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.)
3. 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. |