenger asked the guard why the train had stopped near that bridge.
• She asked me when I would return her camera.
• He asked us what we would do with that money there.
• We asked him when he had returned from London.
• Father asked me how I was feeling then.
• I asked the teacher respectfully why he had expelled my brother from his class.
• I asked her why her baby had been weeping the previous day.
• He asked me where my mother was going.
• You asked him what Faisal had said there in his ear.
• I asked my servant where he was going then.
• The policeman asked him why he observed the traffic rules.
• She asked her teacher respectfully why he was angry with her.
• Father asked him why he had beaten the servant then.
• We asked our neighbor why our house had been locked.
• She asked her what her sister had been saying to her the previous day.
• I asked the carpenter why he had not completed my work the previous day.
• Salman’s sister asked Salman why he was sitting there.
• The father asked his son, Nadeem, what he was doing there.
• The wolf asked the lamb why he had called him names the previous year.
• The shopkeeper asked her respectfully how he could give her a short measure.
• You asked him where he was coming from.
• She asked him why he had been knocking at her door just then.
• He asked her respectfully at what time he could see her the next day.
• She inquired of Nadeem what he had been doing the previous day.
• David said to John where he was going.
• He asked me why I had stolen his pen from that box.
• She asked them where they had left their servant the previous day.
• The passenger asked the guard when that train would reach Peshawar.
• She asked the stranger what his name was.
• The constable asked the two young men where they were coming from in the dead of night.
• A little girl asked the barber what he would charge her for dressing her hair.
• He asked the doctor when he should come to him for getting his eyes tested.
• He asked me where I had been all those days.

Examples of Interrogative Sentences that Start with a Verb

• She asked the principal respectfully if she might come in.
• He inquired of me if I was going to school then.
• You asked him if he had broken your jug that day.
• We inquired of her if she had beaten our servant the previous day.
• He asked you whether you would go to the pictures that night.
• She asked him if he had lost his pen there.
• He asked you whether you would go to Peshawar the next day.
• I inquired of the postman if there was any letter for me that day.
• She asked him if he had ironed her shirt the previous day.
• He inquired of me if it had been raining there since morning.
• You asked her if she had bought those cups and saucers the previous day.
• He inquired of the stranger if he was in his senses then.
• She asked her brother if he had been feeling any pain in his chest the previous day.
• He inquired of them if they would be going to Karachi by the morning train the next day.
• The old man asked the beggar if he had been knocking at his door just then.
• The shopkeeper asked me if I had given him a ten-rupee note for those cakes of soap.
• I asked her whether she had consulted any doctor that day.
• She asked him if he would lend her his pen for that day.
• I inquired of them if they would build a hospital over there.
• They asked us whether we had been sleeping in that room the previous day.
• Mother asked my friend if he had paid the fine that day.
• I asked the beggar if he was suffering from fever then.
• She asked us if he had been trying to fire at us.
• She asked him if he had seen the snake in the compound of that house.
• The guest asked us whether it had been raining very heavily over there at night.
• He asked them if they would take the examination that year.
• They asked us if we had broken that flower pot.
• He asked her respectfully if she was going to Karachi by the Tez Gam the next day.
• They asked him if he had been working in that office since 1975.
• The doctor asked her if she had taken that medicine the previous day.
• He asked me if I was in my senses.
• We asked him if that train was running on time then.
• He asked his mother if she would go with him to Murree the next day.
• The teacher asked the boys if they were fully prepared to take the test that day.
• She asked her teacher respectfully if she might go out to see her mother.
• They asked the gardener if they might pluck a few flowers from those plots.
• He asked us whether we were learning that poem by heart.
• She asked her brother if she had posted those letters the previous day.
• The policeman asked him if he had his driving license with him.
• He asked us if we had solved those sums.
• I asked the postman if there was any letter for me that day.
• I inquired of the servant if he had told me the truth about that accident.
• You asked him if it had rained there the previous day.
• You asked him if he had returned your book to you.
• She asked him whether he would lend her his camera for that day.
• He asked me if I was ready to go with him then.
• He asked me if I could spare some money.
• He asked me whether the man is the maker of his fate.
• Kashif asked his boss if he might tell him something in that connection.
• The king enquired of the robber if he was the robber of whom he had heard so much.
• She asked me if I had gone out for a walk just then.
• He asked me if I did not know that he was my next-door neighbor.
• The young man asked her mother if she had milked all those cows.
• He asked his brother if that was the way to talk to a stranger.
• He asked me if I had been a student of the Government College. 
• He asked the postman if he had bought any letter for him.
• The student asked the Headmaster respectfully if he might come in.

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Direct and Indirect Speech: Useful Rules and Examples

Are you having trouble understanding the difference between direct and indirect speech? Direct speech is when you quote someone’s exact words, while indirect speech is when you report what someone said without using their exact words. This can be a tricky concept to grasp, but with a little practice, you’ll be able to use both forms of speech with ease.

Direct and Indirect Speech

When someone speaks, we can report what they said in two ways: direct speech and indirect speech. Direct speech is when we quote the exact words that were spoken, while indirect speech is when we report what was said without using the speaker’s exact words. Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “I love pizza,” said John. Indirect speech: John said that he loved pizza.

Using direct speech can make your writing more engaging and can help to convey the speaker’s tone and emotion. However, indirect speech can be useful when you want to summarize what someone said or when you don’t have the exact words that were spoken.

To change direct speech to indirect speech, you need to follow some rules. Firstly, you need to change the tense of the verb in the reported speech to match the tense of the reporting verb. Secondly, you need to change the pronouns and adverbs in the reported speech to match the new speaker. Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “I will go to the park,” said Sarah. Indirect speech: Sarah said that she would go to the park.

It’s important to note that when you use indirect speech, you need to use reporting verbs such as “said,” “told,” or “asked” to indicate who is speaking. Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “What time is it?” asked Tom. Indirect speech: Tom asked what time it was.

In summary, understanding direct and indirect speech is crucial for effective communication and writing. Direct speech can be used to convey the speaker’s tone and emotion, while indirect speech can be useful when summarizing what someone said. By following the rules for changing direct speech to indirect speech, you can accurately report what was said while maintaining clarity and readability in your writing.

Differences between Direct and Indirect Speech

When it comes to reporting speech, there are two ways to go about it: direct and indirect speech. Direct speech is when you report someone’s exact words, while indirect speech is when you report what someone said without using their exact words. Here are some of the key differences between direct and indirect speech:

Change of Pronouns

In direct speech, the pronouns used are those of the original speaker. However, in indirect speech, the pronouns have to be changed to reflect the perspective of the reporter. For example:

• Direct speech: “I am going to the store,” said John.
• Indirect speech: John said he was going to the store.

In the above example, the pronoun “I” changes to “he” in indirect speech.

Change of Tenses

Another major difference between direct and indirect speech is the change of tenses. In direct speech, the verb tense used is the same as that used by the original speaker. However, in indirect speech, the verb tense may change depending on the context. For example:

• Direct speech: “I am studying for my exams,” said Sarah.
• Indirect speech: Sarah said she was studying for her exams.

In the above example, the present continuous tense “am studying” changes to the past continuous tense “was studying” in indirect speech.

Change of Time and Place References

When reporting indirect speech, the time and place references may also change. For example:

• Direct speech: “I will meet you at the park tomorrow,” said Tom.
• Indirect speech: Tom said he would meet you at the park the next day.

In the above example, “tomorrow” changes to “the next day” in indirect speech.

Overall, it is important to understand the differences between direct and indirect speech to report speech accurately and effectively. By following the rules of direct and indirect speech, you can convey the intended message of the original speaker.

Converting Direct Speech Into Indirect Speech

When you need to report what someone said in your own words, you can use indirect speech. To convert direct speech into indirect speech, you need to follow a few rules.

Step 1: Remove the Quotation Marks

The first step is to remove the quotation marks that enclose the relayed text. This is because indirect speech does not use the exact words of the speaker.

Step 2: Use a Reporting Verb and a Linker

To indicate that you are reporting what someone said, you need to use a reporting verb such as “said,” “asked,” “told,” or “exclaimed.” You also need to use a linker such as “that” or “whether” to connect the reporting verb to the reported speech.

For example:

• Direct speech: “I love ice cream,” said Mary.
• Indirect speech: Mary said that she loved ice cream.

Step 3: Change the Tense of the Verb

When you use indirect speech, you need to change the tense of the verb in the reported speech to match the tense of the reporting verb.

• Indirect speech: John said that he was going to the store.

Step 4: Change the Pronouns

You also need to change the pronouns in the reported speech to match the subject of the reporting verb.

• Direct speech: “Are you busy now?” Tina asked me.
• Indirect speech: Tina asked whether I was busy then.

By following these rules, you can convert direct speech into indirect speech and report what someone said in your own words.

Converting Indirect Speech Into Direct Speech

Converting indirect speech into direct speech involves changing the reported speech to its original form as spoken by the speaker. Here are the steps to follow when converting indirect speech into direct speech:

• Identify the reporting verb: The first step is to identify the reporting verb used in the indirect speech. This will help you determine the tense of the direct speech.
• Change the pronouns: The next step is to change the pronouns in the indirect speech to match the person speaking in the direct speech. For example, if the indirect speech is “She said that she was going to the store,” the direct speech would be “I am going to the store,” if you are the person speaking.
• Change the tense: Change the tense of the verbs in the indirect speech to match the tense of the direct speech. For example, if the indirect speech is “He said that he would visit tomorrow,” the direct speech would be “He says he will visit tomorrow.”
• Remove the reporting verb and conjunction: In direct speech, there is no need for a reporting verb or conjunction. Simply remove them from the indirect speech to get the direct speech.

Here is an example to illustrate the process:

Indirect Speech: John said that he was tired and wanted to go home.

Direct Speech: “I am tired and want to go home,” John said.

By following these steps, you can easily convert indirect speech into direct speech.

Examples of Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct and indirect speech are two ways to report what someone has said. Direct speech reports the exact words spoken by a person, while indirect speech reports the meaning of what was said. Here are some examples of both types of speech:

Direct Speech Examples

Direct speech is used when you want to report the exact words spoken by someone. It is usually enclosed in quotation marks and is often used in dialogue.

• “I am going to the store,” said Sarah.
• “It’s a beautiful day,” exclaimed John.
• “Please turn off the lights,” Mom told me.
• “I will meet you at the library,” said Tom.
• “We are going to the beach tomorrow,” announced Mary.

Indirect Speech Examples

Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, is used to report what someone said without using their exact words. It is often used in news reports, academic writing, and in situations where you want to paraphrase what someone said.

Here are some examples of indirect speech:

• Sarah said that she was going to the store.
• John exclaimed that it was a beautiful day.
• Mom told me to turn off the lights.
• Tom said that he would meet me at the library.
• Mary announced that they were going to the beach tomorrow.

In indirect speech, the verb tense may change to reflect the time of the reported speech. For example, “I am going to the store” becomes “Sarah said that she was going to the store.” Additionally, the pronouns and possessive adjectives may also change to reflect the speaker and the person being spoken about.

Overall, both direct and indirect speech are important tools for reporting what someone has said. By using these techniques, you can accurately convey the meaning of what was said while also adding your own interpretation and analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is direct and indirect speech?

