Indirect Speech – part I

Today’s topic is important in any language. It should be studied almost at the end of the course, because it involves all tenses that can only be imagined. In this topic, it is necessary to coordinate the times, and this requires effort to think.

In oral speech, we must operate language tools quickly, and our goal is to bring this to automatism. But that’s later. Now consider the basic rules of indirect speech.

Alternative

We want to start simple so that we can immediately show how timing can be avoided. The case where you don’t need to change anything, but just use what you know, is when the main part of the sentence is in the present tense. That is, a sentence can begin with “ele diz” (he says), “eu penso” (I think), “eles escrevem” (they write) and so on. That is, despite the fact that the action has already been completed, you speak as if it is happening in the present.

Let’s say you received a letter from your grandmother yesterday, she wrote a letter a week ago, but to retell its text, you say that the grandmother writes a letter in the present tense.

A minha avó escreve que está doente e que na semana passada foi ao médico. (My grandmother writes that she is ill and that she went to the doctor last week.)

In most cases, you can use this technique if the action in the main clause is still relevant. Let’s take another example. For example, a colleague asked you to buy apples at the supermarket:

O meu colega diz que quer maças, fui comprar, mas não havia no supermercado. (My colleague says he wants apples, I went to buy them, but they are not in the supermarket.)

Even though the colleague said he wanted apples before the character even went after them, we talk about it in the present tense, as if he is still talking and still wants apples.

Of course, it is not always possible to get out of the situation like this, so it’s time to move on to the difficult part.

Both actions in the past

It is quite natural for us to say that the information came in the past, if this is true. However, as soon as we say “eu li que…”, “ela disse que…”, “eles anunciaram que…”, then we will have to change the times of all subsequent actions, that is, coordinate the times.

Thus, the rule can be reduced to a simple one – “lower the time by one step.” That is, the present tense in the subordinate part of the sentence will become past, the past – pre-past, and both actions in the past.

It is quite natural for us to say that the information came in the past, if this is true. However, as soon as we say “eu li que…”, “ela disse que…”, “eles anunciaram que…”, then we will have to change the times of all subsequent actions, that is, coordinate the times.

Thus, the rule can be reduced to a simple one – “lower the time by one step.” That is, the present tense in the subordinate part of the sentence will become past, the past – pre-past, and the future – conditional. Let’s look at each option.

Ela disse: “Quero ir a um bar e beber muita cerveja” (She said: “I want to go to a bar and have a lot of beer.”) – direct speech

Ela disse que queria ir a um bar e beber muita cerveja. (She said she wanted to go to a bar and drink a lot of beer.) – indirect speech

In this example, Presente do Indicativo has changed to Pretérito Imperfeito. Similarly, the construction “estar a + infinitivo” takes a step back.

Ela disse que estava a beber cerveja num bar. (She said she was drinking beer at the bar.)

That is, the person is still in the bar, but since he said this earlier, the described action is also transmitted as if he is performing it at the moment he speaks.

Adverbial clause in the past

If the sequence of actions is different, that is, the action first happened and then it was reported, we will have to use the Pretérito Mais-que Perfeito time instead of the Pretérito Perfeito Simples tense.

O João disse: “Eu tive um sonho muito mau.” (Joao said, “I had a very bad dream.”) – direct speech

O João disse que ele tinha tido um sonho muito mau. (Joao said he had a very bad dream.) – indirect speech.

Although, if we are talking about processes in the past (Pretérito Imperfeito), we don’t change the verbal tense. In this case, we use the same verbal tense: the Pretérito Imperfeito.

A Maria disse: “Eu frequentava a escola de danças quando era criança.” (Maria said, “I went to dance school when I was a kid.) – direct speech

A Maria disse que frequentava a escola de danças quando era criança. (Maria said she attended dance school, when she was a child.) – indirect speech.

Adverbial clause in the future tense

Since our main sentence is in the past, the event in the future that describes the object is still unrealistic. That is, at that moment the object does not yet know about the result, although we may already know it at the present moment. That is why the future tense, when coordinating tenses between the main and subordinate clauses, becomes conditional.

O pai pensou: “Vou visitar os meus filhos em breve.” (Father thought: “Soon I will visit my children.”) – direct speech

O pai pensou que ia visitar os filhos dele em breve. (The father thought that he would visit his children soon.) – indirect speech

If the Futuro Simples tense is used in direct speech, and not the periphrastic construction “ir + infinitivo”, then similar changes occur in indirect speech, as in the previous paragraph.

A Luisa anunciou: “Farei uma viagem ao redor do mundo!” (Luisa announced: “I’ll take a trip around the world!”) – direct speech

A Luisa anunciou que faria uma viagem ao redor do mundo. (Luisa announced that she would make a trip around the world.) – indirect speech

Conclusion

We have covered those topics in indirect speech that have to be used most often. However, this section of grammar is not limited to one article, so we will return to the conversation about Indirect Speech, especially in our classes at school!