Khi chuyển một câu trần thuật từ trực tiếp sang gián tiếp, chúng ta cần lưu ý đến những thay đổi sau:
- Dùng động từ tường thuật say hoặc tell: say that; say to somebody that; tell somebody that. Động từ tường thuật trong lời nói gián tiếp thường ở quá khứ và liên từ that có thể được bỏ.
Ex:
- Tom said (that) he was feeling ill. (Tom nói anh ấy thấy không khỏe.)
- I told her (that) I didn’t have any money. (Tôi nói với cô ấy là tôi không có tiền.)
Lưu ý
tell + tân ngữ (object) thường được dùng hơn say to + tân ngữ (object).
- Đổi các đại từ nhân xưng, đại từ phản thân, đại từ hoặc tính từ sở hữu sao cho tương ứng với chủ ngữ hoặc tân ngữ của mệnh đề chính.
- Đại từ nhân xưng (personal pronouns)
| Chủ ngữ (subject) | Tân ngữ (object) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | → | he, she | me | → | him, her |
| we | → | they | us | → | them |
| you | → | I, we | you | → | me, us |
- Đại từ phản thân (reflexive pronouns)
- myself → himself, herself
- ourselves → themselves
- yourself, yourselves → myself, ourselves
- Đại từ sở hữu (possessive pronouns)
- mine → his, hers
- ours → theirs
- yours → mine, ours
- Tính từ sở hữu (possessive adjectives)
- my → his, her
- our → their
- your → my, our
Ex:
- ‘I like your new hairstyle,’ Martin said. → Martin said (that) he liked my new hairstyle. (Martin nói anh ấy thích kiểu tóc mới của tôi.)
- ‘I’m really enjoying myself,’ Jade said. → Jade said (that) she was enjoying herself. (Jade nói cô ấy đang rất vui.)
Khi tường thuật lại lời nói của chính mình, đại từ và tính từ sở hữu không đổi.
Ex:
- I said, ‘I like my new house.’ → I said (that) I liked my new house. (Tôi nói rằng tôi thích ngôi nhà mới của mình.)
- Đổi thì của động từ trong câu trực tiếp thành thì quá khứ tương ứng.
| DIRECT SPEECH | INDIRECT SPEECH |
|---|---|
| Present simple | Past simple |
| John said, ‘I love spaghetti.’ | John said (that) he loved spaghetti. |
| Present progressive | Past progressive |
| They said, ‘We’re going home.’ | They told me they were going home. |
| Present perfect | Past perfect |
| Jack said, ‘I’ve never been to Alaska.’ | Jack said he had never been to Alaska. |
| Present perfect progressive | Past perfect progressive |
| Anne said, ‘We’ve been waiting here for over two hours.’ | Anne said they had been waiting there for over two hours. |
| Past simple | Past perfect |
| He said, ‘We lived in Boston for 3 years.’ | He said they had lived in Boston for 3 years. |
| Past Progressive | Past perfect progressive |
| He said, ‘I was reading the paper.’ | He said he had been reading the paper. |
| Past perfect | Past perfect |
| Daniel said, ‘My father had been ill since Christmas.’ | Daniel told me his father had been ill since Christmas. |
| Past perfect progressive | Past perfect progressive |
| He said, ‘I had been gardening for an hour.’ | He said he had been gardening for an hour. |
| Future simple | Future in the past |
| Jane said, ‘I’ll be back on Friday.’ | Jane said she would be back on Friday. |
| Future progressive | Future progressive in the past |
| He said, ‘We’ll be having tea at seven.’ | He said they would be having tea at seven. |
| Future perfect | Future perfect in the past |
| He said, ‘I’ll have returned from the US by the end of this month.’ | He said he would have returned from the US by the end of that month. |
| Modal verbs | Modals in the past |
| + Can | + Could |
| He said, ‘I can swim 5,000 metres.’ | He said he could swim 5,000 metres. |
| + May | + Might |
| They said, ‘We may come back early.’ | They said they might come back early. |
| + Must | + Must/ had to |
| He said, ‘You must pay by 30th April.’ | He said we must/ had to pay by 30th April. |