Reported Speech and Sequence of Tenses

Indirektni govor1 i slaganje vremena

Indirect speech is a way of representing what someone says and how it is said, without using the exact same
words or quote marks (and using instead an intermediary narrative voice). Verbs most frequently used to
introduce someone’s words are say and tell (they belong to this intermediary).
Apart from speech, thought can also be indirect, and the verb most commonly used to introduce indirect
thought is think: She thought I was going to call her.
However, more important than the narrative or semantic aspect of indirect speech is grammar. The use of
indirect speech and reporting verbs (say, tell, think, and others) implies some grammatical changes that occur
in the sentence.
If the reporting verb is in a past tense (simple, continuous, or perfect), all tenses in the reported segment
“move back” so that
 Present Simple becomes Past Simple
 Present Continuous becomes Past Continuous
 Present Perfect becomes Past Perfect
 Past Simple becomes Past Perfect
 Past Continuous becomes Past Perfect Continuous
 Past Perfect DOES NOT MOVE (because it doesn’t have anywhere to go)
 Will and shall, when used for future reference, become would
 As for other modal verbs, can becomes could, may becomes might, must becomes had to
 Should, could, would, ought to, and might stay the same.
This “moving back” of tenses and other verb forms is called the sequence of tenses. It also occurs in other
situations (for example, if a complex sentence begins with a verb in a past tense, it is likely that no present
tenses will be used for the verbs that follow) but is most usually connected with reported speech.
Let us see some examples from “The Open Window”:
“My aunt will be down presently," said a very self-possessed young lady. A very self-possessed young lady
said her aunt would soon be down.
"I know how it will be," his sister had said. His sister had said that she knew how it would be.
"Her great tragedy happened just three years ago," said the child. The child said that her great tragedy had
happened just three years before.
"It is quite warm for the time of the year," said Framton. Framton said that it was quite warm for the time of
the year.
"She has been very interesting," said Framton. Framton said that she had been very interesting.
And a bit more free rendition of speech:
"A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel," said Mrs. Sappleton; "could only talk about his illnesses.“Mrs.
Sappleton said that it was a certain Mr. Nuttel, a most extraordinary man who could only talk about his
illnesses.

1For
more exercises please refer to Vince 29-35.
As you can see from the above examples, certain other words apart from verbs also become something else.
These are called ‘reference words’ because they refer to the specific context (usually time, place, distance, or
people). Therefore, they are changed in reported speech because the context is also changed. Tomorrow
becomes the next day, and yesterday – the previous day, or the day before. Ago generally becomes before. At
this moment becomes at that moment, and this in any phrase becomes that. Now turns into then, here into
there, and words such as presently are not used because they refer to the present or imminent future.
What we have called “moving back” is actually aligning the time when the actions expressed by the two verbs
(introductory and main verb) take place. The proper name for this is the sequence of tenses. This is where a
significant difference between English and Serbian comes into focus. Let’s take a look at this example:
"I know how it will be," his sister had said. His sister had said that she knew how it would be.
The verbs know and said express activities (mental or verbal) that, regardless of the tense, happen at the
same time. If something is happening at the same time, we refer to it as simultaneity.
The introductory verb (said) is the one that directs the sentence in indirect speech. This means that the other
– the main – verb has to be aligned to it.
If the introductory verb is in a past tense, and the main verb in a present tense, the latter is aligned to the
former by being “moved back” to the past. This is how simultaneity is expressed.
BUT IN SERBIAN SIMULTANEITY IS ALWAYS EXPRESSED WITH ‘PREZENT’. Therefore, correct translation of the
sentence above is: Njegova je sestra rekla da zna šta će se desiti.
Anteriority refers to a situation in which the action expressed by the main verb precedes the action
expressed by the introductory verb.
We can see this in the following example:
"Her great tragedy happened just three years ago," said the child. The child said that her great tragedy had
happened just three years before.
If the introductory verb is in a past tense, the anteriority of the main verb is expressed by “moving” it “back”
to Past Perfect.
ANTERIORITY IN SERBIAN IS ALWAYS EXPRESSED WITH ‘PERFEKAT’. Correct translation of the example is:
Dete je kazalo da se njena velika tragedija odigrala tek tri godine ranije.
Posteriority refers to a situation in which the action expressed by the main verb follows the action expressed
by the introductory verb.
We can see this in the first translated example, too:
"I know how it will be," his sister had said. His sister had said that she knew how it would be.
Njegova je sestra rekla da zna šta će se desiti.
In English, we have “moved” will “back” to would. IN SERBIAN, WE TRANSLATE IT WITH ‘FUTUR PRVI’.
Note that would can be used to express a habit in the past (we would often visit the countryside when we
were kids). Other uses of would are related to the present/future (I would rather you didn't mention this –
subjunctive; I would like to help you). Therefore, if would is used for past reference and does not denote a
habit, it should probably be translated as future tense (futur I).
Below is a brief summary of Reported Speech with Sequence of Tenses in translation, first with the cases
where the introductory verb is in the present, then when it is in the past.
She says she is very happy. – Kaže da je veomasrećna.
She says she has left home. – Kaže da je otišlaodkuće.
She says she has lived here for three years. – Kaže da živiovde tri godine.
She says she is watching TV. – Kaže da gledateleviziju.
She says she will decline the offer. – Kaže da ćeodbitiponudu.
She says she will not be coming back. – Kaže da se nećevraćati.
She says she is leaving as soon as possible. – Kaže da odlazišto je pre moguće.
She says it was all a mistake. – Kaže da je sve to bilagreška.
She says he was working here at the time. – Kaže da je on u to vreme radio ovde.

