Reported Speech
Reported Speech
Reporting what someone else said or asked follows a couple of straightforward word-order rules in everyday German — the more formal Konjunktiv I system for reported speech is a later, more literary refinement you'll meet at B2.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
dass-clauses: reporting statements
Er sagt, dass er müde ist. (He says (that) he's tired.)
He says (that) he's tired.
The simplest way to report a statement is sagen + dass + the reported content, with the verb pushed to the end of the dass-clause as in any subordinate clause. English can drop 'that' entirely ('He says he's tired'); German can also drop dass in casual speech, but then the reported clause reverts to normal verb-second order: Er sagt, er ist müde. Both versions are common — dropping dass is a shortcut, not an error, but the word order must match whichever choice you make.
ob and W-words: reporting questions
Sie fragte, ob ich Zeit hätte. Er fragte, wann der Zug ankommt.
She asked whether/if I had time. He asked when the train arrives.
Reporting a yes/no question uses ob ('whether/if'); reporting a question that already had a question word (wann, wo, warum, wie...) simply reuses that same word as the subordinating conjunction. Either way, the verb goes to the end — a pattern that trips up English speakers because English keeps question-like inversion even in reported speech in casual use ('she asked did I have time'), which German never allows.
Tense can shift back one step, but spoken German often doesn't bother
Er sagte, dass er krank war. / Er sagte, dass er krank sei. (more formal)
He said (that) he was sick.
Formally, reported speech should shift the tense back the way English does ('I am sick' → 'he said he was sick'), or use the dedicated Konjunktiv I mood (sei) covered later. In everyday spoken German, however, people frequently just keep the original indicative tense and rely on context and the reporting verb (sagte, meinte) to signal the words are secondhand — a simplification English speakers can lean on early, saving the more formal system for later.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| er sagt, dass... | air zahkt, dahs | he says that... |
| sie fragte, ob... | zee FRAHK-teh, op | she asked whether... |
| er fragte, wann... | air FRAHK-teh, vahn | he asked when... |
| sie meint, dass... | zee mynt, dahs | she thinks/believes that... |
| er behauptet, dass... | air beh-HOWP-tet, dahs | he claims that... |
| sie erklärte, dass... | zee air-KLAIR-teh, dahs | she explained that... |
| angeblich | AHN-gay-blikh | supposedly / allegedly |
| laut ihm/ihr | lowt eem/eer | according to him/her |