1. Qu'est-ce que le Reported Speech ?

Le Reported Speech (discours rapporté) permet de rapporter ce que quelqu'un a dit, sans utiliser ses mots exacts. On introduit la phrase avec un verbe introducteur (say, tell, ask…) suivi généralement de "that".

"I am tired." (Direct Speech)
She said (that) she was tired. (Reported Speech)

2. Le Backshift (recul des temps)

Quand le verbe introducteur est au passé (said, told…), les temps de la phrase rapportée reculent d'un cran :

"I will call you." → He said (that) he would call me.
"She can swim." → He said (that) she could swim.

3. Changements de pronoms

Les pronoms s'adaptent selon le contexte (qui parle, à qui, de qui) :

I → he / she
me → him / her
my → his / her
we → they
you → I / he / she / they
our → their

4. Changements de temps & lieu

Les expressions de temps et de lieu changent aussi :

now → then / at that moment
today → that day
yesterday → the day before
tomorrow → the next day / the following day
last week → the week before
next week → the following week
ago → before
here → there
this → that
these → those

5. Questions rapportées

Les questions rapportées suivent une structure affirmative (sujet + verbe) et n'utilisent pas do/does/did ni point d'interrogation :

"Where do you live?" → She asked me where I lived.
"Are you ready?" → He asked me if / whether I was ready.

Pour les questions oui/non, on utilise if ou whether.

6. Ordres & demandes (Imperatives)

Les impératifs se transforment avec tell + someone + (not) to + infinitif :

"Close the door!" → He told me to close the door.
"Don't be late!" → She told us not to be late.

7. SAY vs TELL

say : ne mentionne pas obligatoirement la personne → He said (that) he was late.
tell : toujours suivi du complément de personne → He told me (that) he was late.