INDIRECT SPEECH

Podemos contar lo que alguien nos dijo de dos maneras:

1.- Repitiendo las palabras exactas, es decir, empleando el ESTILO DIRECTO (DIRECT SPEECH)
“I have to go now”, she said
“We lived in Paris for three years”, Peter said
En el ESTILO DIRECTO se utilizan comillas y letra mayúscula al empezar la cita.

2.- Repitiendo la idea pero no las palabras exactas, a lo que llamamos ESTILO INDIRECTO (INDIRECT SPEECH)
She said (that) she had to go then.
Peter told us (that) they had lived in Paris for three years.

En el ESTILO INDIRECTO no hay comillas.

La oración suele empezar con un verbo como say, tell, ask, inquire, think, explain, complain, warn, point out,
remark, declare, state, announce, protest, claim, a los que llamamos REPORTING VERBS.
Además el tiempo de la narración da un “salto atrás” si el verbo que lo introduce va en pasado. Las preguntas dejan
de serlo: el verbo auxiliar ya no va en posición inicial.
Las palabras que indican lugar, tiempo, los pronombres, etc. deben cambiar lógicamente.

NOTA: Después de los verbos SAY, TELL, y THINK, podemos omitir THAT. Sin embargo, con verbos como EXPLAIN,
COMPLAIN, POINT OUT, etc., THAT no se puede omitir.

STATEMENTS

Hay una serie de cambios que debemos hacer al pasar una frase de estilo directo a indirecto.

CAMBIOS EN LOS TIEMPOS VERBALES

DIRECT SPEECH (He said, ) INDIRECT SPEECH (He said that...)

Present Simple Past Simple
“She studies English” … she studied English
Present Continuous Past Continuous
“She is studying English” … she was studying English
Present Perfect Past Perfect
“She has studied English” … she had studied English
Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous
“She has been studying English” … she had been studying English
Past Simple Past Perfect
“She studied English” … she had studied English
Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous
“She was studying English” … she had been studying English
Past Perfect No cambia
“She had studied English” … she had studied English
Past Perfect Continuous No cambia
“She had been studying English” … she had been studying English
Future Simple Conditional Simple
“She will study English” … she would study English
Future Continuous Conditional Continuous
“She will be studying English” … she would be studying English
CAN COULD
“She can study English” … she could study English
MAY MIGHT
“She may study English” … she might study English
MUST/HAVE TO HAD TO
“She must/has to study English” ... she had to study English

Los modales SHOULD, COULD, WOULD y MIGHT y los semimodales OUGHT TO y USED TO no cambian.
 CAMBIOS EN LAS EXPRESIONES TEMPORALES
DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
Now Then/At that moment
At the moment At that moment
Today That day
Yesterday The day before, the previous day
Tomorrow The following day, the day after
Next week/month… The following week/month // The week/month…… after
Last week/month… The week/month… before// The previous……. week/month.
A/Two/Three……. ago A/Two/Three……….. before

OTROS CAMBIOS
DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
This That
These Those
Here There

NOTA: Hay ocasiones en las que estos cambios no se producen al pasar una oración de estilo directo a estilo
indirecto:
 Cuando el verbo que introduce el estilo indirecto está en presente o en futuro:
“I love soup”, says Mary
Mary says she loves soup
 Cuando se trata de narrar una verdad permanente o una acción habitual:
“London is the capital of Great Britain”, she pointed out
She pointed out that London is the capital of Great Britain.
“Peter lives in High Street”, I told them
I told them that Peter lives in High Street.

QUESTIONS

Al estudiar el paso de las preguntas del estilo directo al estilo indirecto, habría que distinguir entre dos tipos de
preguntas:
 Yes/No questions (preguntas que empiezan con un verbo auxiliar- be, have, do, modales)
 Wh-questions (preguntas que empiezan con una partícula interrogativa. What, who, where, when, why,
how, ...)

Yes/No questions
Estudia los siguientes ejemplos:

“Did you speak to John last night?”, she asked

She asked if/whether I had spoken to John the night before
“Are you working these days?”, he enquired
He inquired if/whether I was working those days.

1.- Ha cambiado el orden del sujeto y del verbo (ya no se produce la inversión propia de las interrogativas en inglés)
2.- También han cambiado los tiempos verbales (han dado el paso atrás del que hablábamos en las oraciones
enunciativas)
3.- La oración subordinada va introducida por IF/WHETHER (indistintamente).
4.- Los pronombres se cambian según la situación.
5.- La expresión temporal también ha cambiado (last night-the night before)
6.- También ha cambiado el demostrativo (these-those)
7.- Han desaparecido las comillas y el signo de interrogación.

Wh-questions
Al pasar a estilo indirecto una pregunta de este tipo, se producen los mismos cambios que hemos visto en los
ejemplos anteriores, pero la partícula que introducirá la oración subordinada será en esta ocasión la partícula
interrogativa con la que empieza la pregunta en estilo directo (en lugar de if/whether)
Si la partícula interrogativa funciona como sujeto de la oración, no hay alteración del orden de las palabras de la
oración:
“Who told you this story?”, he asked
He asked who had told me that story.
Si no es el sujeto, entonces cambia el orden del sujeto y el verbo, igual que ocurría en el caso de las Yes/No
questions:
“Where did you go last summer?”, he asked me
He asked me where I had gone the previous summer.