Direct and indirect speech refer to the ways in which we communicate what someone has said. Direct speech involves repeating the exact words spoken, using quotation marks to indicate that you are quoting someone. Indirect speech, on the other hand, involves reporting what someone has said without using their exact words.

How do you convert direct speech to indirect speech?

To convert direct speech to indirect speech, you need to change the tense of the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions. You also need to introduce a reporting verb, such as “said,” “told,” or “asked.” For example, “I love ice cream,” said Mary (direct speech) can be converted to “Mary said that she loved ice cream” (indirect speech).

What is the difference between direct speech and indirect speech?

The main difference between direct speech and indirect speech is that direct speech uses the exact words spoken, while indirect speech reports what someone has said without using their exact words. Direct speech is usually enclosed in quotation marks, while indirect speech is not.

What are some examples of direct and indirect speech?

Some examples of direct speech include “I am going to the store,” said John and “I love pizza,” exclaimed Sarah. Some examples of indirect speech include John said that he was going to the store and Sarah exclaimed that she loved pizza .

What are the rules for converting direct speech to indirect speech?

The rules for converting direct speech to indirect speech include changing the tense of the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions. You also need to introduce a reporting verb and use appropriate reporting verbs such as “said,” “told,” or “asked.”

What is a summary of direct and indirect speech?

Direct and indirect speech are two ways of reporting what someone has said. Direct speech involves repeating the exact words spoken, while indirect speech reports what someone has said without using their exact words. To convert direct speech to indirect speech, you need to change the tense of the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions and introduce a reporting verb.

You might also like:

• List of Adjectives
• Predicate Adjective
• Superlative Adjectives

This website is AMNAZING

MY NAAMEE IS KISHU AND I WANTED TO TELL THERE ARE NO EXERCISES AVAILLABLEE BY YOUR WEBSITE PLEASE ADD THEM SSOON FOR OUR STUDENTS CONVIENCE IM A EIGHT GRADER LOVED YOUR EXPLABATIO

sure cries l miss my friend

he saiad,” we are all sinners”. convert into indirect speech

He said that they were all sinners.

Indirect speech

Indirect speech  or  reported speech  reports something that was said, but does not use the actual words that the speaker uttered.

Lynn asked whether Pippa had been to the new shopping mall.

Pippa replied that she hadn’t, but she had heard that there were some really cool shops there.

Reported speech always has two clauses. The words that are spoken are put in a reported clause. There is also a main clause that contains a reporting verb. The main clause with the reporting verb usually comes before the reported clause.

Katie told me that Alison is going to resign.

Peter asked whether Mandy was feeling better.

The reporting verb in the main clause tells us how the sentence was spoken, e.g.  comment, remark, say, tell . If the reported clause is a statement, the main clause is linked to the reported clause by  that .

Mary said that her favourite actor was Ben Whishaw.

John replied that he preferred Scarlett Johansson.

If the reported clause asks a question, the main verb will be a question verb e.g.  ask, inquire, wonder, query . The link between the main clause and the reported clause will be  if  or  whether .

Amy asked Jo if she had seen the movie.

Will enquired whether the documents were ready.

The linking word  that  can be left out after most reporting verbs, but the links  if  or  whether  CANNOT be left out.

Jamie told Dad (that) he had passed his driving test.

Lucy said Alan had been accepted at drama school.

Miriam asked  if  she could borrow Leonie’s bike.

Evelyn wondered  whether  the concert would be sold out.

Speech in a reported clause is not separated from the reporting verb by a comma, is not enclosed in inverted commas, and does not begin with a capital letter unless it is a proper noun. Reported questions are not followed by question marks.

Reported clauses can also be used to express what is in someone’s mind as well as what is actually spoken.

Evelyn wondered whether the concert would be sold out.

Charlotte thought that she had better go and see her family.

For further information on English Grammar, visit: https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/easy-learning

Come back for other blogs on using English in everyday situations: https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-learners/learning-english/

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

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Indirect Speech: Formula and Rules

• July 3, 2021

We are talking about a very important and interesting topic. We are talking about direct and indirect speech in English and what is the correct formula of the usage.

Remember to read How to learn English with audiobooks for FREE

This topic can seem complicated at the beginning, but necessary to learn. Having this topic solved, you improve your English to a new level, so let’s start to deal with it.

What are Direct and Indirect speech?

In English, there are two ways how we can tell what another person said. Two ways you can say what someone else has said before.

• Direct Speech
• Indirect (Reported) Speech

Note : Indirect speech in different textbooks can be called differently: Indirect Speech or Reported Speech . But these two names mean the same.

Indirect Speech = Reported Speech

Direct speech in English is a type of speech when we retell someone’s speech as it was. We don’t change anything.

John says: I’m a good boy.

To tell what John said, we will say:

We say: John said, “I’m a good boy.”

Indirect speech differs from direct speech in that we DO NOT tell exactly what another person said. We are NOT repeating what someone else said. Indirect speech is when we tell the MEANING of what someone else said.

We say: John said he was a good boy.

Pay attention to what this sentence looks like. Earlier, when John said this, the sentence looked like this:

I am a good boy.

But after WE retell John’s words, in the indirect speech, this sentence looks like this:

John said he was a good boy.

The Quotes and the comma that stood after the name John, separating the speaker from his direct speech, disappeared from this sentence.

In indirect speech, we do not use the separating comma and quotation marks. Because now it is WE are retelling the meaning of what the other person (John) said.

In direct speech, the speaker most often speaks in the first person. That is, the speaker speaks from his person.

John will not talk about himself: John is a good boy . John will say it on his behalf: I am a good boy.

But when we retell the words of John (indirect speech), we cannot speak on his behalf. We cannot say “I am a good boy” because those are not our words. This is John a good boy.

Therefore, in indirect speech, we change “I” to the third person.

He says: I hate you but I need your help.

I retell: He said that he hated me but he needed my help.

To translate direct speech into indirect speech, we use certain rules that you should know.

Let’s take a look at these rules and formulas in order.

Quotation marks and comma

In direct speech, we use a comma to separate the speaker from what he is saying. Direct speech (what the speaker says) is in quotation marks.

When we translate direct speech into indirect speech, we remove quotes and commas.

Jessica says , “I’m from the future.”

We retell Jessica’s words: She said that she was from the future.

Personal and possessive pronouns

When translating direct speech into indirect speech, we change personal and possessive pronouns to third-person pronouns.

Direct Speech : He says, “ I couldn’t stay” Indirect Speech : He said that he couldn’t stay. Direct Speech : Tom says, “ I am deeply disturbed” Indirect Speech : Tom said that he was deeply disturbed.

Note: If in direct speech the speaker tells his own words, then we do not change personal and possessive pronouns.

Direct Speech: I said, “ I will do that” Indirect Speech: I said that I would do that.

Adverbs in direct speech

When we translate adverbs from direct speech to indirect, adverbs change their form.

You can see how adverbs look in direct speech and how adverbs look in indirect speech in this table:

But we don’t always change adverbs this way. We change adverbs only if, when translating from direct speech into indirect speech adverbs cannot express the same meaning as in direct speech.

Take a look at an example:

Mom says, “ Tomorrow we will go to Uncle John’s.” Mom said that the next day we would go to Uncle John’s.

In these examples, we have replaced the adverb tomorrow with the next day . Because we retell Mom’s words on another day. We cannot say tomorrow anymore.

Now look at another example:

Mom says, “We went to visit Uncle John yesterday .”

Now imagine that we are retelling this the next day. We have to say:

Mom said that we went to visit Uncle John the day before yesterday .

If we said “ yesterday “, it would change the meaning of what we want to tell.

If in direct speech in the main sentence the predicate is in Past Simple, then in indirect speech we use the agreement rules.

We put the conjunction “ that ” in front of indirect speech.

Note: We may not use the conjunction that after verbs such as:

He said he found it on the island. He thought he was better than me. He knew he could call you anytime.

Prepositional object

If in direct speech after the verb to say there is a prepositional object, then in order to translate such a sentence into indirect speech, we change the verb to say to tell . In this case, tell is used without the preposition to .

Incorrect : to tell Correct : tell

This means:

She said to me … changes to She told me that …

Note : Remember that in this case we also change the adverbs of place and time and demonstrative pronouns, if they are in direct speech.

Modal verbs

For modals, we use several important rules.

We change modal verbs as well as main verbs when moving from direct to indirect speech.

But we do not change all modal verbs. We leave some verbs in their original form.

Let’s talk about modals in more detail.

Modal verb must

If in direct speech the verb must means an obligation or command, then in the subordinate clause in indirect speech must does NOT change and looks like must .

The teacher says, “You must behave well in class.” The teacher said that we must behave well in class.

If in direct speech the verb must expresses the need, then in the subordinate clause in indirect speech we change the verb must to had to .

Mom says, “You must visit the doctor.” Mom said that I had to visit the doctor.

The past form of Modal verbs in indirect speech

Can and could..

We change the modal verb can in direct speech to could in indirect speech. Could is the past form of the modal verb can .

She says, “I can swim.” She said that she could swim.

May and might.

We change the modal verb may in direct speech to might in indirect speech. Might is the past form of the modal verb may .

John says, “I may propose to Maria.” John said that he might propose to Maria.

Must and had to.

We change the modal verb must in direct speech to had to in indirect speech (if the verb must expresses the need). Had to is the past analog of the modal verb must .

Modal verbs that do not change in indirect speech

The following verbs move from direct to indirect speech in their original form. They don’t change in any way.

• must (if the verb must means an obligation or command)

He says, “I could do this.” He said he could do that.

Let’s take a closer look at these verbs:

The modal verb would in direct speech remains in the form would in indirect speech too.

Mom says, “I would bake a cake.” Mom said she would bake a cake.

If we use the modal verb could in direct speech, then we do not change this verb in any way in indirect speech. Because could is a past form already (It’s the past form of the modal verb can ).

John says, “I could learn to swim” John said he could learn to swim.

The modal verb might does not change its form when we translate this verb from direct to indirect speech. Because the modal might is the past form of the modal may .

He says, “I might ask the same question again”. He said that he might ask the same question again.

We do not change should when switching to indirect speech. Because should is considered the past form of the modal verb shall .

He says, “We should see Mr. Gannon” He said that we should see Mr. Gannon.

We do not change the modal verb OUGHT TO when translating this verb into indirect speech.

She says, “You ought to be angry with John” She said that I ought to be angry with John

Exceptions to the rules

Let’s talk about the important exceptions to the rules of this lesson.

• We can exclude the word that out of affirmative sentences in indirect speech. Because in indirect speech in affirmative sentences, the meaning of the sentence does not change, regardless of whether we use that or not.

He said ( that ) he thought you seemed depressed. He said ( that ) there was no need. He said ( that ) he had many friends.

• If in direct speech we are talking about a specific event that happened at exactly the specified time and did not happen anymore, then we translate the sentence into indirect speech without the agreement.

He says, “Gagarin went to space in 1961.” He said that Gagarin went to space in 1961.

The event that we are talking about in this example happened at exactly the specified time and did not happen anymore.

• If in direct speech we use verbs such as:

then when translating into indirect speech, we do not change the form of these verbs. These verbs remain in their form.

She says, “We might find some treasure” She said that we might find some treasure.

