Reported Speech: Le Discours Indirect
अप्रत्यक्ष कथन: Le Discours Indirect
English backshifts tenses when reporting speech in the past — 'I am tired' becomes 'She said she was tired.' French does the same, shifting présent to imparfait and so on. Hindi does something genuinely different: it usually keeps the original tense exactly as spoken, adding only कि ('that') to introduce the quote — so this backshifting habit is a real, new discipline for a Hindi speaker to build.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
présent backshifts to imparfait — Hindi keeps the original tense unchanged
Il a dit : « Je suis fatigué. » → Il a dit qu'il était fatigué.
उसने कहा, 'मैं थका हुआ हूँ।' → उसने कहा कि वह थका हुआ है। (है वैसा का वैसा रहता है)
When the reporting verb is in the past, a présent-tense verb inside the quoted speech shifts back to imparfait — a direct parallel to English 'am' shifting to 'was'. Hindi does not make this shift: उसने कहा कि वह थका हुआ है keeps है exactly as it was spoken, even though the reporting itself (कहा) is in the past. While English and French both force you to move the tense backward, Hindi's कि tells you a reported statement is coming but never asks you to touch the original tense — this is one grammar habit you'll need to build fresh for French.
passé composé backshifts to plus-que-parfait
Elle a dit : « J'ai fini. » → Elle a dit qu'elle avait fini.
उसने कहा, 'मैंने ख़त्म कर लिया है।' → उसने कहा कि उसने ख़त्म कर लिया है। (कोई बदलाव नहीं)
A passé composé verb in the original quote shifts back to plus-que-parfait when reported in the past — parallel to English shifting 'have finished' back to 'had finished'. Hindi keeps ख़त्म कर लिया है completely unchanged in the reported version — so every one of French's backshift rules here is a genuinely new habit for a Hindi speaker; build a checklist (présent→imparfait, passé composé→plus-que-parfait, futur→conditionnel) and apply it deliberately, since your Hindi instinct will actively want to skip this step.
futur simple backshifts to conditionnel présent
Ils ont dit : « Nous viendrons. » → Ils ont dit qu'ils viendraient.
उन्होंने कहा, 'हम आएँगे।' → उन्होंने कहा कि वे आएँगे। (कोई बदलाव नहीं)
A futur simple verb shifts back to conditionnel présent — parallel to English 'will' shifting to 'would'. Because futur simple and conditionnel présent share the same irregular stems, this is really just a matter of swapping the ending — but remember Hindi's आएँगे stays आएँगे no matter what, so the cue to make this swap has to come from consciously noticing the reporting verb is in the past, not from any signal your Hindi sentence would give you.
Time and place words shift too
maintenant → à ce moment-là / demain → le lendemain / hier → la veille / ici → là
अभी → उस वक़्त / कल → अगले दिन / कल → पिछले दिन / यहाँ → वहाँ
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 words the same way, and Hindi does this part too — अभी shifts to उस वक़्त, and कल (which covers both 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow' in Hindi) shifts to अगले दिन or पिछले दिन depending on which one was originally meant. This one piece of reported-speech grammar — adjusting time/place words to the new vantage point — is a skill Hindi already has, even though the tense-backshifting piece right next to it isn't.
No backshift needed if the reporting verb is in the present
Il dit qu'il est fatigué.
वह कहता है कि वह थका हुआ है।
If the reporting verb itself stays in the présent, the quoted tense stays exactly as it was — no backshift at all. This is the one case where French and Hindi behave identically, since Hindi never backshifts regardless of the reporting verb's tense — pay attention specifically to whether dire is in the past or present, since that's the switch that turns on a rule Hindi doesn't have at all.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- कहना किkahnā ki
- English
- to say that
- Hindi
- पूछना कि क्याpūchnā ki kyā
- English
- to ask whether
- Hindi
- पूछना कि क्याpūchnā ki kyā
- English
- to ask what (object/subject)
- Hindi
- जवाब देना किjavāb denā ki
- English
- to answer that
- Hindi
- समझाना किsamjhānā ki
- English
- to explain that
- Hindi
- उस वक़्तus vaqt
- English
- at that moment
- Hindi
- अगले दिनagle din
- English
- the next day
- Hindi
- पिछले दिनpichle din
- English
- the day before