Reported speech

REPORTED SPEECH - ESTILO INDIRECTO

Parte I - Introducción

Para decirle a alguien lo que otra persona dijo podemos citar literalmente sus palabras (en un texto aparecerían entre comillas); eso es el estilo directo. Un ejemplo: Mi madre me dijo: "Siéntate, que tengo una cosa que decirte".

Sin embargo, normalmente usamos el estilo indirecto, y entonces cambiamos bastantes cosas: Mi madre me dijo que me sentase, porque tenía una cosa que decirme.

Normalmente, una oración en estilo indirecto empieza por "Me dijo...", que en inglés se puede decir "He said (that)..." o "She told me (that)..." (se suele omitir "that", sobre todo en inglés oral, porque nunca funciona como sujeto de la oración a la que precede, y por tanto nunca es necesario).

Si hemos usado "told", entonces hay que añadir a continuación un nombre o pronombre que se refiere al objeto indirecto (la persona con la que estaba hablando quien dijo lo que ahora estamos repitiendo).

Si la oración es una pregunta, en estilo indirecto se suele usar el verbo "preguntar", por ejemplo: "They asked (me)...", y en este caso nunca se debe usar "that".

Si el verbo introductorio (say, tell o ask) está en presente, entonces sólo hace falta cambiar unas pocas palabras.

Sin embargo, esto no es muy útil: sólo se usa el verbo introductorio en presente cuando se quiere repetir algo que se acaba de decir a alguien que no la ha oído la primera vez y nos ha preguntado "¿Qué dice?" En este caso, sólo es necesario cambiar los pronombres personales y los adjetivos o pronombres posesivos que se refieren a personas gramaticas diferentes en estilo directo e indirecto:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
I parked my car round this corner yesterday.		He says he parked his car round this corner yesterday.

Lo que sucede normalmente es que el verbo introductorio está en pasado, porque estamos repitiendo algo que se dijo en otra ocasión, con el fin de informar a alguien que no estaba presente cuando se dijo:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
I parked my car round this corner yesterday.		He said he had parked his car round that corner the day before.

Como podemos ver, hay otras tres cosas que suelen cambiar en estilo indirecto cuando el verbo introductorio está en pasado, junto con los pronombres personales y posesivos que se refieren a una persona diferente: el tiempo del verbo, las expresiones de tiempo, y los deícticos (algunas palabras que se pueden referir a diferentes cosas o lugares: this, these, here).

Parte II - Cambios en los tiempos verbales

Así es como los tiempos verbales suelen cambiar en estilo indirecto:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
presente		pasado
pasado		pretérito pluscuamperfecto
futuro		condicional

Es decir, cada tiempo se cambia a una posición "anterior" en una línea de tiempo imaginaria:

Ejemplos:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
I live in London.		He said he lived in London.
I visited Paris.		She said she had visited Paris.
They will help you.		They said they would help me.

El pretérito pluscuamperfecto y el condicional no cambian (no hay tiempos "anteriores" a ellos). Ejemplos:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
I had gone to bed by twelve.		He said he had gone to bed by twelve.
I would like a beer.		He said he would like a beer.

Otros tiempos cambian según el más parecido, de modo que por ejemplo el present continuous se convierte en past continuous, el present perfect se convierte en past perfect, y el future perfect se convierte en perfect conditional:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
I am reading a horror novel by Stephen King.		He said he was reading a novel by Stephen King.
I have finished the first chapter.		He said he had finished the first chapter.
I will have read it all by tomorrow.		He said he would have read it all by the following day.

El "truco" para no tener que aprenderse una lista completa de todos los tiempos verbales es fijarse sólo en el primer auxiliar cuando el verbo es un tiempo más "raro": si está en presente (p.ej. has eaten) cambia a pasado (had eaten); si está en pasado (p.ej. was running) cambia a pluscuamperfecto (had been running); y si está en futuro (p.ej. will have finished) cambia a condicional (would have finished). Sólo tenemos que recordar que si el primer auxiliar es "had" no hay que cambiarlo, porque ya está en past perfect (had been arrested). Por supuesto, si no hay auxiliar es porque la oración está en presente simple (cambia a pasado) o en pasado simple (cambia a past perfect).

Parte III - Otros cambios

Así es como suelen cambiar en estilo indirecto las palabras que se refieren a un lugar o tiempo diferentes:

Estilo directo	Estilo indirecto
today	that day
tonight	that night
yesterday	the previous day / the day before
tomorrow	the following day / the next day / the day after
next week	the following week / the next week
tomorrow morning	the following morning / the next morning
yesterday evening	the previous evening / the evening before
last month	the previous month / the month before
the day before yesterday	two days before
the day after tomorrow	two days later
now	then
at this moment / at the moment	at that moment / at the moment
three days ago	three days before
in two weeks' time	two weeks later
this	that
these	those
here	there

EJERCICIO 1.
Escribe las oraciones siguientes en estilo indirecto.
Imagina que John y Mary estuvieron hablando contigo hace una semana en su casa.

