Direct and Indirect speech

By Prof. Tushar Chavan

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Table of Contents

Direct and indirect speech are two ways of reporting what someone else has said.

Direct Speech-

Direct speech involves repeating the exact words that were spoken, usually within quotation marks.

e.g.

Rahul said, “I am going to Pune.”

Indirect Speech-

Indirect speech (also known as reported speech) involves paraphrasing or summarizing what someone said without quoting them directly.

It usually involves a change in pronouns, verb tenses, and sometimes word order. It does not contain inverted commas.

e.g.

Rahul said that he was going to Pune.

Rules for changing direct speech into indirect speech–

प्रत्यक्ष भाषण चे अप्रत्यक्ष भाषणात रुपांतर करण्याचे नियम–

1) The sentence in between the inverted commas is called ‘reported speech’ while the outside verb is called is called ‘reporting verb’.

अवतरण चिन्हातील वाक्याला ‘रिपोर्टेड स्पीच’ म्हणतात तर अवतरण चिन्हाबाहेरील क्रियापदाला ‘रिपोर्टिंग क्रियापद’ म्हणतात.

e.g.

He said, “I write a poem.”

Here-

Reporting Verb – He said

Reported Speech – “I write a poem.”

2) Remove inverted comma, interrogation mark, comma and exclamation mark in indirect speech.

अवतरण चिन्ह, स्वल्पविराम, प्रश्नचिन्ह, उद्गारचिन्ह काढून टाकावे.

3) The interrogative, imperative, exclamatory sentences turn into ‘assertive’ in indirect speech.

प्रश्नार्थक वाक्य, आज्ञार्थी वाक्य, उद्गारवाचक वाक्य हे विधानार्थी बनतात.

4) If two speakers are given in direct speech, use ‘told’ in place of ‘said to’ in indirect speech.

जर दोन व्यक्ति बोलत असतील तर said to च्या जागेवर told लिहावे.

e.g.

‘He said to her’ —- ‘He told her’.

For one ‘speaker’ use the same reporting verb ‘said’ in indirect speech.

एक व्यक्ति बोलत असेल तर said च वापरावे.

e.g.

She said that she was happy.

5) Do not use ‘to’ or ‘that’ immediately after the reporting verbs like ‘tell or told’.

वाक्यात ‘tell or told’ नंतर लगेच ‘to’ or ‘that’ वापरु नये.

6) According to the kinds of sentences use following reporting verbs and conjunctions in indirect speech-

वाक्याच्या प्रकारानुसार खालील reporting verbs व उभयान्वयी अव्यय वापरावे.

Sr.No.	Kind of sentence	Reporting verb	Conjunction
1	Statement	Said to or told	That
2	Interrogation	Asked	If / whether or wh-word
3	Exclamation	Exclaimed	That
4	Imperative	Ordered	To
5	Request	Requested	To

7) The first person and second person pronouns of direct speech turns into third person in indirect speech. Changes in the pronouns are as follows-

प्रथम व द्वितिय पुरुषी सर्वनाम हे indirect करतांना तृतिय पुरुषी बनतात.

Sr.No.	Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
1	I	He, she, I
2	We	They, we
3	My	His, her, my
4	You – Before verb	He, she, they, I
5	You – After verb	Him, her, them, me
6	Our	Their, Our
7	Your	His, her, their, my
8	Me	Him, her, me
9	My self	Himself, herself, my self
10	Us	Them, us
11	Ourselves	Themselves
12	Yourself	Himself, herself, my self
13	Mine	His, hers, mine
14	Ours	Theirs
15	Yours	His, hers

8) The auxiliary verbs of direct speech changes as follows in indirect speech –

सहाय्यकारी क्रियापदात indirect करतांना खालिल प्रमाणे बदल होतो.

Sr.No.	Direct speech	Indirect speech
1	Am, is	Was
2	Are	Was, were
3	Have, has	Had
4	Was, were	Had been, was, were
5	Did	Had
6	Shall	Should or would
7	Will	Would or should
8	Can	Could
9	May	Might
10	Must	Must, had to

9) Do not use ‘to’ or ‘that’ immediately after ask or asked in indirect speech.

indirect करतांना‘to’ किंवा ‘that’ हे ask or asked नंतर लगेच वापरु नये

e.g.

He said, “Open the door.”

Answer – He asked (me) to open the door.

10) For interrogative sentences do not use the conjunction ‘that’ in indirect speech. Use wh- word or if / whether as conjunction in interrogative sentence

indirect करतांना प्रश्नार्थक वाक्यात that वापरु नये. wh-शब्द किंवा if / whether वापरावे.

