El estilo directo es una manera más o menos exacta de reproducir las palabras

que alguien dijo en un momento determinado. Las palabras citadas van

entrecomilladas e introducidas generalmente por un verbo de entendimiento o de

lengua.

Then I thought::” Why am I doing this?”

My mum said: "Don 't forget to write!"

El estilo indirecto es la otra manera que tenemos de reproducir las palabras o

pensamientos de alguien. Este estilo no reproduce literalmente lo que dijo el sujeto

en cuestión (hablante o pensante), sino que introduce una serie de cambios en lo que

se dijo. Estos cambios afectan a los tiempos verbales, al orden de la frase, a los

pronombres ya las referencias temporales.

Te preguntarás cuándo has utilizado tú un recurso que parece tan complicado.

Bien, pues no es nada complicado, tú lo utilizas continuamente en multitud de

situaciones: al contar el argumento de una película o un libro, al reproducir las

palabras de tu madre, al contar a un amigo lo que te dijo otro, etc. Por eso es

fundamental estudiarlo estableciendo unas reglas lógicas de cómo funciona.

Primero veamos algún ejemplo:

A dice: "M y name 's Carla. "

B le cuenta a C lo que dijo A: She said (that) her name was Carla.

¿Qué cambios se han producido en la segunda oración?

I. Hay un verbo (reporting verb) que introduce la cita: said porque ha transcurrido un

tiempo desde que A habló hasta que B lo contó.

2. No se utilizan comillas porque no se transcribe literalmente lo que A dijo.

3.Aparece la conjunción that que equivale al que español. En inglés es opcional, por eso la

escribimos entre paréntesis.

4.Cambia el adjetivo posesivo a tercera persona del singular femenino (my her) porque la

que ha hablado es una mujer.

5.Cambia el tiempo: del presente simple se pasa al pasado simple (is was) sin olvidar

la persona con la que concuerda también en número (she).

En estilo indirecto, los cambios verbales son sencillos y muy lógicos: un paso atrás en el

tiempo.

Direct Speech Reported Speech

present simple past simple

present continuous past continuous

past simple past perfect

present perfect past perfect

can + infinitive could + infinitive

will + infinitive would + infinitive

Los verbos que introducen las palabras citadas se llaman reporting verbs y pueden

ser muy variados según la intención que demos a la frase: say, tell, ask, exclaim, etc.

La diferencia entre say y tell es que tell siempre va seguido de un pronombre objeto

sin to.

She told me she would take the 4 o'clock train.

Say puede o no llevar un pronombre. Si lo lleva, ha de ir precedido de la preposición to

She said to me she would take the 4 o'clock train.

She said (that) she had worked for three hours.

Excepciones:

a. Verdades universales: No debe haber cambios en los tiempos verbalescuando una frase expresa un hecho supuestamente universal y no aplicablesolamente al tiempo en la que se dijo.

Socrates said, “Virtue is knowledge” Socrates said that virtue isknowledge

b. Acciones habituales: Una acción habitual es algo que normalmente nocambia

He said,”I get up at seven everyday” He said he gets up at seveneveryday

c. Frases condicionales: Las frases condicionales que implican unacondicion improbable (Tipo II) o imposibles (Tipo III) tampoco cambianen estilo indirecto.

He said, “ If he came I would be surprised”He said that if he came he would be surprised

Cambios en los pronombres

Los pronombres personales y los adjetivos y pronombres posesivoscambian de primera o segunda persona a tercera.

They said, “ We’ve brought our books; the books on the desk are ours”They said that they had brought thair books and they said that the book on thedesk were theirs.

Además, observa como cambian también this y these que cambian athat y those respectivamente

He said, “These are my books” He said that those were his book

Cambios en los adverbios y frases adverbiales:Estilo Directo Estilo indirectoToday that day

Yesterday the day before/the previous day

Tomorrow the day after/the next day/the following day

Next week/year the following week/year

Last week/year the previous week/year

Here there

Now Then

He said, “I’ll see you tomorrow”He said he would see him the following day

Otros cambiosEstilo Directo Estilo indirectoAgo before

Come go

Bring take

He said, ”I saw him four days ago”He said he had seen him four days before

Exclamaciones

Las exclamaciones tienen el mismo tratamiento que las aseveraciones

E.g. “What a dreadful thing!” o “How dreadful!” He said that it was adreadful thing/that it was dreadful

“Yes” y “No” en Estilo indirecto

Yes y No se expresan en estilo indirecto mediante la fórmula Sujeto + verbo

auxiliar apropiado: He said, “Can you swim?” and I said, “No”

He asked (me) if I could swim and I answered that I couldn’t

Para cambiar las preguntas a estilo indirecto, hay algo más que debes

saber. Observa el siguiente ejemplo ya continuación analizamos los cambios:

Estilo directo Mary: "Where does your brother live?"