He says, “I should do it”. He said that he should do it.

• If indirect speech begins with the verb say or tell which is used in the form:
• Present Simple
• Present Perfect
• Future Simple

then we translate such a sentence into indirect speech without changing the tense to the past:

She says, “I cook deliciously.” She says that she cooks deliciously. He says, “I have a new smartphone.” He says that he has a new smartphone. She will say, “I didn’t know it.” He will say (that) he didn’t know it.

• If in direct speech we are talking about a well-known fact or law of nature, then we do not transfer to the past such a fact or the law of nature when translating from direct speech to indirect.

He says, “After winter comes spring.” He said that after winter comes spring. She says, “Lions don’t hunt camels.” She said that lions don’t hunt camels.

• If in direct speech we use tenses:
• Past Continuous
• Past Perfect
• Past Perfect Continuous

then when translating into indirect speech, we do not change the sentence, we do not translate the sentence into the past.

He says, “I had fixed my car.” He said he had fixed his car. He says, “I was skiing .” He said he was skiing . He says, “I had been all alone for a very long time”. He said that he had been all alone for a very long time.

Interrogative (question) sentences in indirect speech

Look at the following rules and nuances to know how to correctly translate interrogative (question) sentences from direct speech to indirect speech:

• When we translate a general question into indirect speech, we put one of the conjunctions between the main sentence and the question:

He asks, “Do you play dominoes?” He asked if I played dominoes. He asked whether I played dominoes.

• If we translate an interrogative sentence from direct speech to indirect speech, then we change the interrogative word order to direct word order.

We remove the auxiliary verb that was used in the interrogative sentence. We put the subject before the predicate as it should be for the direct word order.

He asks, “Where are you going?” He asked where I was going.

• If in an indirect sentence we ask a question using the verb say and if there is no indirect object in the main sentence, then we change the verb say to one of these words:
• want to know

She asks, “Where you are?” She wanted to know where you were.

• When translating an interrogative sentence from direct speech into indirect speech, we change all pronouns, verbs, adverbs of place, adverbs of time.

She asks, “What do these letters mean?” She asked what those letters mean.

Special questions in indirect speech

Special questions (or Wh-questions) are questions that begin with an additional, question word.

In indirect speech, such a question should also begin with a question word.

This question word also serves as conjunction. This word attaches the question part to the main sentence.

In the question part, we use direct word order.

At the same time, we comply with all the rules for the Sequence of tenses.

My dad asks, “What do you plan to do with yourself?” My dad asked what I planned to do with myself.

Imperative sentences in indirect speech

When translating imperative sentences from direct to indirect speech, we must take into account several nuances:

• Orders in indirect speech look like this:

He said, “ Go now!” He said to go then. She says, “ Carry my bag” She asked to carry her bag.

We use the verb to say when we translate an ordinary sentence into indirect speech. But in imperative sentences, we change the verb to say to a verb that expresses an order or request:

She says , “Carry my bag” She asked to carry her bag.

• In direct speech in the imperative mood, we often use:

let’s (let us)

let’s encourage the speaker and the person to do something together.

In indirect speech, we change let’s to to suggest . For example:

She says, “ let’s do that!” She suggested to do that.

• In indirect speech, we put a noun after the verb that expresses an order or request. The noun is the one to whom this request or order is addressed. Then we use the infinitive.

She says, “Replace him, John “ She asked John to replace him.

• We can strengthen the request or order in indirect speech if we add verbs such as:
• to recommend
• to urge etc.

She says , “Read this book” She ordered ( advised, recommend ) me to read that book.

• In order to make a negative imperative sentence in direct speech, we need:

not + infinitive

He says, “Don’t cry.” He said to me not to cry.

• In direct speech, we often do not name the person to whom the order or request is addressed. But when translating an imperative sentence from direct speech to indirect speech, we must indicate the one to whom the order or request is addressed.

For this, we use a noun or a pronoun.

She says, “Speak to him!” She asked me to speak to you.

Present and future tense in indirect speech

Most often, we translate the future and the present into the past.

He says, “I have two brothers” He says that he had two brothers She says, “I do this every time” She says that he did that every day. He says, “I write books” He says that he wrote books. She says, “I am reading” She said that she was reading. He says, “I can swim” He said that he could swim. He says, “I will help you” He said that he would help me.

Past tense in indirect speech

When we translate a sentence written in the past into indirect speech, we can leave it unchanged or we can change the past to the Past Perfect.

He says, “I saw this movie” He said that he saw that movie. He said that he had seen that movie.

What if in direct speech the main verb is already in Past Perfect?

In this case, the verb in Past Perfect remains unchanged. The verb in Past Perfect in direct speech remains in Past Perfect in indirect speech too.

He says, “I had bought I new house” He said that he had bought a new house.

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Recommended reading: Complex Sentence in English.

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Direct and Indirect speech, Rules, Chart and Exercises

Direct and Indirect speech are ways of narrating the speech of someone to some other person following certain rules. This article covers its types, rules, examples and some exercises on the same.

Table of Contents

Direct and Indirect Speech: In English Grammar, direct and Indirect speech are used in instances when we wish to repeat or convey a speech or statement of some other person. Both direct and indirect speech describes what a third person said or conveyed in the past. Indirect speech is more commonly employed unless it’s a direct quotation, which is consistently enclosed in double quotation marks. Whereas indirect speech is used when you want to convey someone’s statement using your own precise words. It’s worth highlighting that indirect speech is consistently expressed using verbs like “said,” “told,” or “asked.”

Direct and Indirect Speech

There are two types of reported speech in English grammar, they are Direct and Indirect speech. Both speech conveys the speech or statement which was told by some other person. To explain any event, action or scenario we generally convey the sentences quoted by someone in the form of direct and indirect speech. In order to clearly differentiate and make people understand easily, we have detailed the two types of reported speech with examples and exercises below.

Direct Speech

Direct speech is the mode of expression that directly presents the words spoken or quoted by a third person. Generally, direct speech is written inside quotation marks (“”). The quotation is used to differentiate the speech of the third person that has happened in the past. Thus direct speech conveys statements or conversations of someone in the past tense but quoted inside the quotation marks in the present or future tense.

• Kiran said, “I am doing my work.”
• They said, ” We will go for the function.”
• He asked, “Can I make this?”

Indirect Speech

Indirect Speech is used when we convey what someone said in our own words without repeating the actual text of that person. Instead of using quotation marks, the conjunction word, ‘that’ is used. Thus speaker’s words and sentences are reframed into our own words in Indirect speech. Some examples of indirect speech are:

• Direct speech: Kiran said, “I am doing my work.”
• Indirect speech: Kiran said that she is doing her work.
• Direct speech: They said, ” We will go for the function.”
• Indirect speech: They said that they would go to the function.
• Direct speech: He asked, “Can I make this?”
• Indirect speech: He asked whether he can make that.

Rules for Direct and Indirect Speech

There are certain rules and regulations followed while converting a simple direct speech into indirect speech. Certain factors such as Verbs, Tenses, Modals, time, place, and pronouns are also considered while changing. The following are the rules applied when you convert direct speech to indirect speech in English grammar.

Rule-1 : Direct To Indirect Speech Conversion – Reporting Verb

The reporting verb is an important factor to note when changing a direct to an indirect sentence. When the reporting verb is past tense, then the verb inside the quotation is also changed to past when changing a sentence from direct to indirect speech. Examples:

• Direct: He said,’ I am sad.’
• Indirect: He said that he was sad.

An exception is for cases like a universal truth, the tenses remain the same.

• Teena said” The sun rises in the east”.
• Teena said that the sun rises in the east.

If the reporting verb is in present/future tense, then the tense remains the same as in direct speech.

• Direct: She says/will say, ‘I am coming.’
• Indirect: She says/will say she is coming.

Rule 2: Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Tenses

If the sentences inside quotes in direct speech are present tense, it is changed to past tense when changed to indirect speech. The rule in the following table is applied while changing tenses from direct speech to reported speech.

Examples of change in Tenses

Rule 4: Direct to Indirect speech Conversion Interrogative sentences

If a sentence starts with a question word like what, when, and why in direct speech, the question word itself acts as the joining class.

• Direct speech: “Where do you live ?” Asked the boy.
• Indirect Speech: The boy enquired where I lived.

Rule 5: Direct to Indirect Speech Conversion Change in Modals

Modal verbs are those verbs that are preceded by another verb, which is the main verb. Can, May, and Must are some examples of Modals. Modals that won’t change are Could, would, should, ought to, might. While changing direct to indirect speech, the Modals change as below:

• Can become could
• May becomes Might
• Must becomes had to (or) would have to
• Direct: She said,” She can sing.”
• Indirect: She said that she could sing.
• Direct: She said,” I should cook the lunch”
• Indirect: She said that she should cook the lunch.

Rule 6: Direct to Indirect speech conversion – pronoun

The first person in Direct speech changes as per the subject of the speech

• Direct: He said, “I am in grade sixth.”
• Indirect: He said that he was in grade sixth.

The second person of Direct speech changes as per the object of the indirect speech.

• Direct: She says to them, “You have achieved your goal.”
• Indirect: She tells them that they have achieved their goal.

If the third person is mentioned in the Direct speech, it does not change in reported speech.

• Direct: He says, “She sings well.”
• Indirect: He says that she sings well.

Rule 7: Direct to indirect speech conversion – Request, Command, Wish and Exclamation.

The imperative words in direct speech change into Infinitives in indirect speech.

• Direct: She said to her ‘Please remove it’.
• Indirect: She requested her to remove that.

Exclamation

• Direct: She said, ‘Alas! I am undone.
• Indirect: She exclaimed sadly that she was broke.

 Rule 8: Direct to indirect speech conversion – punctuations

In Direct speech, the words spoken must start with(“) and ends with(.) inside the double inverted commas. All symbols such as question marks, full stops or exclamatory marks should be placed inside the quotes.

• They said. “We are the best”
• She asked, “Can I come with You?”
• He uttered, “Keep Quiet!”

Rule 9: Direct to indirect speech conversion – Change of time

While converting direct speech to Indirect speech, there are certain words to be noted that cannot be used as such in indirect speech. These words get modified into new words which are enlisted below:

• Now becomes Then
• Ago becomes before
• Thus becomes So
• Today becomes That day
• Tomorrow becomes the next day
• Yesterday becomes the day before
• This becomes that
• These become those
• Come becomes go
• Hence becomes thence
• Next week or next month becomes the following week or month
• Direct: He says/will say, ‘My girlfriend came yesterday.’
• Indirect: He says/will say that his girlfriend had come the day before.

Rules for Converting Indirect Speech into Direct Speech:

The following rules should be followed while converting an indirect speech to direct speech:

• Use the reporting verb such as (say, said to) in its correct
• Put a comma before the statement and the first letter of the statement should be in capital
• Insert question marks, quotation marks, exclamation marks and full stops, based on the mood of the
• Remove the conjunctions like (that, too, if or wh ether) wherever necessary .
• Where the reporting verb is in the past tense in indirect, change it to present tense in the direct
• Change the past perfect tense either into the present perfect tense or past tense, as necessary .

Direct and Indirect Speech – Some Exercises

The following are some exercises that students can practice while preparing for their revision tests or board exams.

