В этом уроке мы поговорим о правильном использовании косвенной речи (reported speech) в английском языке.

Косвенная речь используется тогда, когда мы говорим о чем-то, что сказал кто-то другой.

Для этого мы берем оригинальное предложение и изменяем его время на одно назад (в прошлое).

Рассмотрим использование непрямой речи на примере глагола «to be»:

Original sentenceReported speech
You are smart.He sad you were smart.
He is a teacher.He told me he was a teacher.
She is beautiful.He told me she was beautiful.
It is broken.He told me it was broken.
They are tired.He told me they were tired.

Рассмотрим теперь использование косвенной речи для разных времен оригинального предложения:

Original sentence Indirect speech
Present Simple ->
Past Simple
They live in Russia.He told me they lived in Russia.
Present Continuous ->Past Continuous
They are living in Russia.He told me they were living in Russia.
Past Simple ->Past Perfect
They lived in Russia.He told me they had lived in Russia.
Past Continuous ->Past Perfect Continuous
They were living in Russia.He told me they had been living in Russia.
Future Simple ->Future in the Past
They will live in Russia.He told me they would live in Russia.

clown

English Joke

A musical director was having a lot of trouble with one drummer. He talked and talked and talked with the drummer, but his performance simply didn’t improve.

Finally, before the whole orchestra, he said, «When a musician just can’t handle his instrument and doesn’t improve when given help, they take away the instrument, and give him two sticks, and make him a drummer.»

A stage whisper was heard from the percussion section: «And if he can’t handle even that, they take away one of his sticks and make him a conductor.»