Reported Speech

1. Statements with че. Change pronouns and the verb's person to fit the new speaker, but keep the tense:

• „Уморен съм.“ → Каза, че е уморен. (He said he was tired.)
• „Ще дойда.“ → Каза, че ще дойде. (He said he would come.)
• „Живея в София.“ → Каза, че живее в София. (She said she lived in Sofia.)

Че cannot be left out, and a comma goes before it (see commas before subordinate clauses).

2. No backshift. English turns is into was and will into would. Bulgarian does not. Каза, че беше уморен and Каза, че щеше да дойде do not report the words Уморен съм and Ще дойда.

3. Past events. The aorist and the imperfect present an event as something the speaker knows firsthand. So when you mark a past event explicitly as someone’s report, choose a reported form:

• Иван каза: „Мария вчера игра тенис.“ → Иван каза, че Мария вчера играла тенис.
• „Закъснях, защото валеше.“ → Каза, че закъснял, защото валяло. (He said he was late because it was raining.)

The perfect can stay as it is: „Загубил съм ключа.“ → Каза, че е загубил ключа. (He said he had lost the key.) For the present and future you may also use reported forms (Каза, че бил уморен) to show that you are only passing the words on.

4. Questions. A yes-no question takes дали; other questions keep their question word (see indirect questions):

• „Гладен ли си?“ → Попита ме дали съм гладен. (She asked me if I was hungry.)
• „Къде живееш?“ → Попита ме къде живея. (He asked me where I lived.)

5. Commands and requests. Use да with the present (see reported commands): „Чакай тук!“ → Каза ми да чакам тук. (He told me to wait here.)

6. Writing direct speech. Bulgarian quotation marks open low and close high: Той каза: „Уморен съм.“ In dialogue, each line often starts with a dash instead: – Уморен съм – каза той.