Indirect Speech for 'can, may and must' (modal verbs)

The word 'can' changes into 'could' in the indirect (reported Speech).

The word 'may' changes into 'might'  in the indirect (reported Speech).

The word 'must' changes into 'had to' in the indirect (reported speech).

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The Following are some of the examples of Indirect speech for 'can'.

Examples:

Direct speech: Aastha said, "I can run faster than a horse"

Indirect speech: Aastha said that she could run faster than a horse.

Direct speech: My uncle said, "He can swim deep in the warm sea water".

Indirect speech: My uncle said that he could swim deep in the warm sea water.

Direct speech: James's friends said, "we can learn the indirect speech for 'can' in five minutes".

Indirect speech: James's friends said that they could learn the indirect speech for 'can' in five minutes.

Direct speech: Mum said, "I can dance like a smart young girl".

Indirect speech: Mum said that she could dance like a smart young girl.

Direct Speech: They Said, "Tommy can talk like a human".

Indirect Speech: They said that tommy could like a human.

Now have a look at some of the simplest examples of the Indirect speech for 'May'.

Examples:

Direct speech: The Dutch astronauts said, "we may discover a new planet same like earth".

Indirect Speech: The Dutch astronauts said that they might discover a new planet same like earth.

Direct speech: The kids said, "we may not learn the indirect speech for 'may'.

Indirect speech: The Kids said that they might not learn the indirect speech for 'may'.

Direct speech: she said, "my teachers may visit my home next month".

Indirect speech: She said that her teachers might visit her home next month.

Direct speech: Jennifer said, "I may qualify for the national speech competition this year".

Indirect speech: Jennifer said that she might qualify for the national speech competition this year.

Direct speech: They said, "Micheal may top the English grammar paper this time".

Indirect speech: They said that Micheal might top the English grammar paper this time.

These were the examples for the indirect speech use for 'May', Now please have a look to the examples of indirect speech for 'must'.

Examples:

Direct speech: She said, "the teachers must work hard with the fresh students".

Indirect speech: She said that the teachers had to work hard with the fresh students.

Direct speech: The coach said, "The players must run 5km every morning for better fitness".

Indirect speech: The coach said that the players had to run 5km every morning for better fitness.

Direct speech" Shraddha said, "I must learn the indirect speech for 'must'".

Indirect speech: Shraddha said that she had to learn the indirect speech for 'must'.

Direct speech: Bob said, "you must pray the prayer on time".

Indirect speech: Bob said that you had to pray the prayer on time.

Direct speech: She said, "The cricket world cup must consist of the minimum of twenty teams".

Indirect speech: She said that the cricket world cup had to consist of the minimum of twenty teams.

Direct Speech: Sheen said, "I must Learn the Indirect speech for all modal verbs".

Indirect Speech: Sheen said that she had to learn the indirect speech for all modal verbs.

Indirect Speech for Future Perfect Tense

Indirect Speech for Future Perfect Tense

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Today in the Final Class of Direct and Indirect Speech, we are going to learn the Indirect Speech of Future Perfect Tense. It's very easy to convert a Future Perfect tense sentence to the Indirect speech because unlike Other tenses, we do not make big changes in the Direct speech of Future Perfect Tense.

Don't miss: Indirect Speech for future continuous & Future simple Tense.

When we Convert the direct Speech of Future Perfect to Indirect speech we mostly make changes in the helping verb of the direct speech, The helping verb 'will have' will change into 'would have' while the main verb will remain Past Participle.

The Inverted Commas of the Reporting speech will be replaced with the word 'That'.

No Comma or Inverted comma will take place in the Indirect (reported speech).

The Pronouns and the Particular worlds will change as per the rules of direct and indirect speech.

For Example:

Direct Speech: Mr.White said. "we will have to catch the Fishes in the sea".

Reported/Indirect Speech: Mr.white said that they would have to catch the Fishes in the sea.

Direct Speech: She said. "I will have reached the University early in the morning".

Indirect Speech: She said that she would have to reach the university early in the morning.

Direct Speech: He said, "we will not have served the nation for twenty years".

Indirect Speech: He said that they would not have served the nation for twenty years.

Direct Speech: Alizbath said, "I will have Eaten all the delicious dishes".

Indirect Speech: Alizbath said that she would have eaten all the delicious dishes.

Direct Speech: They said, "We will have confirmed Her home Adress or phone number".

Indirect Speech: They said that they would have confirmed her home address or Phone number.

Direct Speech: Mccallum said, "They will have scored enough runs to defend the match".

Indirect Speech: Mccallum said that they would have scored enough runs to defend the match.

