Reported Speech

Reported speech or indirect speech is a way of expressing what others (speaker) has said directly (direct/quoted speech) in the form of statements, questions, or other speech by changing the format of the talks so that it becomes more obvious, natural, and efficient for the listeners.

·         How To Change The Direct Into Reported Speech

Basically, direct speech is converted into reported speech by removing punctuation quotation, removing capital letters in the sentence, adding that (optional), change the pronoun (being the third person), modifying the verb, corrects time reference (time, mentioned in the talk) and/or add whether or if. Here are some details.

Time References

Perbandingan time references pada direct dan reported speech adalah sebagai berikut.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
here	there
last month/year	·         the month/year before ·         the preceding month/year ·         the previous month/year
next month/year	·         a month/year later ·         the following month/year ·         the next month/year
now	·         at that time ·         then
today	that day
tomorrow	·         a day later ·         the following/next day
yesterday	·         the day before ·         the previous day
two days/weeks ago	·         two days/weeks before ·         two days/weeks earlier

Example change time reference:

Example the sentence Direct Speech	Example the sentence Reported Speech
“Will I receive the packet tomorrow?” (Akankah saya menerima paket tsb besok?)	He asked if he would receive the packet the following day.
“I have to return the book two days ago.” (Saya harus mengembalikan buku tsb dua hari lalu.)	She said that she had to return the book two days earlier.

Add whether or if

Whether or if added to deliver kalimatyes-no question that has been heard before.Yes-no question is a question that need  an answer yes or no.

Example :

Example Direct Speech	Example the sentence Reported Speech	Description
“Do you have a little time?” (Apa kamu punya sedikit waktu?)	He asked me if I had a little time.	Jawaban dari pertanyaan pada direct speech: Yes, I do atau No, I don’t
“Have you heard the news?” (Sudahkah kamu mendengar berita tsb?)	She wanted to knowwhether I had heard the news.	Jawaban dari pertanyaan pada direct speech: Yes, I have atau No, I haven’t