Q.1.  Find out the correct indirect speech for the given sentence.

She said,’ I have cooked this meal.’

• She said that she cooked this meal
• She said that she had cooked that meal.
• She said that I cooked that meal.
• She said that she had cooked this meal.

Answer (2) She said that she had cooked that meal.

Q.2.  Choose the correct sentence.

Sanjay said, ‘What a beautiful painting it is’.

• Sanjay exclaimed wonderfully that the painting was very beautiful.
• Sanjay exclaimed with wonder that the painting was very beautiful.

Answer (4) Sanjay exclaimed with wonder that the painting was very beautiful.

Q.3. The correct indirect speech for She asked, “What is the cost of these books?”

• She enquired what was the cost of those books.
• She inquired what was the cost of these books.
• She enquired what is the cost of those books.
• She questioned what was the cost of those books.

Answer (1) She enquired what was the cost of those books.

Q.4. The man said, ‘Oh God! I missed the train today.’

• The man cried that he missed the train that day.
• The man exclaimed in grief that he missed the train today.
• The man said that oh God! he missed that day.
• The man exclaimed with sorrow that he missed the train that day.

Answer (4) The man exclaimed with sorrow that he missed the train that day.

Q.5. Rahul said, “Can you call me back later?”

Answer (5) Rahul asked me if I could call him back later.

Q.6. Mom said to me, “May God Bless you”.

Answer (6)  Mom wished that God might bless me.

What is the Importance of Learning Direct and Indirect Speech?

Learning direct and indirect speech is crucial for several reasons:

• Improved Communication Skills: Understanding both forms helps in accurately conveying messages from one person to another. This skill is essential in both written and spoken communication.
• Enhanced Writing Abilities: Using direct and indirect speech allows for more dynamic and versatile writing. It enables writers to present dialogues and reported speech effectively.
• Better Understanding of Language Nuances: Mastery of direct and indirect speech helps learners grasp the subtleties of language, including tone, context, and perspective.
• Critical Thinking: Converting statements from direct to indirect speech (or vice versa) requires comprehension and analysis of the original message, fostering critical thinking.
• Effective Reporting: In fields like journalism, law, and academia, accurately reporting speech is vital. Mastery of both forms ensures precision and reliability in conveying information.

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Direct and Indirect speech-FAQs

Q1. what are direct and indirect speech in english.

Ans. Direct speech is a speech that describes what a third person has conveyed or quoted in a direct manner. Generally, direct speech is written inside quotation marks ("").Indirect Speech is used when we convey what someone said in our own words without repeating the actual text of that person.

Q2. In which speech conjunctions are used and what is the purpose?

Ans. The conjunctions are used in Indirect speech. The speaker's words and sentences are reframed into our own words in Indirect speech using conjuctions as connecting words.

Q3. What are modals and what is the significance of using modals?

Ans. Modal verbs are those verbs that are preceded by another verb, which is the main verb. Can, May, and Must are some examples of Modals. While converting direct to indirect speech Can becomes could, May becomes Might, Will becomes Would. Modals that won’t change are Could, would, should, ought to, might.

Q4 Give a few examples of direct speech.

Ans: Some examples of direct speech have been discussed here: 1. John said, "I will go to the store." 2. Mary asked, "Are you coming to the party?" 3. "It's a beautiful day," remarked Sarah. 4. He shouted, "Watch out for the car!"

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• Reported Speech /

Exploring the Types of Reported Speech: A Complete Guide

• Updated on  
• Dec 21, 2023

Reported speech is an integral part of English grammar , understanding the nuances of reported speech will help increase language proficiency. In this blog article, you will explore the different types of reported speech based on the types of sentences in English grammar. You will also learn the different rules to be followed to convert different types of sentences from direct speech to indirect speech. You will also find exercises to reinforce your learning and master the art of converting speech from one speech to another.

This Blog Includes:

Four types of reported speech , change of assertive sentences in reported speech, examples of change of assertive sentences in reported speech, change of interrogative sentences in reported speech, examples of change of interrogative sentences in reported speech, change of exclamatory sentences in reported speech, examples of change of exclamatory sentences in reported speech, change of imperative sentences in reported speech, examples of change of imperative sentences in reported speech, exercise on kinds of reported speech.

MUST READ! Reported Speech: Definition, Rules, Usage with Examples, Tips, Exercises for Students

Based on the kinds of sentences in English Grammar reported speech is also changed accordingly keeping in mind the four kinds of sentences. There are four types of reported speech. These include – Exclamatory, Interrogative, Imperative and Assertive/Declarative.

The following rules must be kept in mind before changing the speech of an assertive sentence:

• Removal of quotation marks and the sentence will end with a comma.
• Reporting verbs are changed accordingly:

• Conjunction that is added to remove the quotation marks.

Also Read Tenses Rules: Charts, Examples, Types [PDF Available]

Let us comprehend the few examples of Assertive Speech for the proper understanding of the concept.

The following rules must be kept in mind before changing the speech of an interrogative sentence:

• Removal of quotation marks and use of question marks (? ) at the end of the sentence.
• The Reporting verb changed to ask, inquire, question, or want to know.
• The use of connectors such as if or whether to remove the quotation marks.
• WHO words are not changed and no use of connectors before them.

Let us comprehend the few examples of Interrogative Speech for a proper understanding of the concept.

Must Read: Subject-Verb Agreement: Definition, 12 Rules & Examples

• The interjections and commas are removed with the help of a connector(that).
• The reported verb said changes according to the interjection such as exclaimed with joy, exclaimed with sorrow, exclaimed with wonder, exclaimed joyfully, or sorrowfully.
• In interjection sentences if beginnings with how or what are removed using very or very great.
• The wish sentences may change to might and remove the exclamation that connector is used.

Let us comprehend the few examples of Exclamatory Sentences for a proper understanding of the concept.

The following rules must be kept in mind before changing the speech of an imperative sentence:

• To change the imperative sentences from direct to indirect speech infinitive is used before the main verb.
• The reported verb said is changed to ordered, requested, commanded, and advised.

Let us comprehend the few examples of Imperative Sentences for a proper understanding of the concept.

Change the following sentences to indirect speech:

• He said to him,” What is your name?”
• He said to her,” I ate mangoes”.
• The mother said to her son,” Put your clothes on the rack.”
• The mother said,” Hurrah! My son has won the trophy.”
• The old lady said to me,” May you live long!”

Check your answers with solved exercises to analyze the understanding of your concept.

1. He asked him what his name was.

2. He told her that he had eaten mangoes.

3. The mother instructed her son to put his clothes on the rack.

4. The mother exclaimed with joy that her son had won the trophy.

5. The old lady wished me a long life.

Must Read: Figures of Speech: Types, Usage & Examples [Download PDF]

Direct speech is the actual words spoken by a person and is written in quotation marks, while indirect speech defines the meaning of the original statement without quoting the actual words of the speaker. Indirect speech involves changes in verb tense, pronouns, and other elements.

There are four types of reported speech based on the four kinds of sentences in English Grammar. Statements  Questions Exclamations And Wishes Commands and Requests

The four types of reported speech are Assertive/Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative and Exclamatory.

To advance your grammar knowledge and read more informative blogs, check out our Learn English page, and don’t forget to follow Leverage Edu .

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📚✨ From Classroom Chats Entered Into The Wordy World ….. Yes , If you all Remember that teacher who kept you on your toes with pop quizzes and endless homework? YEP! THAT WAS Me ! 🌟 But with the blessings of almighty and the key motivation of my husband who came across the spark of writing in me has insisted me to pave my way away from chalk dust to creative burst!💫  Being in this new world of writing I can compose pun-tastic content, poetry full of emotions and humorous articles that can even make Shakespeare envious of me 📝🎭.Yippee! from teaching young minds to educating worldwide readers it's an epic career switch. From teaching grammar lessons to grammatically flawless copy, I'm todays' wordsmith on a mission! Let me spin literary magic all around and conquer my exact destination of proving myself as The Best Writer in The World.🚀🏆 My promise is to provide you with valuable insights, solutions to your questions, and a momentary escape from the routine. I believe in the power of words to create connections, provoke thought, and foster growth. Woods are lovely dark and deep  But I have promises to keep and  Miles to go before I sleep ……..🌳✨🌌

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The Complete Guide to Spanish Grammar

Looking to learn Spanish grammar but don’t know where to start?

Don’t worry—if you take it bit by bit, you too will be able to navigate the intricacies of Spanish grammar!

In this post, we’ll go over all the essential elements of Spanish grammar, and provide resources where you can learn them in depth. It’s like our very own Spanish grammar Wiki.

Ready to get started?

Prefixes and Suffixes 

Personal pronouns, subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, interrogative pronouns, definite articles, indefinite articles, infinitive verbs, verb groups, verb conjugation, regular and irregular verbs, essential verbs, ser and estar, verbs like gustar, stem-changing verbs, pronominal verbs, reflexive verbs, phrasal verbs, modal verbs, active and passive voice, present tense, present participle, past imperfect, past participle, future tense, conditional tense, perfect tense, present perfect , future perfect, pluperfect tense, progressive tense, present progressive , past progressive, indicative mood, subjunctive mood, imperative mood, negative commands, adjective endings, adjective placement, adjective clauses, possessive adjectives, comparative and superlative adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, adjectives as nouns, relative adjectives, types of adverbs, adverb placement, adverb endings, prepositions, prepositions of place, the personal a, por and para, verbs and prepositions, conjunctions, contractions, sentence structure, transition words, comparisons, reported speech , question words, por qué v porque, question marks, exclamations and interjections, writing mechanics, punctuation, capitalization.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Nouns are essentially the name for any person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea or action.

As with English, Spanish nouns have several classifications. There are nine different types of nouns in total, and understanding them is complicated by the simple fact that you probably aren’t familiar with noun classifications in English, either (guilty). 

Knowing nouns in Spanish is essential to building sentences. Click here to learn 80+ commonly used nouns, and the nine types of Spanish nouns (with examples!). Plus,…

If you only speak English, it may take some time to get your head around the concept of gender in Spanish grammar. But just go with it! 

Put simply, every noun in Spanish is classified as either masculine or feminine. 

And, while there are some rules regarding gender , whether a word is masculine or feminine is not always obvious. That’s why it’s important to learn the gender of a noun at the same time you learn its translation. 

Read this guide to learn about masculine and feminine Spanish words. Learn how to use and determine Spanish gender, the best tips for studying gender rules, resources to…

Plural nouns—as opposed to singular nouns—are relatively easy to form in Spanish. More often than not it’s as straightforward as adding “s” or “es” to the end of a word (just like in English!).

However, there are situations where the spelling of a word may change or the word is kept the same and only the article changes, and you’ve got to take into account the gender of the word. 

The Spanish plural isn’t as tricky as it looks. In fact, some Spanish pluralization rules are pretty similar to English ones! There are only eight rules you need to…

The subject of a sentence (the word for whatever is performing an action, usually a noun) is typically placed first in a sentence, followed by a verb and then an object (if the verb actually has an object).

This structure often changes, though: the noun can be placed differently in order to emphasize different parts of the sentence, and you’ll often find that adjectives come before a lot of nouns. 

Prefixes and suffixes are additions to the beginning and end of a word (respectively) which modify its meaning.

