Reported Speech
अप्रत्यक्ष कथन
Reporting what someone said pushes English's verb tense one step further into the past — a shift Hindi's own reported speech, marked simply with कि ('that'), usually skips entirely.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
English shifts the tense back; Hindi's कि doesn't require any shift at all
She said, 'I am tired.' → She said (that) she was tired. (am shifts back to was)
उसने कहा, 'मैं थकी हूँ।' → उसने कहा कि वह थकी है। (कि सिर्फ़ उद्धरण को जोड़ता है — काल में कोई बदलाव ज़रूरी नहीं)
Hindi reports a statement by simply inserting कि ('that') between the reporting verb and the original words, and the tense of the quoted verb typically stays exactly as it was spoken — उसने कहा कि वह थकी है keeps है ('is'), even though the statement is now being reported after the fact. English instead makes this shift the actual grammatical rule: the entire verb moves one tense further into the past — am becomes was, will becomes would, have becomes had — regardless of whether the situation is still true. Hindi's कि tells you a reported statement is coming, but you still have to apply English's tense-backshift yourself; it isn't optional the way it can feel with Hindi's untouched tense.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| English | Pronunciation | Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| She said she was tired. | shee sed shee wuz TY-erd | उसने कहा कि वह थकी है।usne kahā ki vah thakī hai. |
| He said he would come. | hee sed hee wood kum | उसने कहा कि वह आएगा।usne kahā ki vah āegā. |
| They said they had finished. | thay sed thay had FIN-isht | उन्होंने कहा कि वे ख़त्म कर चुके हैं।unhoñne kahā ki ve khatm kar cuke haiñ. |