TENSE		DIRECT SPEECH
1.- Present simple		John said: "We work in this room". [John said they worked in that room.]
2.- Present continuous		Mary told me: "I'm studying at this moment". [Mary told me she was studying at the moment / at that moment.]
3.- Future simple		John said: "I'll go with you tomorrow". [John said he would come with me the following day.]
4.- Conditional simple		Mary told me: "I'd like to be rich now". [Mary told me she would like to be rich then.]
5.- Perfect conditional		John said: "I'd never have done this without you". [John said he would never have done that without me.]
6.- Past simple		Mary told me: "I was ill yesterday". [Mary told me she had been ill the day before.]
7.- Present perfect		John said: "I haven't read these books yet". [John said he hadn't read those books yet.]
8.- Past perfect		Mary told me: "I had already seen that film". [Mary told me she had already seen that film.]
9.- Past continuous		John said: "I was talking to Kevin on the phone yesterday". [John said he had been talking to Kevin on the phone the previous day.]
10.- Present perfect continuous		Mary told me: "I've been writing these letters all morning". [Mary told me she had been writing those letters all morning.]
11.- Past perfect continuous		John said: "I'd been talking to my brother the previous week." [John said he had been talking to Kevin on the phone the previous day.]

Parte IV - Preguntas en estilo indirecto

En las preguntas en estilo indirecto no se usa el orden de palabras típico Aux + S + V; se usa S + V, sin verbos auxiliares en presente simple ni pasado simple, igual que en las oraciones afirmativas, porque una pregunta en estilo indirecto ya no es una pregunta (tampoco se usa un signo de interrogación al final):

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
Where does he live?		He asked me where he lived.
Why did you go?		She asked me why I had gone.

En las "yes/no questions" la oración en estilo indirecto empieza por “if” o “whether”, que significan lo mismo:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
Do you like my pizza?		She asked me if I liked her pizza.
Was he late or wasn't he?		They asked me whether he was late or not. / They asked me whether or not he was late.
Did Kevin tell you why he is so angry?		He asked me whether Kevin had told us why he was so angry.

¿Cuánta gente se menciona en la la última oración? ¿A quién se puede referir el último «he»? [Se puede referir a la misma persona que el primer "he", o a Kevin, o a ninguno de los dos. El número de personas mencionadas depende también de a cuántas personas se refiera "us".]

Ahora, ¿entiendes por qué es tan fácil malinterpretar lo que la gente quiere decir cuando nos cuenta lo que dijo otra persona? ¡Ésa es la razón por la que nunca deberías prestar atención a los cotilleos!

EJERCICIO 2.
Escribe las preguntas siguientes en estilo indirecto.

Imagina que una amiga te habló de una entrevista de trabajo. A continuación están las preguntas que le hicieron. Ahora cuéntale a otra amiga lo que le preguntaron. Empieza tus oraciones así:
They asked her...

1.- How many languages do you speak?	[They asked her how many languages she spoke.]
2.- Do you have any work experience?	[They asked her if she had any work experience.]
3.- Have you worked for a company like this before?	[They asked her if she had worked for a company like that before.]
4.- When did you finish your university studies?	[They asked her when she had finished her university studies.]
5.- Have you worked abroad?	[They asked her whether she had been abroad.]
6.- Would you mind working in a different country?	[They asked her if she would mind working in a different country.]
7.- Have you got a driver's licence?	[They asked her whether she had a driver's licence.]
8.- Do you know how to write a web page?	[They asked her if she knew how to write a web page.]
9.- How long have you studied English?	[They asked her how long she had studied English.]
10.- Will you start tomorrow morning?	[They asked her whether she would start the following morning.]

Parte V - Estilo indirecto con oraciones exhortativas (directives)

Si lo que se da o se pide no es simple información, por ejemplo cuando la oración es una petición o una orden, se suelen usar "ask" y "tell", respectivamente, seguidos del objeto indirecto y un infinitivo con TO:

Can you help me, please?		He asked me to help him.
Wait here, please.		She told me to wait there.

También se pueden usar otros verbos introductorios especiales, diferentes de "ask" y "tell", cuando la oración no es una petición ni una orden, sino una invitación, una sugerencia, un ofrecimiento,...