For example, adding the suffix -ito / -ita  to the end of a word conveys smallness or endearment. If you take the word  gato (cat) and add -ito  it becomes gatito, which means “little kitten/cat.”

Knowing prefixes and suffixes will help you understand the meaning of a word even if it’s unfamiliar to you!

Master 20 common prefixes to unlock word meanings. Learn prefixes like mal-, ben- and sobre- and you’ll start noticing them everywhere. Knowing these will let you see at a…

Read this blog post to learn 30 essential Spanish suffixes that native speakers use all the time. Learn to recognize common suffixes like -ario/a, -ada, -mente and many…

Pronouns are words which are used in the place of a noun (e.g. using “he,” “she” or “they” in place of using someone’s actual name). 

Spanish however has a few more pronouns than we’re used to in English. There are five ways of saying “you” , and to use them we must consider things like the formality of the situation and even what area of the world you’re in .

Spanish pronouns are incredibly important to using the language correctly. But with so many different kinds, how do you know how to use them? Lucky for you, this guide…

Personal pronouns are short words which replace the names of people, things or places in order to make a sentence shorter and more concise—for example, instead of repeating a person’s name over and over in a conversation, we could substitute it with the word “they.” 

They are split into “subject pronouns” and “object pronouns,” depending on the role the word takes in a sentence.  

The subject pronouns replace the name of the subject in a sentence: whoever is performing the action. Spanish has 12 subject pronouns, which are:

• Tú  — you (singular, informal)
• Usted — you (singular, formal)
• Ustedes — you (plural, formal or informal depending on the country)
• Ellos /  ellas — they
• Vosotros / vosotras — you (plural, informal used in Spain)
• Nosotros / nosotras — we

Spanish subject pronouns are a foundational concept you need to understand in order to learn the language. Check out this guide so you can learn the Spanish personal…

Next we have object pronouns, which replace the “object” of the sentence: the person or thing that receives the action of a verb. We split these into “direct object” and “indirect object.”

Direct object pronouns in Spanish are little words that replace nouns so you don’t sound repetitive and unnatural. Click here to learn all 8 of the direct object pronouns…

Direct object pronouns

Direct object pronouns receive the action of the verb directly. For example, in the phrase  su papá la quiere (her dad loves her), the direct object is “her,” because she is receiving the action of the verb “love”.

Spanish direct object pronouns are:

• Lo , la — him, her, it, you (formal)
• Los , las — them, you all (formal in Spain)
• Os  — you all (informal in Spain)

Indirect object pronouns

Indirect object pronouns are indirectly affected by the action of the verb.

For example, consider the phrase le escribo una carta.  (I write him a letter). In this case,  le  (him or her) is the indirect object, as the verb is not directly affecting them.

They’re almost the same as direct object pronouns — just with  lo and la becoming  le, and  los  and  las  becoming  les:

• Le  — him, her, it, you (formal)
• Les — them, you all (formal in Spain)

Like the rest of the pronouns we’ve seen, possessive pronouns are also words which replace nouns — but also indicate ownership.

They’re often confused with possessive adjectives, which are different because possessive adjectives merely describe nouns and do not actually replace them.  

Here are the possessive pronouns in Spanish:

• Mío , mía , míos , mías — mine
• Tuyo , tuya , tuyos , tuyas — yours (informal singular)
• Suyo , suya , suyos , suyas — his, hers, theirs, yours (formal singular and plural)
• Vuestro , vuestra , vuestros , vuestras — yours (informal plural in Spain)
• Nuestro , nuestra , nuestros , nuestras — ours

Master Spanish possessive pronouns with this simple guide to usage rules, example sentences and more. Plus, learn where to find helpful resources, like exercises and…

Demonstrative pronouns are used to point out specific people or things . They change depending on the distance of the speaker, and of course the gender of whatever is being referred to.

Sometimes, though, you’ll find yourself in situations where you don’t actually know the gender of the object you’re referring to: in these cases, you’ll want to use neuter demonstrative pronouns.

• Este  (m),  esta (f),  esto (n) — this
• Estos  (m),  estas (f) — these
• Ese  (m),  esa (f),  eso (n) — that
• Esos  (m),  esas (f) — those
• Aquel (m),  aquella (f),  aquello (n) — that (over there)
• Aquellos (m),  aquellas (f) — those (over there)

Spanish demonstratives are essential to know—they’re needed to sound less repetitive and more like a native, and you’ll hear them 24/7. Click here to learn to say…

When the object of a verb refers to the same noun as the subject of that verb, we use reflexive pronouns. 

Here are the reflexive pronouns alongside their English translations:

• Me  —  myself
• Te   — yourself
• Se   — himself, herself, themselves 
• Se — yourself (formal), yourselves (formal in Spain)
• Os   — yourselves (informal in Spain)
• Nos   — ourselves

Relative pronouns are words or phrases which refer back to a noun that was used earlier in communication. In English, they’re often words like “who,” “whose,” “that” and “which.” 

For example, in the phrase “the food that I bought,” the relative pronoun is “that.”

The following words and phrases are used as relative pronouns in Spanish:

• Quien , quienes 
• El que , la que , los que , las que
• El cual , la cual , los cuales , las cuales
• Lo que , lo cual
• Cuando ,  donde

Spanish relative pronouns are vital to make your speech sound more natural and fluid. But how do these pronouns (like “que,” “quien” and “lo cual”) actually function? Read…

Indefinite pronouns are words which don’t actually refer to anything in particular—that is, they aren’t specific to any person, amount, or thing. In English we would use words like “anything,” “everybody,” “none,” “several” and “some.”

Here are a few of common indefinite pronouns you’ll come across in Spanish:

• Alguien — s omebody, someone
• Alguno / alguna / algunos / algunas — one, some, any
• Cualquiera — any, any one, anyone
• Nada  — nothing, not anything
• Nadie   — no one, not anyone
• Ninguno / ninguna — none, no one
• Otro / otra — other one, another one
• Poco / poca — little, few

Indefinite pronouns are extremely handy words. So learn to talk about anything (literally) with 13 indefinite pronouns in Spanish. From something to nothing, these words…

Finally, we have interrogative pronouns: these are pronouns which are used to ask questions (hence the name “interrogative”). 

Here are some of the most common interrogative pronouns in Spanish:

• D ónde  — where
• Q ué — what
• Por qué  — why
• Cómo  — how
• Cuándo  — when
• Quién — who

Spanish interrogative words are crucial to any level of conversation. Here’s everything you need to know about how to ask questions in Spanish, including the essential…

An article is a word which identifies a part of a speech as a noun, without actually describing it.

It sounds complicated but it all makes sense when you see what the English equivalent would be: in this case, articles in English are “the,” “a” and “an.” For example:

“ The baby started to cry, so I gave him a bottle”

Articles can also be classified as “definite” and “indefinite” articles, which are explained below. 

Definite and indefinite articles in Spanish are words like “the,” “a” and “an.” And they’re incredibly useful little words! Read on to learn everything you need to know…

The definite article is used when the noun being referred to is already known to the speaker or reader. It refers to a specific, defined object.

In Spanish it has four forms, depending on the gender and number of the noun in question:

• El , la , los ,  las — the

In contrast, definite articles are used when the noun being referred to is general, or is not known to the speaker or reader. 

Like definite articles, indefinite articles in Spanish also reflect the gender and number of the noun. These are:

• Un , una — a, an
• Unos ,  unas — some

Verbs are words used to describe an action, state, or occurrence.

Using verbs in Spanish is a bit more complex than in English—the following section has a run down of the most important things you should know. 

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/spanish-verbs-flashcards/

An infinitive is the form of a verb which states nothing but an action—that is, they tell us nothing about who is actually performing the action, and when it’s being (or was) performed.

The English equivalent would be when we use verbs with “to” in front, such as: “to go,” “to sleep” or “to think.”

While in English our infinitive verbs begin with the word “to” in Spanish we identify them by their endings: -ar, -er and -ir . 

Spanish infinitives are an important part of the language. Read this guide to discover five common uses for Spanish verbs in their infinitive forms. You’ll also learn how…

Spanish verbs are split into three groups based on whether they end in -ar , -er , or -ir .

Each group is conjugated differently, so it’s important to know where the verb belongs so that you can conjugate them accordingly.

Verb conjugation is what we call it when a verb is changed to reflect a person, tense, number and mood.

In Spanish, we start with the infinitive verb and modify its ending according to who we’re talking about and how.

Let’s say that I want to say “I speak.” Here are the basic steps:

• Identify the verb you want to conjugate. In this case it would be  hablar  (“to speak”)
• Decide who is performing the action (aka the subject). In this case, I am the subject
• Find the appropriate ending. Use a verb conjugation table to find the ending that corresponds with “I” in the present tense. This will be -o
• Conjugate the verb. Remove  -ar  from  hablar  and add -o.  This gives us  hablo (“I speak.”).

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/how-to-conjugate-spanish-verbs/

Vosotros is the informal way to say “you all” in Spain, and it’s important to learn if you want to travel there or speak Castilian Spanish! This guide covers what vosotros…

While most verbs in Spanish are regular and so follow the usual conjugation pattern, a large portion of them—42%, to be exact—are actually irregular verbs .

This means that they (unhelpfully) don’t always follow standard conjugation patterns, so you’ll have to learn their conjugations individually!

Irregular verbs in Spanish are extremely common, so they’re essential to know. Click here to learn 20 of the most useful irregular Spanish verbs, such as “ser,” “estar,”…

To learn Spanish you need to work smarter, not harder.

So instead of learning everything you possibly can when you first start out, stick to what will get you the most results—you need to learn the essential , most common verbs before you get into the more complex ones. 

These 150+ most common Spanish verbs are must-knows for Spanish learners because they appear so often! Click here for a lesson on the most important verbs in the Spanish…

Hard Spanish verbs got you down? Many of the most common Spanish verbs have some tricky conjugations in certain tenses. Here are 33 difficult Spanish verbs, along with…

Learning when to use tener vs haber can be a tricky part of learning Spanish. If they both mean “to have,” how do you know which one to use? Read this to learn when to use…

The word hay in Spanish is used by native speakers everywhere, from news reports to daily conversations. But many learners struggle to understand what hay means and…

Whether to use ser or estar (which both mean “to be”) is probably one of the most Googled questions by us Spanish learners. 

In general, I like to remember that ser  is for more permanent states, whereas  estar  is used for more transient states. 

Of course, it would be no fun if the rules were that simple, so check out our post for a full run down!

Ser vs. estar: which one should you use? Both verbs mean “to be” but how do you know which one is used in which situation? This guide will show you the differences between…

The verb “haber” pops up in Spanish conversations, literature and entertainment all the time, but it can be tricky to get the hang of as a learner. Click here to learn…

While verbs like  gustar (to like) appear complicated at first, the good news is that if you take a bit of time to understand them they really do make sense. 

With these verbs the object of the sentence becomes the subject, and the subject becomes the indirect object.

For example, to say “I like you” in Spanish is me gustas— directly translated this would be something like “to me, you are pleasing.”

With the verb gustar “you” becomes subject (where it would normally be the object), and is therefore conjugated from gustar into gustas. “I” then becomes the indirect object (instead of the subject), which necessitates the indirect object pronoun me.

