Reported Speech – Grundlagen

Here you learn the building blocks of reported speech. The exercises get progressively harder.

What to watch out for

Backshift (one tense back): Simple Present → Simple Past, will → would, can → could, must → had to, Simple Past/Present Perfect → Past Perfect.
Pronouns change: I → he/she, my → his/her, we → they.
Time & place expressions change: now → then, today → that day, tomorrow → the next day, here → there.
Reporting verbs: You can use not only said, but also told, explained, added, replied, answered – this makes your writing more varied.