She said she was very happy. – Rekla je da je veomasrećna.

She said she had left home. – Rekla je da je otišlaodkuće.
She said she had lived there for three years. – Rekla je da živitu tri godine.
She said she was watching TV. – Rekla je da gledateleviziju.
She said she would decline the offer. – Rekla je da ćeodbitiponudu.
She said she would not be coming back. – Rekla je da se nećevraćati.
She said she was leaving as soon as possible. – Rekla je da odlazišto je pre moguće.
She said it had all been a mistake. – Rekla je da je sve to bilagreška.
She said he had been working there at the time. – Rekla je da je on u to vreme radio tamo.

Note that no changes are made to tenses if the reporting verb is in any present tense (Simple, Continuous,
Perfect) or in any future form. No changes are made in yet another case, which has more to do with
meaning than grammar. If what is reported is still or always true, it should not be “moved back” into the
past.
Reporting questions
Questions are reported in a special way. There are two types of questions. We call them Wh- questions
(OPEN questions) and Yes/No questions (CLOSED questions). Wh- questions require a specific answer, and
they begin with interrogative pronouns such as who, whose, what, where, when, why, how.

When you form a question, in whichever tense, you have to invert the regular word order in the sentence
and put the auxiliary verb before the subject and the lexical verb. Let us take a look at some examples from
“The Chaser” and “The Open Window” (adapted):

"Do you mean it is a poison?" cried Alan. (The regular affirmative form would be: “You (do) mean it is a
poison”)*

“Has Vera been amusing you?” she said. (The regular affirmative form would be: “Vera has been amusing
you”).
* (do) is not used in the affirmative form of Present Simple, but could be used in those cases when an
emphasis is desired.
When reporting questions, this inverted word order is brought back to “normal,” that is, the word order in
reported questions is not the “interrogative” word order. It is the word order of a simple affirmative sentence
(where the subject always comes before the verb). In reporting Wh- questions, we simply put the word order
back to “normal,” leaving the interrogative pronoun at the beginning. In reporting Yes/No questions, we
insert IF. Bear in mind that reported questions have no question mark:

"(1) Do (2) you know many of the people round here?" asked the niece. The niece asked (him) if (1) he (2)
knew many of the people round there.
“(1) Has (2) that window got anything to do with the tragedy?" Framton wanted to know if (1) that window
(2) had anything to do with the tragedy.
"And how much," said Alan, "(1) is (2) this wonderful mixture?" Alan asked how much (1) that wonderful
mixture (2) was.
"What (1) have (2) you done?" demanded the Emperor. The Emperor asked / wanted to know what (1) the
man (2) had done.
"Who else knows of this?" He asked who else knew of that. (WHO is the subject here)
A pro tip:
If the reported sentence is complex, that is, if it consists of more than one verb in a tense form, and the
first verb is in those tenses that should be “moved” to Past Perfect, the following verbs do not move back
further than the Past Simple Tense.
The idea behind this is simple: it is unusual for a sentence to contain more than one Past Perfect in a
sequence. For example:
“Who was that who bolted out as we came up?" The man asked who the person had been who bolted out as
they came up. OR, The man asked who the person was who had bolted out as they came up.