Indirect Speech for Future Simple and Future Continuous tense

Indirect Speech for Future Simple Tense:

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In the Direct & Indirect Speech, we usually change the tense of the Direct Speech when we change it to the Reported speech, but in the case of Future Simple tense we do not change the tense of the direct speech after converting it to the reported speech.
Also read: Indirect Speech for Future Perfect tense

The Helping verb of Future Simple tense will convert to 'Would' in the Indirect (reported) Speech.

The Present Participle of the Future simple tense will not be affected in the Indirect Speech.

For Example:

Direct Speech: She said, "I will take down my Facebook account this month".

Reported/Indirect Speech: She said that she would take down her Facebook account this month.

Direct Speech: They said, "he will buy the latest model of Samsung Mobile".

Indirect Speech: They said that he would buy the latest model of Samsung Mobile.

Direct Speech: Mr.Brown said, "we will not accept the elections result in  the Case of rigging".

Indirect Speech: Mr.Brown said that they would not accept the Election result in the case of Rigging.

Direct Speech: He said, "I will join the Scottish Special Force this Summer".

Indirect Speech:  He said that he would join the Scottish Special Forces this Summer.

Direct Speech: They said, " she will love to meet the old friends".

Indirect Speech: They said that she would love to meet the friends.

Indirect Speech for Past Perfect Tense

Indirect Speech for Past Perfect Tense:

In the Direct and Indirect Speech, we change the tense and the Helping Verbs of the Direct Speech whenever we convert it to the Reported (Indirect) Speech.
Don't Miss: Indirect speech for past continuous & Past simple tense.

If the Reported speech is in the Past Perfect tense, the Indirect Speech will also remain in the Past perfect tense and the helping verbs will also not change, it means when we convert the Direct Speech of the Past perfect tense to Indirect (reported) Speech the tense of the sentence will change into the Past perfect tense which means no changes to the tense and helping verb.

For Example:

Direct Speech: They Said. "We had purchased the New English Grammar Magazine".

Reported/Indirect Speech: They said that they had purchased the new English Grammar Magazine.

Direct Speech: She said, "we had won all the Qualifier matches in the inter-school football Competition".

Reported/Indirect Speech: She said that they had won all the Qualifier matches in the inter-school football Competition.

Direct Speech: He said, " I had visited the New international Rugby ground this month".

Reported/Indirect Speech: He said that he had visited the new international rugby ground this month.

Direct Speech: Zedd said to me, "I had not learned the Indirect Speech for Past perfect tense".

Reported/Indirect Speech: Zedd said to me that he had not learned the Indirect speech for past perfect tense.

Direct Speech: He said, "They had answered All the English grammar Questions frequently".

Reported/Indirect Speech: He said that they had answered all the English Grammar Questions frequently.

Direct Speech: She said, "He had sent me a mail about his English Teaching experience".

Reported/Indirect Speech: She said that he had sent me a mail about his English teaching experience.

Direct Speech: He said, "I had started a new rice shop".

Indirect Speech: He said that he had started a new rice shop.
So this was the Indirect speech for Past perfect tense, we learn how to convert past perfect tense sentences to indirect.

Direct and Indirect Speech for Past Simple and Past Continuous tense

Indirect Speech for Past Simple Tense:

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If the Direct Speech is in the Past Simple Tense the Reported/Indirect speech will change into Past Perfect Tense. The Helping verb 'had' and Past participle will use in the indirect/Reported Speech.

For Example:

Direct Speech: He said, "we went to the Old Grammar institute of the city

Indirect/Reported Speech: He said that they had gone to the Old grammar institute of the city.

Direct Speech: Smith Said, "he wrote the final letter to his classmate".

Reported/Indirect Speech: Smith said that he had written the final letter to his classmate.

Direct Speech: They said to me, "She got her new Motorolla mobile".

Reported/indirect Speech: They said to me that she had gotten her new Motorolla mobile.

Direct Speech: we said, "You cleared all the Obstacles Successfully".

Reported/Indirect Speech: We said that you had cleared all the Obstacles Successfully.

Direct Speech: She said. "I wished to learn the Indirect speech of Past simple Tense".

Reported/Indirect Speech: She said that had wished to learn the Indirect speech of Past Simple tense.

Indirect Speech for Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous tense

Today we will learn about the Indirect Speech of Present Perfect & Present Perfect Continuous tense.

Indirect Speech for Present Perfect Tense:

If the Direct Speech is in Present Perfect tense, The Reported Speech will be in the Past Perfect Tense. It means the Present Perfect tense will change to Past Perfect tense in the Reported Speech.
The Present Perfect helping verbs 'Has' & 'have' will change to 'had'.
The verb's Past Participle form will use in Both Direct and Reported Speech.
In Negative Sentences, the 'has not' or 'have not' will change to 'Had not'.
For Example:
Direct Speech: Adele said, "she has finished her dance practice".
Reported/Indirect Speech: Adele said that she had finished her dance practice.

