Reported Speech: Le Discours Indirect
Reported Speech: Le Discours Indirect
English backshifts tenses when reporting speech in the past too — 'I am tired' becomes 'She said she was tired' — so the underlying logic of reported speech will feel familiar. French applies a similarly systematic set of tense shifts, just using its own tense inventory (imparfait, plus-que-parfait, conditionnel) to stand in for French's présent/passé composé/futur simple.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
présent backshifts to imparfait
Il a dit : « Je suis fatigué. » → Il a dit qu'il était fatigué.
He said: "I am tired." → He said he was tired.
When the reporting verb is in the past (il a dit), a présent-tense verb inside the quoted speech shifts back to imparfait — a direct parallel to English 'am' shifting to 'was'.
passé composé backshifts to plus-que-parfait
Elle a dit : « J'ai fini. » → Elle a dit qu'elle avait fini.
She said: "I have finished." → She said she had finished.
A passé composé verb in the original quote shifts back to plus-que-parfait when reported in the past — again a direct parallel to English shifting 'have finished' back to 'had finished'.
futur simple backshifts to conditionnel présent
Ils ont dit : « Nous viendrons. » → Ils ont dit qu'ils viendraient.
They said: "We will come." → They said they would come.
A futur simple verb shifts back to conditionnel présent — parallel to English 'will' shifting to 'would'. Because you already know futur simple and conditionnel présent share the same irregular stems (lessons 30 and 31), this shift is really just a matter of swapping the ending.
Time and place words shift too
maintenant → à ce moment-là / demain → le lendemain / hier → la veille / ici → là
now → at that moment / tomorrow → the next day / yesterday → the day before / here → there
Just as English shifts 'now' to 'then' and 'tomorrow' to 'the next day' when reporting speech from a new vantage point, French shifts its own deictic (pointing) words the same way. The underlying skill — adjusting time/place words to match the new moment of reporting rather than the original moment of speaking — is exactly the same skill English speakers already use; only the specific French words need to be learned.
No backshift needed if the reporting verb is in the present
Il dit qu'il est fatigué.
He says he is tired.
If the reporting verb itself (dire) stays in the présent, the quoted tense stays exactly as it was — no backshift at all, directly parallel to English 'He says he is tired' needing no tense change either. Backshift only happens when the reporting verb is itself in a past tense.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| dire que | deer kuh | to say that |
| demander si | duh-mahn-DAY see | to ask whether |
| demander ce que / ce qui | duh-mahn-DAY suh kuh / suh kee | to ask what (object/subject) |
| répondre que | ray-POHN-druh kuh | to answer that |
| expliquer que | ex-plee-KAY kuh | to explain that |
| à ce moment-là | ah suh moh-mahn LAH | at that moment |
| le lendemain | luh lahn-duh-MAN | the next day |
| la veille | lah VAY | the day before |