Don’t let Spanish verbs like “gustar” catch you off guard! Find out how to use and conjugate the tricky “gustar” (to like, to be pleasing). Then, get to know 100+ other…

Stem-changing verbs are verbs which do not only change their endings while being conjugated, their “stem”, or the beginning of the verb, also changes. 

There are three main types of stem changing verbs:

• E to ie stem-changing verbs
• E to i stem-changing verbs
• O to ue stem-changing verbs

Spanish stem-changing verbs don’t follow normal conjugation rules and are a vital step in your learning journey. Read this blog post to learn how to identify, conjugate…

Tener and venir are two of the most common Spanish irregular verbs. You’ll hear them all the time, so it’s important to learn how to conjugate them! In this post, you’ll…

This is a type of verb which requires a reflexive pronoun (the me, te, se etc. pronouns that I mentioned earlier in the post). They’re easy to identify as they end in -se instead of the regular  -ar, -er  or  -ir infinitive ending. 

There are several types of pronominal verbs, but purely pronominal verbs cannot exist without a reflexive pronoun. 

Pronominal verbs Spanish language learners study can pose a major challenge due to their purely reflexive and chameleon-like properties. Luckily, they can easily be boiled…

Reflexive verbs are a type of pronominal verb. They too end in -se , and refer to an action that a subject performs on itself—in contrast to a regular verb, where the subject performs the action on someone or something else. 

For example:

• Lavar  —  to wash
• Lavarse  —  to wash yourself

Knowing how to use reflexive verbs in Spanish is essential! In this post, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to using Spanish reflexive verbs, covering everything from…

Next on the list of grammar terms you never knew existed we have phrasal verbs! These are verbs which actually change their meaning when you add an adverb or preposition to them. 

They’re on the advanced side, but learning them will help you to express yourself better—and also make your Spanish sound pretty flash. 

Spanish phrasal verbs are super common—you’ll hear them all the time in Spanish conversation. Check out these 32 commonly used phrasal verbs and learn how to use them…

The Spanish verb “acabar” is a useful little word to know! Learn how to conjugate “acabar” as well as its four main uses in the Spanish language. Find out when the word…

These verbs indicate meanings such as likelihood, ability, suggestion, or advice. 

In English, these verbs include words like “can,” “would,” “should” or “might.” Here are a few common ones in Spanish:

• Poder  — can, to be able to
• Saber  — to know how to
• Querer  — to want
• Deber  — must, should

What are Spanish modal verbs? How do you use them? Become a modal master with this playful, slightly messy guide.

Saber and conocer are two words that mean “to know” in Spanish. But how do you know which one to use: Saber vs conocer? These verbs have different meanings and it’s…

The active voice is what we use to communicate the vast majority of the time. It’s a form of a verb in which the subject is performing the action, while the passive voice is where the subject undergoes the action of the verb.

By contrasting these examples, you should get a better idea of what they are:

• Active: You broke the glass
• Passive: The glass was broken by you

In Spanish, the passive voice is formed with the formula subject + ser + past participle.

The Spanish passive voice highlights who receives a verb’s action instead of who is doing it. Click here to learn how to use the passive voice in Spanish, how to form it,…

You’re probably aware what a tense is, but just for those of us who appreciate more formal explanations: tense indicates the time of an action in relation to the time of utterance.

There are 14 tenses to explore in Spanish, each with different conjugations depending on the subject — so buckle up!

Spanish tenses are something you have to know to become fluent in Spanish. Many are used every day (like the simple present, preterite and imperfect tenses), while others…

The present tense in Spanish is the most basic tense, and what you’ll start off learning. It’s used to express actions which:

• Are happening now
• Are habitually performed
• Generally exist

Learn the present tense in Spanish with this in-depth guide for beginners. From regular -ar, -er and -ir Spanish present tense verb conjugations to irregular stem-changing…

The present participle comes after another verb and expresses a continuous action. Think of them as the “-ing” words in English. 

To form the present participle in Spanish, remove the  -ar, -er   and  -ir from the infinitive verb and simply add -ando (for an -ar verb) and -iendo (for -er and -ir verbs). 

The gerund in Spanish is a great construction for talking about things that are currently happening. In this post, you’ll learn all about what a gerund is, how to form it…

At first glance, the past tense seems just as straightforward as the present tense — except that it’s actually not. 

There are several types of past tenses in Spanish, and we’ll explain the main ones below. 

Knowing how to use the Spanish past tense is a vital skill to have. Read this if you’re ready to master it! This guide breaks down each of the five Spanish past tenses:…

This verb tense expresses an action which took place at a specific point in the past. Specifically actions or events which:

• Are completed
• Occurred on specific times/dates or during a specific time period
• Have specific beginnings or endings
• Took place in a sequence

In contrast, the past imperfect expresses an action in the past which was ongoing or didn’t have a defined beginning/end. Here are some of its uses in Spanish:

• Repeated or habitual actions in the past 
• Something that was in progress in the past
• Descriptions of people/things in the past
• People’s ages in the past
• Times and dates in the past 

The imperfect tense in Spanish is used to talk about past habitual actions, describe the past, give times and dates and more! This post will take you through how to form…

The past participle is a form of a verb used as a noun, an adjective, or to make “perfect tenses.”

For example, consider the sentence:  I have eaten.  “Eaten” is the past participle of “to eat.”

To form the past participle in Spanish, we just remove the infinitive ending ( -ar, -er  and  -ir ) and add -ado (for -ar verbs) or -ido  (for  -er  and  -ir verbs).

The past participle in Spanish isn’t just for the perfect tense. It can be used in many forms to express yourself in various ways. As a noun, adjective, adverb…even to…

To talk about the future in Spanish, we have a few options—which thankfully have some pretty close equivalents in English. Note that the first two options are most commonly used.

• Simple future.   Hablaré con ella. (I’ll talk to her). This tense is formed by conjugating a verb with a specific ending.
• Ir + a + infinitive .  Voy a hablar con ella. (I’m going to talk to her). This is formed by using the present simple conjugation of the verb  ir  (in this case  voy ) plus a (meaning “to”) plus  hablar  (the infinitive form of the verb “to talk)
• Future perfect.  Habré hablado con ella.  (I will have talked to her). To form this, we conjugate haber in the simple future tense ( h abré ) and add the past participle of the main verb ( hablado)

Knowing the future tense in Spanish opens up a million new conversational possibilities, like discussing future plans, reported speech and making “if” statements. This…

The conditional tense is incredibly useful for conversation and for forming advanced phrases, and once I discovered it it opened up a whole new world of expressing myself. 

In layman’s terms, the conditional indicates degrees of possibility in the present, future and past—like when we’re talking about something that might happen in the future, something that didn’t happen in the past or something that will probably never happen.

The Spanish conditional indicates possibilities and hypotheticals by changing the endings of verbs to -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais or -ían. This post will take you…

This tense is used to talk about actions or events that have occurred in the recent past, started in the past and continues to the present day, or when something has happened a certain number of times. For example: 

“They have been waiting for you”

In Spanish it’s formed by using the verb haber (to have) and the past participle.

Present perfect is formed by conjugating  haber  (to have) in the present tense, and pairing it with the past participle. 

He querido  verte. (I have wanted to see you)

The present perfect in Spanish is used to talk about things that happened in the past—but still affect the present. Click here to learn everything you need to know about…

Future perfect is formed by conjugating haber  (to have) in the—you guessed it—future tense, and pairing it with the past participle. 

¿ Habrás terminado mañana? (Will you have finished tomorrow?)

The Spanish future perfect tense is used to talk about things that will have happened in the future. Click here for the complete rundown—you’ll learn how to form it with…

The pluperfect tense has several uses, the main one being to indicate that an action took place before another action in the past. 

We form it by conjugating haber  (to have) in the past imperfect tense, and again, pairing it with the past participle. 

Habías dicho que sí. (You had said yes)

The pluscuamperfecto or pluperfect Spanish tense might seem scary, but it’s really not! Study this Spanish tense and learn its conjugations to talk about actions that…

Progressive is a type of tense that expresses an incomplete action at a specific time. 

In order to form the progressive tense in Spanish, we use the formula estar (to be) + present participle (finally, we’re moving away from the past participle!). 

Estoy saliendo. (I’m leaving)

We use the progressive tense in Spanish to describe what’s happening, what was happening or what will be happening. In this post, you’ll learn when to use the Spanish…

The present progressive tense is pretty self explanatory: it’s a progressive tense, used in the present.

Following the same formula as above, we conjugate  estar  in the present tense and add the present participle. 

Estamos intentando . (We’re trying)

The present progressive in Spanish is used to describe what you’re doing right now. Follow the three steps in this guide to master the present progressive (which is…

Again, past progressive is a progressive tense which is used in the past. 

Following the same formula estar + present participle, we conjugate estar  in the past imperfect tense and add the present participle. 

Estábamos intentando . (We were trying)

The past progressive in Spanish can help make your sentences sound a whole lot more interesting. So what is the Spanish past progressive, how do you form it, when do you…

Mood in Spanish grammar isn’t what it first appears—it doesn’t have to do with your state of mind. 

In the context of grammar, it’s a category of verb form which expresses whether something is:

• A fact (indicative mood)
• A condition (subjunctive mood) 
• A command (imperative mood)

Verb conjugations change depending on which mood you’re speaking in, so it’s important to understand when and how to use each one.

The indicative mood is the mood we use most often to communicate. Simply put, it’s used to express anything that we consider to be fact.

Being able to differentiate and choose between the subjunctive vs. indicative Spanish moods is essential to becoming fluent. Read this guide to know everything you need…

The subjunctive mood can be trickier to understand and use. This is due in part to the fact that the subjunctive in English is pretty vague, so we aren’t very familiar with it. 

Where the indicative mood is objective, the subjunctive is  subjective —it’s used to express something that is wished, imagined or possible.

Struggling with the Spanish subjunctive? Click here to learn exactly how to conjugate the subjunctive, the difference between the subjunctive and other moods, plus when to…

Spanish subjunctive practice might be just what you need to master this tricky mood. Click here to practice the Spanish subjunctive with quizzes containing 25+ questions.…

The Spanish imperfect subjunctive helps you express opinions, hopes, denials, doubts and hypothetical situations—something you’ll hear and use a lot in Spanish. Click…

The imperative mood is used to form commands or requests. 

While ordering someone around may sound impolite, you’d be surprised how often this mood comes up in our day to day lives: e.g. “come here” or “take the next right turn.” 

Spanish commands are super useful in everyday speech—and they’re not too difficult to learn! Click here for the complete rundown of how to make commands in Spanish,…

Vosotros commands are used in Spain to ask “you all” to do (or not to do) something. From asking people to come to your party to telling others not to make too much noise,…

In contrast to affirmative commands (where you tell someone/something to do something), negative commands are where you tell someone/something  not to do something. 

In addition to the  no (no) that you’ll add to the start of the verb, the verb itself is also conjugated differently—so it pays to learn the conjugations for both affirmative and negative commands. 

This complete guide covers everything you’ll need to know about forming negative commands in Spanish. See how and when to use negative Spanish commands, learn the…

You may remember from your elementary school days that adjectives are “ describing words .” While this is true, more formally they’re defined as “a word which names an attribute of a noun.” 

