Direct and Reported Speech

Level 4

Reported speech is a clause that keeps the tense of the words said.

How It Works

Direct speechReported speech
Petro diras: «Mi volas manĝi.»Petro diras, ke li volas manĝi.
Ana demandis: «Ĉu vi venos?»Ana demandis, ĉu mi venos.
Kenji demandis: «Kie vi loĝas?»Kenji demandis, kie mi loĝas.

Direct speech repeats the words exactly, usually after a colon and inside quotation marks. Reported speech tells what was said in a clause. A statement uses ke. A yes-or-no question uses ĉu, and a question with a word like kie keeps that word.

Esperanto keeps the tense of the original words. If Petro said Mi volas manĝi, the report is Petro diris, ke li volas manĝi, with volas still in the present. The pronouns change when the speaker changes: mi turned into li, and in the second row vi turned into mi.

Examples (5)

  1. Ana diras: «Mi venos al la kongreso.»

    Ana says, "I will come to the congress."

    This is direct speech: the words appear exactly as Ana said them.

  2. Ana diras, ke ŝi venos al la kongreso.

    Ana says that she will come to the congress.

    This is reported speech: ke starts the clause and mi becomes ŝi.

  3. Hiro diris, ke li loĝas en Tokio.

    Hiro said that he lives in Tokyo.

    Loĝas stays in the present, as in Hiro's own words.

  4. Olga demandis, ĉu mi iros kun ŝi al la kinejo.

    Olga asked whether I would go with her to the cinema.

    A yes-or-no question becomes a clause with ĉu, and iros keeps the future tense.

  5. Tomasz demandis, kiam la trajno alvenos.

    Tomasz asked when the train would arrive.

    A question word such as kiam starts the clause, and alvenos keeps the future tense.

Common Mistakes

  • Using ke for a question.

    Olga demandis, ke mi iros kun ŝi al la kinejo.
    Olga demandis, ĉu mi iros kun ŝi al la kinejo.

    A question becomes a clause with ĉu or a question word. Ke is for statements.

  • Changing the tense the way English does.

    Ana diris, ke ŝi estis ironta al la kongreso.
    Ana diris, ke ŝi iros al la kongreso.

    Ana's own words were Mi iros, so the clause keeps iros. English says was going to, but Esperanto does not copy that.

How It Connects

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Direct and Reported SpeechLevel 4

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Reported speech uses ke and keeps the tense.

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Patterns that build on this one.