Es importante saber qué forma verbal debe usarse detrás de cada verbo introductorio:

Dar información (oraciones afirmativas):
- say something: He said he was busy.
- tell someone something: She told me she was working.
Pedir información (oraciones interrogativas):
- ask someone something: The messenger asked us if the boss was in.
Dar una orden o hacer una petición (oraciones imperativas, o con "will", "can", "could", o "would"):
- tell someone to do something: The secretary told us to wait there.
- ask someone to do something: I asked him to phone again later.
Hacer una invitación o un ofrecimiento (oraciones con "Would you like", "Shall I", etc.):
- invite someone to do something: They invited us to join them for the celebration.
- offer to do something: He offered to buy some wine.
- volunteer to do something: She volunteered to bring some CDs.
Hacer una advertencia o dar un consejo (oraciones con "You should", "Why don't you", etc):
- warn someone not to do something: He warned us not to touch the wires.
- advise someone to do something: The doctor advised me to stop smoking.
Proferir una amenaza (oraciones con "if... I will", etc):
- threaten to do something: My mother threatened to throw away what we didn't put away.
Hacer una sugerencia (oraciones con "Let's", "Shall we", "Why don't we", etc.); el verbo "suggest" es el único de este tipo que no va seguido de un infinitivo con "to", sino de casi cualquier otra cosa:
- suggest doing something: He suggested going to the cinema. (= he wanted to go, too.)
- suggest someone did something: He suggested we went to the cinema. (= he wasn't coming.)
- suggest someone do something: He suggested we go to the cinema. (Más formal que usar el pasado, a menos que la oración esté en presente: I suggest you go to the cinema. En inglés muy formal se pone el verbo en subjuntivo, usando el infinitivo en lugar del presente: I suggest she go with you.)
etc.

Parte VI - Estilo indirecto con verbos modales

Con algunos verbos auxiliares modales hay cambios en estilo indirecto:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
Will you give me a hand, please?		He asked if I would give him a hand.
Can you hold this?		He asked me if I could hold that.
What shall I buy?		He asked what he should buy.
May I go to the toilet?		He asked if he might go to the toilet.
You must study more.		He said I had to study more.

Sin embargo, también se pueden expresar en estilo indirecto interpretando qué tipo de función (petición, ofrecimiento, sugerencia...) realiza el hablante en cada una de ellas, y usando un verbo introductorio apropiado en lugar de sus palabras más o menos literales:

Estilo directo		Estilo indirecto
Will you give me a hand, please?		He asked me to give him a hand.
Can you hold this, please?		He told me to hold that.
Shall I buy some bread?		He offered to buy some bread.
May I go to the toilet?		He asked permission to go to the toilet.
You must study more.		My friend advised me to / insisted I had to study more.

EJERCICIO 3.
Escribe las oraciones siguientes en estilo indirecto.
Imagina que Martin y Becky estuvieron hablando contigo hace algunas semanas en su casa, mientras estábais haciendo preparativos para una fiesta.

1.- Becky told us: We could put some chairs in the garden. (suggestion)
__.Becky [told us we could put some chairs in the garden ("could" doesn't change because it is the conditional, not the past)]
2.- Martin said: The best place is under our apple tree. (opinion)
__.Martin [said the best place was under their apple tree. ]
3.- Becky said: Don't put them under the tree! (order)
__.Becky [ordered us not to put them under the tree. ]
4.- She added: It's nicer to sit in the sun. (opinion)
__.She [thought it was nicer to sit in the sun. ]
5.- Martin asked us: Do you think it may rain today? (question)
__.Martin [asked us whether we thought it might rain that day. ]
6.- Becky asked me: Can you buy some beers, please? (request)
__.Becky [asked me to buy some beers.]
7.- Martin asked me: Can you play the guitar? (question)
__.Martin [asked me whether I could play the guitar.]
8.- Martin asked Becky: Can you give me a hand with the salad? (request)
__.Martin [asked Becky to give him a hand with the salad. ]
9.- Becky asked me: Could you take these sandwiches to the sitting-room? (request)
__.Becky [asked me to take those sandwiches to the sitting-room. ]
10.- Martin asked me: Will you help me lay the table? (request)
__.Martin [asked me to lay the table. ]
11.- Becky said: I'll do that. (offer)
__.Becky [offered to to that. ]
12.- Martin asked me: May I ask you another favour? (request)
__.Becky [asked me (to do him) another favour. ]
13.- Becky said: We might need more fruit. (opinion)
__.Becky [thought we might need more fruit.]
14.- Martin asked: Shall I buy some oranges and apples? (offer)
__.Martin [offered the buy some oranges and apples. ]
15.- Becky said: Will you close the door, please, Martin? (request)
__.Becky [ asked Martin to close the door. ]
16.- Martin said: Shall I make some more sandwiches? (offer)
__.Martin [offered to make more sandwiches. ]
17.- Becky asked Martin: Why don't we invite those Spanish friends of yours? (suggestion)
__.Becky [suggested inviting / we invited / we invite those Spanish friends of Martin's. ]
18.- Becky told me: You should find a girlfriend. (advice)
__.Becky [ advised me to find a girlfriend. ]
19.- Becky insisted: You must go out more. (advice)
__.Becky [ insisted I had to go out more / advised me to go out more. ]
20.- Becky told me: I will talk to my friend Susan about you. (promise)
__.Becky [ promised to talk to her friend Susan about me. ]

JJCC