Direct Speech: They Said, "we have started a new workshop".
Reported/Indirect Speech: They said that they had started a new workshop.

Direct Speech: He said, "I have not achieved my dream of Becoming a scientist".
Reported/Indirect Speech: He said that he had not achieved his dream of Becoming a scientist.

Direct Speech: She said, "we have eaten all the sweet mangoes".
Reported/Indirect Speech: She said that they had eaten all the sweet mangoes".

Direct Speech: I said, "She has learned the Indirect speech of the Present Perfect".
Reported/Indirect Speech: I said that she had learned the indirect speech of the present perfect.

Direct and Indirect Speech for Present Simple and Present Progressive Tense

Direct and Indirect Speech for Present Simple Tense:

If the Direct Speech is in present Simple Tense then the Indirect speech will be in the Past Simple Tense. It Means when we convert The Direct speech of present Simple tense to Reported/Indirect Speech, The Tense of the Sentence will change to Past simple Tense. 

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1. The First Form of the verb will change into the second form of the verb.
2. Commas & Inverted commas will change to 'that'.
3. In Negative sentences, Does not will be replaced by Did not.

For Example:
Direct Speech: Alina Said, "I slap the John"
Reported/Indirect Speech: Alina Said That she Slapped the John.

Direct Speech: They Said, "we go to college daily"
Reported/Indirect Speech: They said that we went to college daily.

Direct Speech: She Said, "She sings a new song"
Reported/Indirect Speech: She said that she Sung a new song.

Direct Speech: Beenish said, "she runs 2km every morning in the garden".
Reported/Indirect Speech: Beenish said that she run 2km every morning in the garden".

Direct Speech: He said. "I love Central Asian republics".
Reported/Indirect Speech: He said that he loved the central Asian republics.

Introduction to Direct and Indirect Speech with Examples

There are two ways to talk with someone. The One way is to copy the exact words of the speaker and convey it to someone else exactly in the same style and words, This is called Direct Speech.
The Other way is to express the Other's words in your own style and words, this is called Indirect Speech. The Words inside inverted commas are called reported Speech while the words outside the inverted commas are called Reporting speech.
For Example:
Directed: Kristie Jones said, "I am not angry"
Indirect: Kristie Jones said that he was not angry.

Directed: She said to Messi, "I am waiting for a letter".
Indirect: She Said to Ali that she was waiting for a letter.

Directed: Owen Azzopardi said to me, " you are getting lazy".
Indirect: Owen Azzopardi told me that I was getting lazy.

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How to change Direct Speech to Indirect Speech?

When we convert Direct into indirect speech, we should make the following changes.

1. The Changes in Say to and Said to.
2. The Change in inverted commas.
3. The Change in pronouns/Persons
4. The Change in the tense of the sentence.
5. The change in Particular words.

1) The Changes in Say to and Said to:

To Make changes in say to and said to we have to study the Reported speech carefully. By Studying Reported speech (second part of the sentence) Briefly we will make changes in say to and said to.

We commonly change 'said to' to the following words.

• Told - If the reporting speech shows a talk/speech been conveyed.
• Asked - If the Reporting speech shows something been asked.
• Foretold - if the Reporting speech shows predictions.
• Exclaimed with wonder - If the reporting speech shows wonder.
• Proposed - If the Reporting speech shows suggestions.
• Exclaimed with Sorrow - If the Reporting Speech shows sadness.
• Forbade - If the reporting speech shows something which forbidden.

2) The Changes in Commas and Inverted commas:

We make changes in commas and in inverted commas in the following conditions.

1. In Simple Sentences, we replace comma and inverted by the word 'that'.
2. If a Sentence shows sadness, happiness, wonder or wish we still replace the commas and inverted commas with the Word 'That'.
3. If a sentence shows Order, Suggestions or Request we replace the Commas and inverted commas with the word 'To'.
4. In a Simple interrogative Sentences, we replace the commas and inverted commas by the word 'Whether'.
5. In Complex Interrogative Sentences we just simply remove the Commas and inverted commas.

3) Changes in Tense:

If the Reporting Speech is in the Past tense, The Reported Speech will also change to Past tense and 2nd form of the verb will take place.

• Is and Am will change to was.
• May will change to might.
• Must will change to should.
• was and were will change to Had been.
• Has and have will change to Had.

If the Reporting speech is in the past tense and Reported speech shows a universal fact then the Tense of the sentence will not change.

If the Reporting Speech is in the present or future tense, then the tense of the reported Speech will not change.

4) Changes in Particular Words:

The Following words will change when we convert Directed speech to indirect speech.

These will Become Those.

Now will become then.

Ago will become Before.

Here will become there.

Thus will Become So.

Yesterday will become the previous day.

Hence will become thence.