Estilo indirecto Mary asked me where my brother lived.

En el estilo indirecto:

1. Suprimimos las comillas y el signo de interrogación (ya no es una

interrogativa directa sino indirecta).

2. Mary se convierte en el sujeto del verbo ask (pasado asked), porque

damos un paso atrás en el tiempo.

3. Where no varía, pero sí la estructura de la pregunta que se comporta como

si fuese una oración afirmativa:

- no hay auxiliar

- el verbo principal está en pasado

-el sujeto precede al verbo

4. El adjetivo posesivo cambia: your my.

Ojo: Los siguientes son errores muy comunes:

Mary asked me where lived my brother ¡Incorrecto!

Mary asked me where did my brother live. ¡Incorrecto!

El verbo ha de ir al final, no delante del sujeto, así lo correcto es: Mary asked me

where my brother lived.

Veamos otro ejemplo:

Estilo directo How can 1 get to the railway station?

Estilo indirecto He asked me how he could get to the railway station.

Si la pregunta que pasamos a reported speech sólo nos exige una respuesta

afirmativa o negativa, tenemos que añadir la conjunción if; así:

Estilo directo Did you enjoy the party?

Estilo indirecto She asked me if 1 had enjoyed the party.

(Me preguntó si me había divertido en la fiesta.)

En lugar de if; podemos utilizar whether. Significan lo mismo.

She asked me whether 1 had enjoyed the party.

Ya has visto que el reporting verb que utilizamos en preguntas es ask, que junto

con say y tell son los verbos más frecuentemente utilizados en el estilo indirecto. No

obstante, hay otros muchos que podemos usar según el matiz que queramos añadir a lo

que alguien dijo.

complain = quejarse

Est.dir. “This room is cold!”

Est. Indir. He complained that the room was cold.

promise = prometer

Est.dir. “I'll write a letter every day.”

Est. Indir. He promised that he would write a letter every day.

admit = admitir

Est.dir. “OK, I was wrong.”

Est. Indir. He admitted that he had been wrong.

explain = explicar

Est.dir. “You see,. 1 can 't lend you my car. 1 need it”.

Est. Indir. He explained that she couldn’'t lend me her car because she needed it.

warn = advertir

Est.dir. “lt's going to be expensive”.

Est. Indir. She warned me that it was going to be expensive.

boast = alardear, presumir

Est.dir. “1 read that novel in one night.”

Est. Indir. She boasted that she had read that novel in one night.

announce = anunciar, comunicar

Est.dir. “They are going to get married next June.”

Est.indir. He announced that they were going to get married the following June.

Observa que con todos estos verbos hemos utilizado la conjunción that para introducir

el estilo indirecto.

MIXED EXERCISES (Basic Level)

1. Rewrite these statements in reported speech:

1. Ernest said: “My family is coming tomorrow morning.”

Ernest said (that) his family was coming the following morning

2. They said to me: “You can’t talk in this area.”

They told me (that) I couldn’t talk in that area

3. Judith said to us: “I saw your parents yesterday

Judith told us she had seen our parents the day before/the previous day

4. “We won´t be back until tomorrow”, we said to him.

We told him we wouldn’t be back until the next/following day

5. Phil said to her: “I’ve met lots of people since last week”.

Phil told her he had met lots of people since the previous week

Paul told Sarah he works near there/the point they were talking

6. Paul said to Sarah: “ I work near hear”

MIXED EXERCISES (Basic Level)

2. Rewrite these commands in reported speech:

1. Jeremy said to his brother: “Go to your room and close the door.”Jeremy told his brother to go to his room and (to) close the door

2. We said to Jane: “Don’t tell anyone until next week.”

We told Jane not to tell anyone until the following week.

3. Kate said to us: “Wait for me, please”

Kate told/begged us to wait for her

4. “Be careful and don’t be late”, they told her.

They told/warned her to be careful and not to be late

5. George said to his son: “Eat up your lunch”.

George told/asked his son to eat up his lunch.