Reporting the imperative form: Commands are reported with the verb tell and the infinitive. Requests are
reported with the verb ask and the infinitive.
"Hold this man." The guards seized the flier. "Call the executioner," said the Emperor. The Emperor told the
guards to hold that man. The Emperor then told them to call the executioner.
Other verbs can also be used for commands and requests, but it is important to always pay attention to how
these verbs should be used in a sentence:
"Burn the kite and the inventor's body and bury their ashes together," said the Emperor. The Emperor
ordered that the kite and the inventor's body (should) be burned and their ashes buried together.
"But consider the spiritual side," said the old man. The old man asked Alan to consider the spiritual side. The
old man instructed Alan to consider the spiritual side. The old man advised Alan to consider the spiritual
side.
Reporting verbs
If we want to stress the way in which something is said or thought (how someone's words are reported),
many other verbs can be used in addition to say, tell, think, and ask: exclaim, explain, yell, confirm, shout,
apologize, whisper, announce, murmur, promise, repeat, etc. Such verbs are sometimes referred to as
„specifying verbs.“
"Yes, she will want to be everything to you." The old man promised to Alan that the girl would want to be
everything to him.
"She is, already. Only she doesn't care about it." Alan confirmed that the girl already was everything to him
and complained that she did not care about it.
"Call it a glove-cleaner if you like," said the old man indifferently. The old man suggested, rather
indifferently, that it might/should be called a glove-cleaner.
"I want nothing of that sort," said Alan. Alan explained that he wanted nothing of that sort.
"Here they are at last!" she cried. She exclaimed that they were at last there / that they had at last arrived.
Note on using say and tell:
Say is followed by the conjunction that, which can be omitted. Tell is followed first by indirect object (to
whom something is told), and then by the conjunction that and the rest of the sentence.
"She has been very interesting," said Framton. Framton told us that she had been very interesting.
A special something on reported speech: How do we report conditional sentences?
This is also pro-level, so here are just some basic rules for reporting the first, the second, and the third
conditional (when they are not mixed or made otherwise complicated).
In reported speech, the first conditional assumes the form of the second conditional:
FIRST: If I touch the red I will be burnt. (from Roald Dahl’s “The Wish”) The boy thought that he would be
burnt if he touched the red.
I said I understood that, but if she loved him, she’d put his happiness first. (from Agatha Christie’s Five Little
Pigs) Transferred to direct speech, this is what the sentence sounds like: “I understand that, but if you love
him, you’ll put his happiness first,” I told her.
The second and the third conditional do not change. This is perhaps because they relate things that are not
true, so they do not really bear any relevance to temporality:
SECOND: "If you asked me what I have done here, I could answer you well.“ (from Ray Bradbury’s “The Flying
Machine”)The Emperor said that if the man asked him what he had done there,* he could answer him well.
*other tenses are changed in accordance with the general rules of reporting speech
THIRD: I should have looked upon it with less dismay if my fellow passenger`s name had been Smith or
Brown. (from Somerset Maugham’s “Mr Know-All”) I thought I should have looked upon it with less dismay
if my fellow passenger’s name had been Smith or Brown.
This practically means that third conditionals always have a recognizable form (Past Perfect in the “IF” clause
and modal verb with perfect infinitive in the main clause). But, what looks like the second conditional (Past
Simple in the “IF” clause and modal verb with present infinitive in the main clause) can in reported speech be
either first or second conditional. We can only decide which one it is based on the meaning, counting on the
fact that first conditional refers to the future or present moment as it is, while second conditional refers to
the future or present – not as it is but as it should/could be.