11) Some words of direct speech change as follows in indirect speech –

शब्दांमधे बदल indirect करतांना करावेत.

Sr.No.	Direct speech	Indirect speech
1	This	That
2	These	Those
3	Here	There
4	Now	Then
5	To day	That day
6	To night	That night
7	Tomorrow	The next day
8	Yesterday	The previous day
9	Last night, day, month, year	The previous night, day, month, year
10	Next day, week, month, year	The following day, week, month, year
11	Thus	So
12	Ago	Before
13	Come	Go

12) The change in tenses is as follows–

काळांमधे खालिल प्रमाणे बदल करावे.

Sr.No.	Direct speech	Indirect speech
1	Simple present tense	Simple past tense
2	Present continuous tense	Past continuous tense
3	Present perfect tense	Past perfect tense
4	Present perfect continuous tense	Past perfect continuous tense
5	Simple past tense	Past perfect tense
6	Past continuous tense	Past perfect continuous
7	Past perfect and Past perfect cont.	Past perfect and Past perfect cont.
8	Future tense – shall, will	The conditional tense – should, would

13) If the sentence of direct speech contains universal truth, scientific truth, habitual fact, geographical truth, in indirect speech there is no change in the tense of its verb.

जर वाक्यात वैश्विक सत्य, वैज्ञानिक सत्य, नित्याची क्रिया, भौगोलिक सत्य दिलेले असेल तर indirect करतांना अवतरण चिन्हातील वाक्याच्या काळामध्ये कोणताही बदल करु नये.

e.g.

1) The teacher said, “The earth moves round the sun.”
Ans- The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun.
2) He said, “Water finds its own level.”
Ans- He said that water finds its own level.
3) She said, “Dog usually barks on unknown people.”
Ans- She said that dog usually barks on unknown people.
4) The student said, “Two plus two is equal to four.”
Ans- The student said that two plus two is equal to four.

14) Use ‘would’ for ‘shall’, if subjects are not ‘I or we’.

जर कर्ता ‘I’ किंवा ‘We’ नसेल तर shall साठी would वापरावे.

15) Use ‘would’ for ‘will’ for all subjects except ‘I or will’.

‘I’ किंवा ‘We’ सोडून इतर सर्व कर्त्यांसाठी ‘will’ साठी ‘would’ वापरावे.

16) Change ‘shall or will’ as ‘should’, if subjects are ‘I or we’.

जर कर्ता ‘I’ किंवा ‘We’ असेल तर ‘shall व will’ साठी ‘should’ वापरावे.

17) If the reported speech begins with ‘I’, change it according to the speaker who is given before reporting verb (said) while the reported speech begins with ‘You’, change it according to the speaker who comes after reporting verb (said).

जर अवतरण चिन्हातील वाक्यात ‘।‘ वापरलेला असेल तर indirect करतांना said to आधी जो कर्ता असेल त्यानुसार त्याचे रुपांतर तृतिय पुरुषी सर्वनामात करावे.

तसेच जर अवतरण चिन्हातील वाक्यात ‘You’ वापरलेला असेल तर said to नंतरचा जो कर्ता असेल त्यानुसार त्याचे रुपांतर तृतिय पुरुषी सर्वनामात करावे.

e.g.

1) Ram said to Seeta, “I am happy.
Ans- Ram told Seeta that he was happy.
2) Seeta said to Ram, “I am happy.”
Ans- Seeta told Ram that she was happy.
3) Ram said to Seeta, “You are happy.”
Ans- Ram told Seeta that she was happy.
4) Seeta said to Ram, “You are happy.”
Ans- Seeta told Ram that he was happy.
5) I said to her, “I am happy.”
Ans- I told her that I was happy.
6) She said to me, “You are happy.”
Ans- She told me that I was happy.

18) If reporting verb is in present tense (say) or in future tense (will say, shall say), all the verbs of reported speech remain in the same tense.

जर अवतरण चिन्हातील वाक्याआधी say किंवा will say, shall say वापरलेले असेल तर अवतरण चिन्हातील वाक्यामधील सर्व क्रियापदे वर्तमानकाळीच रहातात

e.g.

1) He says, “I write a letter.”
Ans- He says that he writes a letter.

2) Meena will say, “Manoj is clever.”
Ans- Meena will say that Manoj is clever.

See More Grammar Topics-

How to Frame wh-questions

Spot the Error (Click here)

Change the Degree (Click Here)

Use: If—-not / Unless (Click Here)

Uses of Tenses (Click Here)