COMMANDS
Las órdenes (COMMANDS) suelen expresarse en imperativo. Al ponerlas en Estilo Indirecto se producen los
siguientes cambios:

1. El Imperativo pasa a infinitivo manteniendo la forma afirmativa o negativa.

He said, “Stay here”
He told us to stay there
She shouted, “Don’t move”
She ordered us not to move.

2. El verbo que introduce el Estilo Indirecto debe indicar “mandar”, por eso nunca podrá utilizarse el verbo say
para introducir una orden indirecta. Utilizaremos tell, order, ask, beg, command, instruct, invite, warn, etc.
“Say that again”, he said to me
He asked me to say that again.

3. Estos verbos deben ir seguidos de un complemento de persona (Complemento Indirecto) que nos diría a
quién va dirigida la orden:
He said, “Please, don’t shout”
He asked me not to shout.

Todo lo que hemos expuesto hasta ahora es perfectamente apropiado y correcto cuando queremos contar lo
que alguien (nos) ha dicho. Sin embargo, hay una serie de verbos (reporting verbs) que se utilizan en una
variedad de estructuras y pueden describir con más precisión lo que alguien dijo.

VERB + OBJECT + (NOT) TO – INFINITIVE

REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
TELL (decir) “Don’t make so much noise” She told the children not to make so much noise.
ADVISE (aconsejar) “You should go home early” He advised her to go home early.
ASK (pedir) “Please, don’t shout” He asked his son not to shout.
ALLOW (permitir) “You can park over there” He allowed the driver to park over there.
BEG (rogar) “Please, call the police” She begged me to call the police.
COMMAND
“Drop your weapons” He commanded them to drop their weapons.
(ordenar)
ENCOURAGE
“Come on! Look for a new job!” He encouraged his sister to look for a new job.
(animar)
FORBID (prohibir) “You mustn’t eat sweets” She forbade us to eat sweets.
INSTRUCT (mandar “Insert coin” He instructed me to insert coin.
INVITE “Would you like to come to my house?” She invited them to go to her house.
ORDER “Sit down immediately” He ordered the soldier to sit down immediately.
PERMIT “You may speak now” He permitted me to speak.
PERSUADE “Oh! Go on, please. Come to the party! She persuaded me to go to the party.
REMIND “Don’t forget to pay the bill” She reminded her husband to pay the bill.
URGE “Finish your work” He urged his students to finish their work.
WARN “Don’t touch that switch” He warned me not to touch that switch.

VERB + (NOT) TO – INFINITIVE

REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
DEMAND “Tell me everything” He demanded to tell him everything.
OFFER “Would you like me to carry it?” He offered to carry it.
REFUSE “No, I won’t come with you.” She refused to come with me.
She threatened to punish me if I didn’t behave
THREATEN “Behave yourself or I’ll punish you!”
myself.
CLAIM “I heard her say that” He claimed to have heard her say that.

VERB + (NOT) TO – INFINITIVE or

VERB + THAT CLAUSE
REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
She agreed to come with me.
AGREE “Yes, I’ll come with you”
She agreed that she would
PROMISE “I’ll study more” She promised to study more.

VERB + (NOT) – ING or

VERB + THAT CLAUSE
REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
He denied murdering/having murder his wife.
He denied that he had murdered his wife.
“No, I didn’t murder my wife.”
DENY (¡Ojo! DENY tiene un sentido negativo. La oración
“”I’ve never flown in an aeroplane.”
en estilo indirecto pasará a afirmativa.)
He denied that he had flown in an aeroplane.
She suggested going to the cinema.
SUGGEST “Let’s go to the theatre.” She suggested that we (should) go to the
cinema.
She recommended taking the bus.
RECOMMEND “You’d better take the bus.”
She recommended that we take the bus.
VERB + OBJECT + PREPOSITION + (NOT) – ING
REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
ACCUSE SOMEONE They accused the students of cheating in the
“You cheated in the exam!”
OF exam.
BLAME SOMEONE
“It was John who broke the window.” She blamed John for breaking the window.
FOR
CONGRATULATE “Congratulations! You passed your
She congratulated me on passing my exams.
SOMEONE ON exams.”

VERB PREPOSITION + (NOT) – ING

REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
APOLOGIZE FOR “I’m sorry I’m late.” He apologized for being late.
ADMIT TO “Yes, I lied to her.” She admitted on lying to her.

VERB PREPOSITION + (NOT) – ING or

VERB + THAT CLAUSE
REPORTING VERB DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
BOAST ABOUT/OF She boasted about being better than me.
“I’m better than you.”
BOAST She boasted that she was better than me.
INSIST ON She insisted on doing the washing up.
“I’ll do the washing up.”
INSIST She insisted that she would do the washing up.
COMPLAIN TO
He complained to her mother about/of his
SOMEONE
“I’ve got a terrible toothache.” having a terrible toothache.
ABOUT/OF
He complained that he had a terrible toothache.
COMPLAIN