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 sentence | Reported 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. |

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.»