Direct/Indirect Speech
Spoken Description
Apprenez à utiliser le discours direct et indirect : conjugaisons, pronoms, modifications temporelles et de lieu, ponctuation, et transitions fluides. Exercices pratiques pour parler et écrire naturel.
Learn about direct vs. indirect speech: tense changes, pronoun shifts, punctuation, and connecting words. Practice with real examples to make speech flow smoothly.
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This guide explains how to report someone else's words in French with direct speech (quoting exactly) and indirect speech (paraphrasing), and how pronouns, tense, and expressions change when you switch from one to the other.
Direct Speech
Direct speech repeats the speaker's exact words, usually between quotation marks, and preserves their original person, tense, and time expressions. It shows precise wording and often conveys tone or emphasis.
Examples
– Je viens demain,– dit-elle.
"I'm coming tomorrow," she says.
direct speech verb
Key Phrases
Common verbs for introducing direct speech include dire (to say), demander (to ask), and répondre (to reply), which can be followed by a quotation or a clause.
Il: « Je pars tout de suite. »
He says: "I'm leaving immediately."
to say
Indirect Speech
Indirect speech reports what someone said without quoting them exactly; you typically introduce the report with que (that) or a similar conjunction, and adjust pronouns, tenses, and time markers to fit the new narrator's perspective.
Tense Changes
When you turn direct speech into indirect speech, your verb tenses usually shift back one step in sequence (the backshift), so present becomes imperfect, passé composé becomes plus-que-parfait, etc., to show that the reported speech occurred earlier.
| Direct Tense | Indirect Tense | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Imparfait | |
| Passé Composé | Plus-que-parfait | |
| Imparfait | Imparfait | |
| Futur | Conditionnel Présent |
Tense shifts do not occur if the reporting verb is in the present or if the reported statement remains true.
Direct: « Je suis fatiguée. » → Indirect: Il a dit qu'ilfatigué.
Direct: "I am tired." → Indirect: He said that he was tired.
be (imparfait)
Person and Time Changes
Pronouns in indirect speech change to match the new subject of the report, and time and place expressions adjust relative to when and where you report. For example, aujourd'hui may become ce jour-là, and ici becomes là-bas.
| Direct Expression | Indirect Expression | |
|---|---|---|
| aujourd'hui | ce jour-là | |
| hier | la veille | |
| demain | le lendemain | |
| ce matin | ce matin-là | |
| ici | là | |
| maintenant | alors |
Expressions for Indirect Speech
Common reporting verbs for indirect speech include dire que, demander si, répondre que, annoncer que, and préciser que, and you can use de or à plus an infinitive when reporting commands or requests.
Summary
Direct speech quotes the exact words between quotation marks, while indirect speech paraphrases them and requires adjustments to tense, person, and time expressions to fit the new context. Use direct speech for precise wording and indirect speech for more flexible reporting.
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