The policeman ordered her to keep off the grass

6. The policeman said to her: “Keep off the grass”

MIXED EXERCISES (Basic Level)

3. Rewrite these questions in reported speech:

1. Maggie said to Penny: “What did you buy at the chemist’s yesterday?.”Maggie asked Penny what she had bought at the chemist’s the day before

2. They said to us: “Do you usually spend your holidays abroad?”They asked us if we usually spent our holidays abroad..

3. He said to me: “How old are you?”

He asked me how old I was.

4. “Are you going out tonight?”, they asked her.

They asked her if/whether she was oing out that night.

5. Fred said to the policeman: “What time do the shops close today?”.

Fred asked the policeman what time the shops closed that day.

Angela asked her mother if/whether she could watch TV that afternoon

6. Angela said to her mother: “Can I watch TV this afternoon?”

MIXED EXERCISES (Basic Level)

4. Correct the errors in these sentences:

1. They asked me how old was I I was

2. Mary said me that she was very happy told me/said to me

3. Tom asked Kate that if she had posted the letter that

4. We told her that she stayed with us to stay

5. The policeman asked me to park not the car there not to park

6. She wanted to know where did I live. I lived

5. Translate these sentences into English

1. Lisa nos dijo que se había roto el brazo la semana anterior

Lisa told us she had broken her arm the previous week

2. El profesor me preguntó dónde trabajaban mis padres

The teacher asked me where my parents worked

3. Simon le pidió a Debbie que comprara el periódico

Simon asked Debbie to buy the newspaper

4. Mi hermana me dijo que no abriera la puertaMy sister told/advised me not to open the door

5. Phil dijo que tenía mucho sueño.

Phil said he was very sleepy

MIXED EXERCISES (Intermediate Level)

6. Write the following sentences in Indirect Speech:

1. “I can’t live on my basic salary”, said Peter, “I’ll have to offer to do overtime”Peter said he couldn’t live on his basic salary and (he added) he’d have to offer to do overtime

2. “Are you going to see him at the airport?”, I asked her. “Yes”, she saidI asked her if she was going to see him at the airport and she answered that she was.

3. “Shall I send it round to your hotel, sir?”, The shopassistant asked the tourist

The shopassistant asked if he should send it round to his hotel.

4. “Shall we meet at the theatre?”, he said.

He suggested meeting at the theatre/he suggested that they should meet at the theatre.

5. I warn you: “Do not ever touch this!”.

He forbade me to touch that./ He advised/warned me not to touch that

Angela said that it was a disgusting, awful thing

6. “How disgusting!”, Angela said, “What an awful thing!”

MIXED EXERCISES (Intermediate Level)

6. Write the following sentences in Direct Speech:

1. He wanted to know if I was going to the dance and suggested going together.

“Are you going to the dance?, Shall we go together?/Let’s go together.

2. I told her to stop making a fuss about nothing

“Stop making a fuss about nothing, please!”.

3. He asked what the weather had been like during my holidays and I said that it had been awful.

“What was the weather like during your holidays?”, he asked me. “It was awful”, I answered

4. He said that the new carpet would arrive soon

“The new carpet will arrive soon”, he said.

5. They offered me some more wine and I accepted.

“Shall we offer you some more wine?/Would you like some more wine?”, They offered me and I said “Yes, thanks”.

MIXED EXERCISES (Intermediate Level)

6. Write the following sentences in English:

1. Les pedí que me ayudaran y ellos han estado viniendo a casa cada día.

I asked them for help and they have been coming home daily.

2. Nos dijeron que habían estado navegando durante tres días cuando al fin encontraron una isla.

They told us they had been sailing for three days whan at last they found an island.

3. Se les ordenó que callaran pero ellos siguieron haciendo ruido toda la mañana.

They were told to shut up but they went on making noise all morning.

4. El, nervioso, me dijo: “Si hubieras estado mirando por la ventana, habrías visto como el vecino de al lado mataba a su mujer a cuchilladas.”

He nervously/in a nervous way told me:”If you had been looking through the window, you would have seen how the neighbour next door stabbed his wife.

5. Dijo: “¿Tendrás tiempo de hacerlo? Y yo le respondí “No”

He asked (me): “Will you have time to do it?”.”No”, I answered

He asked me if I would have time to do it and I answered that I wouldn’t

D.S

I. S