Like many things in Spanish, adjectives usually have to reflect the number and gender of the noun (or pronoun) it’s describing. Let’s have a deeper look at them.

Spanish adjectives are essential for every Spanish learner. Describe almost anything with ease using these 50 common adjectives in Spanish. Read on to learn how to…

Trying to describe someone? Use these 100 common Spanish adjectives to describe a person. Find the perfect word to describe a person’s personality, emotions and physical…

In need of some advanced Spanish adjectives? Check out this list of 32 Spanish adjectives that are guaranteed to add some lovely color to your spoken language. Each word…

Learning opposites in Spanish will help you remember new vocabulary faster and more effectively. From Spanish antonyms such as viejo and joven to rápido and lento, this…

• -o —  masculine singular
• -os — masculine plural
• -a — feminine singular
• -as — feminine plural
• -e —  masculine/feminine singular
• -es —  masculine/feminine plural
• -ista —  masculine/feminine singular
• – istas —  masculine/feminine plural
• Adjectives that end in a consonant also do not change for gender, only for number. To change these adjectives from singular to plural we usually just add  -es  to the end, however there are several exceptions to this rule

You may already be aware that adjectives are placed differently in Spanish than in English: the majority of the time, the adjective is placed after the noun it modifies. 

But there are a couple of exceptions, so be aware of these cases where the adjective actually goes in front:

• Proper nouns
• Nouns/relations that we only have one of
• Inherent qualities that are always associated with that noun
• When you already know the noun that the adjective is referencing

Spanish adjective placement is the opposite of English…except on a few occasions. Click here to learn everything you need to know about adjective placement in Spanish,…

You know we’re getting deep when we start talking about clauses. 

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. In the case of an adjective clause, it’s essentially a group of words—including a subject and a verb—which functions much the same as a regular adjective. 

Spanish adjective clauses work the same as regular adjectives, but use more words to get the point across. Click here to learn everything you need to know about Spanish…

Possessive adjectives are adjectives which indicate a relationship of possession—whether it be strict ownership or other types of ownership to a lesser degree. 

They’re words like “my,” “mine,” “ours” and “theirs.”

Want to brush up on your Spanish possessive adjectives? These useful little words are used all the time in Spanish, and this complete guide will help you master them! It…

These two sorts of adjectives help describe relationships between two (or more) objects.

Comparative adjectives compare the quality of two things (“she is taller than him”), while a superlative expresses the highest degree of the quality (“she is the  tallest “).

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/spanish-comparative-and-superlative/

Demonstrative adjectives identify the relative position of someone or something in time or space. 

Demonstrative adjectives in Spanish express three types of distance:

• Este — this
• Aquel — that (over there)

And because they’re adjectives—don’t forget that they’ll change to reflect number and gender!

By now we know what an adjective is, and what a noun is. But what about using an adjective as a noun?

There are a couple of ways that adjectives can be altered to function as a noun:

1. Adding an article

2. Modifying an adjective with a demonstrative adjective

3. Using the article  lo

4. Using the personal  a

Did you know you can use adjectives as nouns in Spanish with five easy techniques? Just by adding a single extra word, such as a definite article or demonstrative…

These are adjectives which show relation in a sentence—hence the nomenclature. They introduce new information about something or someone that has been previously mentioned in the form of a relative clause. 

For example, in English we use the word “whose.” In Spanish, we would use cuyo, cuya, cuyos and cuyas (depending on the gender and number of whatever you’re referring to).

The relative adjective “cuyo” in Spanish is a useful word for learners to know. In this post, you’ll learn all about the word “cuyo,” including its forms and uses, shown…

Adverbs are a word or phrase which modifies other words in a sentence (usually an adjective, verb or another adverb) to further describe details such as place, time, manner or degree. 

Because they don’t modify nouns, adverbs don’t change according to gender or number like other classes of words do—that’s one less thing to worry about, at least!

Spanish adverbs are used everywhere the language, but luckily they’re not hard to learn. We’ll show you 100 examples of common Spanish adverbs and how they’re used in…

Adverbs can be placed into several categories depending on the sort of information they provide. Let’s have a look at the main ones and some examples:

• Adverbs of place give information about a place or location that something is happening, answering the question “where?”. For example aquí (here) and cerca  (close)
• Adverbs of frequency  describe how often an action is performed. For example a veces ( sometimes) and siempre (always)
• Adverbs of manner  express the way in which an action is performed by answering “how?” or “in what way?”. For example juntos  (together) and bien  (well)
• Adverbs of degree modify adjectives, and answer the question “how much/many?”. For example mucho  (much), peor  (worse)
• Adverbs of time  as the name suggests, these adverbs describe the time and duration of something. They answer questions like “when?” and “how long?”. For example ya  (already) and pronto  (soon)

Spanish adverbs of frequency are incredibly useful words that allow you to say how often something happens. Check out these 30 common Spanish frequency words plus some…

Adverbs in Spanish are usually placed either right before or right after the word they are modifying, and the type of word determines this placement. As a general rule, we can assume that they are usually:

• Placed a fter verbs
• Placed before adjectives
• Flexible if modifying the meaning of a sentence

Many adverbs in Spanish end in  -mente , which is like the equivalent of words ending in “-ly” in English (like “slowly,” “quickly,” or “regularly”).

We can form an adverb by using almost any singular feminine adjective and adding  -mente. 

Rápida (quick, fem. sing.) + – mente = rápidamente  (quickly)

Prepositions play a huge role in the meaning of sentences, but are often overlooked by those studying Spanish. 

Prepositions are words—or a group of words—used before nouns, pronouns or noun phrases to link them to other words in a sentence.

They communicate things like direction, time, location, spatial relationship, or introduce an object. 

Spanish prepositions are an essential part of the language! Read up on the 40 most common prepositions in Spanish, together with their usage and example sentences. This…

“Volver a” seems like a simple Spanish phrase but there’s more to it than meets the eye! Master the phrase with this complete guide to using the verb. You’ll learn its…

These prepositions describe the position of something (or someone) in relation to something else. There are a few to learn, but here are some of the most common ones to get you started:

• A  —  to, by, at
• Cerca de   — near to
• Debajo de   — under
• Encima de  — on top of
• En frente de  — in front of

Prepositions of place in Spanish can take your learning above and beyond! All puns aside, these prepositions are crucial for language learners. In this post, you’ll find…

Even after many years of learning Spanish, the “personal a” still trips me up a bit—probably because there is no equivalent in English.

It’s a preposition that is placed between the verb and the direct object of a sentence when the direct object is a person or a pet.  It doesn’t translate to anything, but we need to use it nonetheless!

Llamo a mi novio — I call my boyfriend

The personal a in Spanish can be a tricky grammar point for many learners since there’s no English equivalent. Click here to learn everything you need to know about the…

Like  ser  and  estar , whether you should use por  or  para  is another great conundrum of the Spanish learner.

They both loosely translate to “for”—however they’re pretty versatile in their meanings—so it can be pretty challenging figuring out when to use one over the other .

Here are some basic points to remember:

Por is used to mean “by” someone , while para is “for” someone

• Por is used for reason, while para is for purpose

Por is for traveling around or through somewhere, para is for the destination

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/por-and-para/

There are a whole lot of Spanish verbs which either must be used with a preposition, or change their meanings when paired with a preposition.

Unfortunately there isn’t a specific rule to help you learn them—you’ll have to pick them up as you use them!

Here are a couple of common examples:

• Soñar con  — to dream about
• Cuidar a  — to take care of
• Preocuparse por — to be worried about

Learning Spanish verbs with prepositions can help you learn about Spanish sentence structure and memorize key phrases. Here, you’ll find 30 of the most common Spanish…

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/spanish-verbs-prepositions/

Conjunctions are words used to connect other words and sentences, and they’ll help you bridge from beginner to intermediate and advanced by allowing you to make more complex sentences. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most common Spanish conjunctions:

• Pero — but, yet
• Aunque — though, even though, but
• Para que — so that, so, in order to/for
• Porque — because
• Así que — so

They seem basic, but don’t underestimate them—you’d be surprised what knowing them will do for your Spanish!

Spanish conjunctions help you clearly express your thoughts and ideas with more complex sentences that flow naturally. Check out these 45 essential conjunctions and learn…

A contraction is a shortened version of a word or phrase, created by the omission of letters and sounds. 

In English you’ll see contractions with an apostrophe: “I’m” (from I am), “couldn’t” (from could not), “you’ll” (from you will). 

I’m happy to tell you that in Spanish, there are only two contractions to remember:

1.  A + el = al

2.  De + el = del

Don’t worry: This guide to Spanish contractions won’t let you down! Find out when to form contractions… and when not to. Learn all about “al” and “del” and how to use…

So you’ve learned a bunch of Spanish words, now you need to string them together to make a coherent sentence—luckily, it’s not super complicated! 

Let’s have a look at some of the main components of sentences in Spanish.

Not sure how to form sentences in Spanish? Spanish sentences follow a different structure from English ones, after all. Luckily, as long as you remember a few general…

The sentence structure in Spanish usually follows the same formula we use for English:

Subject + verb + object

It would be great if we could just say it’s the same as in English and leave it there, but there a couple of other important points regarding sentence structure:

• It’s not always necessary to add a subject (like we must do in English)
• Pronouns are placed directly before the verb, not after it
• The verb can sometimes be placed in front of the subject

Spanish sentence structure is one of those essential language concepts you need to understand to communicate clearly. Check out our guide to learn proper word order and…

Negation is where we insert a word or phrase to express the opposite meaning of a word or sentence.

In Spanish, it’s usually as straightforward as adding no before the verb in a sentence.

No quiero irme. (I don’t want to go).

It gets a little trickier when it comes to the “double negative,” which is considered incorrect (or non-standard) in English but is used often in correct Spanish.

We do this by using “negative words”—such as nada (nothing) or nunca  (never)—either on their own or in conjunction with  no. 

1. Negative word used alone before the verb Nunca  veo películas.  (I never watch movies).

2.  No  before the verb and negative word after the verb No  veo películas  nunca.  (I never watch movies).

Spanish negation is an important topic to understand, as you’ll undoubtedly find yourself needing to say no. Click here for the complete guide to negation, including the…

Transition words are easy to confuse with conjunctions. The difference is that transition words indicate the relationship between sentences or paragraphs, and removing them won’t actually affect grammatical correctness. 

There are a ton of different types for various situations—such as for explanations, results, emphasis and summaries—and knowing them will really help your Spanish flow. 

Trust me, take some time to learn them and you’ll thank me later!

Spanish transition words are a must-know to make your language flow and sound fluent! Click here to learn what the transition words in Spanish are, the different…

We use a specific type of language to compare and contrast things, whether you realize it or not. Here are some formulas for making simple comparisons in Spanish:

• To compare two things: más/menos + adjective + que
• To compare nouns: más/menos  + noun +  que
• To compare numbers: más/menos + de + number
• To describe a difference in how something is done: más/menos + adverb + que 

Check out the post below to find out how to use superlatives and make comparisons of equality!

Knowing how to make comparisons in Spanish is an unavoidable skill you’ll need when talking with native speakers. Click here to learn the nine Spanish comparison phrases,…

Confused by tan vs. tanto in Spanish? You’re not alone! In this post you’ll learn all the main uses of tan and tanto with simple formulas and plenty of examples in various…

You might actually live your whole life as a Spanish learner and never come across this term, but since we’re here we may as well get the run-down. 

Reported speech is a type of speech that tells you what someone said, but doesn’t actually use the person’s words. 

Mi hermana dice que está cansada. (My sister says she is tired).

To use this type of speech you’ll need to learn “reporting” or “communication” verbs, such as decir (to say, to tell), querer saber (to want to know) and pedir (to ask)

The reported speech Spanish speakers use is similar to its English counterpart—with a few key differences. Read this post for a thorough breakdown of how Spanish…

Learning to ask questions in Spanish is super important—in fact, you could argue that it’s one of the most important things to learn! 

Fortunately it’s relatively simple, especially because in Spanish we don’t need to use auxiliary verbs (like “do” or “does”). Often a question mark and a rising intonation will do just fine, but we can also utilize “question words” to better elicit information.

While they aren’t always essential, we do often need “question words” to form questions. 

We actually covered many of these words earlier under “Interrogative Pronouns,” but these words are so important that it won’t hurt to give this list another read! 

• ¿Quién?  — who?
• ¿ Qué?   ¿Cuál? — what ?
• ¿Cuándo?  — when?
• ¿Dónde?   — where?
• ¿Para qué?  — what for?
• ¿Por qué?  — why?
• ¿Cómo? — how?
• ¿ Cuánto / cuanta / cuantos / cuantas? — how many/how much?

If you used to think it was enough to know the difference between por qué and porque,  you’re not alone (and, unfortunately, you’re also incorrect).  

Spanish is already bursting with por s and  que s, but we’re going to add some variations to the list in the form of por qué, por que, porqué and porque. 

Don’t get too worried, though—here are their basic meanings in a nutshell:

• Por qué —  why
• Por que —  for which, so that (least commonly used)
• Porqué —  reason (noun)
• Porque —  because

Did you know that there are 4 different variations of “por que” in Spanish? The differences are in spaces and accent marks that create different meanings. Read this guide…

No doubt you’ve seen the curious upside down question mark that’s unique to the Spanish language. 

There’s no secret to it—this inverted question mark is used along with a regular question mark to indicate a question, just like in English. If a sentence is long, just use the question marks immediately before the question:

No he probado jamón serrano, ¿ cómo es ?  (I haven’t tried  jamón,  what’s it like?)

It’s used mostly in formal settings these days, so you definitely don’t worry about it if you’re chatting with your Spanish-speaking friends on WhatsApp!

You’ve likely seen an upside down question mark or an upside down exclamation point. But why does Spanish have inverted punctuation? And how should you use it? Learn why…

Exclamations and interjections are both used to express strong feelings and emotions.

An exclamation is usually a phrase or clause used with exclamation marks, whereas interjections are usually single words and are used with commas and question marks in addition to exclamation marks.

Interjections can also be sounds, and are grammatically unrelated to the sentence. 

These not only let you express emotion in just a word or two, they show that you understand what’s going on and they’ll make you sound really fluent!

Check out the posts below to learn some really useful ones. 

Check out 47 Spanish exclamations and other Spanish interjections to add some drama to your interactions with natives! Each entry comes with audio pronunciation and at…

It might feel like you’re going back to elementary school by learning numbers from scratch again, but it’s well worth your while! You’ll need to learn numbers in Spanish for everything from telling the time to making transactions. 

Let’s have a look at numbers one to ten:

• Tres — three
• Cuatro — four
• Cinco — five
• Siete — seven
• Ocho — eight
• Nueve — nine

And then some ordinal numbers:

• Primero / primera — first
• Segundo / segunda — second
• Tercero / tercera — third
• Cuarto / cuarta — fourth
• Quinto / quinta — fifth
• Sexto / sexta — sixth
• Séptimo / septima — seventh
• Octavo / octava — eighth
• Noveno / novena — ninth
• Décimo / decima — tenth

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/spanish-numbers/

Time expressions with “hacer” are used all the time to talk about when something happened or for how long something has/had been happening. Check out these common Spanish…

Writing mechanics are just rules of a written language—things like punctuation, capitalization, spelling and abbreviations. 

You may have already picked up on a couple (such as the quirky “upside down” question mark), but we’re going to go over a few differences between Spanish and English that are important to know. 

For the most part punctuation is pretty straightforward in Spanish. If you’re unsure about something can usually assume that it’s the same as in English, but here are the main things to look out for:

• Question marks.  As mentioned earlier, in more formal writing you need to add an inverted question mark at the  beginning  of the question as well as the end.
• Exclamation marks.  Similarly, inverted exclamation points are also used at the beginning and end of the exclaimed word or phrase in Spanish. 

If there are more than four numerals in a number, a space is supposed to be used to separate the groups of numerals—instead of the comma which we would use in English. For example, in English we would write “1,500,00,” in Spanish the same number would be written as “1 500 000.” In saying this, you may well see numbers of this size written as “1.500.000” in many places.

The last point to remember is that in many Spanish-speaking countries it’s common to see a comma used as a decimal separator, instead of a period like in English. For example the number “20.50” in English is often written in Spanish as “20,50.” 

—¡Hola! —dijo la señora. (“Hello!” said the lady). —Hola, ¿cómo está? —contestó el niño. (“Hello, how are you?” answered the boy).  

Read our Spanish punctuation lesson to learn about how to use periods, commas, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks and two unique options for quotation marks.…

Spanish doesn’t capitalize words as often as we do in English, so unfortunately we can’t apply the same rules!

The following types of words are not capitalized in Spanish unless it’s the first word in a sentence:

• Months and days of the week
• Book and movie titles (only the first word is capitalized)
• Places (excluding countries and cities)
• Nationalities
• The personal pronoun  yo  (I)

Spanish capitalization can be tricky to get used to because its rules differ greatly from English. To help you out, we’ve broken down all of the rules for when to…

Related posts:

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English Modals: Can, Could, Should, May, Might, Must, Will, etc.

Updated on 27 August 2024

In English conjugation, modal verbs are used to express the context of an action, such as possibility, obligation, ability, and more.

There are 12 main modal verbs in English: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought, dare, and need .

Learn what these modals mean and how to use them in different situations.

Table of contents →

What is a Modal Verb in English?

Modal verbs , also known as modal auxiliaries, are special verbs that are very common in English. They are useful for expressing the framework or context of an action, such as possibility, obligation, ability, necessity, permission, prohibition, suggestion, deduction, certainty, and more.

Long story short: Mastering modal verbs is essential for understanding English grammar because they allow you to convey important information with just a few words!

What are the main grammatical characteristics of Modal Auxiliaries?

Modal verbs are unlike regular verbs : they have no infinitive, no imperative, no  -ING  form, and no third-person singular ending. They are a kind of “super” irregular verbs.

How to conjugate modals?

Modal verbs are unique in their conjugation because these  auxiliaries do not follow typical verb patterns except for dare and need . They have some special grammatical rules that set them apart:

• No Infinitive: You will never say to can or to must .
• No Imperative: Modals cannot be used as commands. You cannot demand Can ! from someone.
• No -ING Form: We will never use phrases like He’s canning or She’s musting .
• No 3rd-Person Singular Ending: We will never write He cans or She musts .

Additionally, modal verbs can be used alone without the main verb they modify, which is then implied.

How to Form Affirmative, Interrogative, or Negative Sentences with Modals

These are called auxiliary verbs , which means they help form different types of sentences. With a few exceptions, they are usually placed directly before a verb in its base form (without to ) and are never used with the auxiliary do . Here’s how to use them in different forms:

Affirmative Sentences

In the affirmative form, the structure is: subject + modal + infinitive of the verb (without  to ).

Interrogative Sentences

To ask a question using a modal verb, the structure is: modal + subject + base form of the verb (without to ) .

Negative Sentences

To form a negative sentence with a modal verb, use the structure: subject + modal + not + base form of the verb (without to ) . Some negative forms can be contracted.

What are the Modal Auxiliaries in English?

There are 12 modal verbs in English used to express various nuances such as capacity, ability, advice, requests, habits, prohibitions, necessities, obligations, permissions, possibilities, and desires:

Each modal has its own specific use in English grammar and can change the meaning of a sentence depending on the context.

Modal Verb #1: Can

Possibility, hypothesis

Modal Verb #2: Could

Could is the past form of can and is used to express similar ideas with added courtesy or in a more polite way.

Modal Verb #3: May

May and might have similar meaning but are slightly different. There are two nuances:

• Probability: May suggests a higher probability of an event occurring compared to might .
• Politeness: Might is even more polite than may but is used less frequently.

Probability

Modal Verb #4: Might

Modal Verb #5: Shall

Prohibition

Request, proposal, suggestion

Modal Verb #6: Should

Advice, recommendation, suggestion

Obligation, reproach, regret

Modal Verb #7: Will

Trend, habit

Modal Verb #8: Would

Past form of will.

Conditional

Polite request

Habit in the past

Modal Verb #9: Must

Modal Verb #10: Ought

Ought is slightly different from other modal verbs, so it’s called a semi-modal . Unlike most modal verbs, ought is always followed by to . For example, You ought to study for the exam .

Regret (past tense)

Modal Verb #11: Dare

Like ought , dare is a semi-modal verb. It can be used as a modal verb, but it can also act as a regular verb , meaning it can be followed by a verb with to . For example, He dared to speak up.

Challenge, transgression

Modal Verbe#12: Need

Like  ought   and  dare , need is also a  semi-modal . Like dare, it can be used, depending on the situation:

• as modal : need + verb
• as non-modal : need to + verb

English Modals: Summary Table

Want a quick guide on how to choose the right English modal? Check out this summary table to help you avoid mistakes!

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Trump Says We ‘Gotta’ Restrict the First Amendment

• By Nikki McCann Ramirez

Nikki McCann Ramirez

On Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a show of selectively exiting the presidential race and throwing his support behind Donald Trump , hailing the former president as a champion of free speech. Less than a week later, Trump is already promising to crush First Amendment protections if elected in November. 

On Monday, Trump complained about pushback to a proposal to sentence people to a year in jail for burning the American flag. 

“I wanna get a law passed […] You burn an American flag, you go to jail for one year. Gotta do it — you gotta do it,” Trump said. 

“They say, ‘Sir, that’s unconstitutional.’ We’ll make it constitutional.”

Donald Trump proposes making burning an American flag punishable by 1-year in prison. In 1989, the Supreme Court upheld the right for protesters to burn flags after Gregory Lee Johnson did so at the RNC in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/qi87KUCWis — FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) August 26, 2024

RFK Jr. has long claimed that the government is censoring him in various ways, and on Friday blamed his failed attempt at a viable run for the presidency on “16 months of censorship, of not being able to get on any network really except for Fox.”

Kennedy added that the Democratic Party had “become the party of the war, censorship, corruption, Big Pharma, Big Tech, big money.” He cited Trump’s stances on free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on children as his justification for endorsing the former president. “These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” he said.

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Trump donor Omeed Malik told NBC News that same day that while Kennedy had not been explicitly promised a cabinet-level position, “should they be successful, there are plenty of roles,” where Kennedy might be placed. “I think the area of health is one,” Malik added of the vaccine conspiracy theorist.

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