Use direct and indirect reported speech in French to provide information, such as:
what you or someone else said,
what you were told,
what you heard, or
what you were or someone else was thinking.
There are two varieties of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech. Direct reported speech is used to report exactly what is said. Let’s see an example.
Manon dit : « J’ai faim. »
Manon says, “I’m hungry.”
On the other hand, indirect reported speech is used to paraphrase a statement or a thought.
J’ai hâte !
I’m looking forward to it!
→
Elle dit qu’elle a hâte.
She says she’s looking forward to it.
When you report speech indirectly, the part of the sentence that represents what was said fundamentally changes. Did you notice how, above, “J’ai hâte !” became “elle a hâte”?
In this article, you’ll find out how to report a statement or thought in the present and past, all while learning or reviewing vocabulary, French tenses, punctuation, and much more.
Ready to tackle reported speech?! Allez ! C’est parti !
Reporting verbs are verbs used to introduce reported speech. They usually tell you something about how someone spoke or thought. Reporting verbs are used for both direct and indirect reported speech.
To report a thought, the most common reporting verb is penser(to think).
« Elle est si jolie », pensait-il.
“She is so pretty,” he thought.
For a statement, we usually use dire(to say).
Il dit qu’il n’y comprend rien.
He says he doesn't understand a thing.
To report a question, we most commonly use demander(to ask).
Elle m’a demandé : « Tu vas bien ? »
She asked me, “How are you?”
Direct speech reports exactly what is said. It is very common in novels, when translating, and in journalism. Direct reported speech sounds more dynamic; you feel like you’re there because the speech is not altered.
There are a couple of ways to use punctuation for direct reported speech in French. The most common one you’ll find, in newspapers for instance, is the use of colons after reporting verbs and the French quotation marks « … », as opposed to the English ones “...”, before and after the direct reported speech. There is also no period in the quote when the sentence is followed by a reporting verb. Instead, there is a comma, placed outside the end quotation mark, that introduces the reporting verb.
Paola continue : « C’était magique ! »
Paola adds, “It was magical!”
OR
« C’était magique », continue Paola.
“It was magical,” Paola adds.
In French, we use a space before punctuation marks like exclamation points (!) and question marks (?). The same space is needed between the reporting verb and a colon, the French quotation marks («…») and the direct speech inside them, and the punctuation that follows the direct speech and the end quotation marks. Notice the spaces marked below (red underline):
Emma dit : « J’adore ce film. »
Emma says, “I love this movie.”
Another punctuation rule when reporting a dialogue is the required use of dashes. Unlike English, which requires quotation marks, French uses dashes to indicate the turns of a conversation. Quotation marks are optional and are only used at the beginning and at the end of the entire dialogue. Here’s an example comparing a dialogue in French and in English:
Les deux amis ont parlé de leurs vacances.
The two friends talked about their holidays.
« On partira fin-mai.
“We’ll go at the end of May.”
Ah, nous, on a préféré partir en hiver.
“Will you? We personally preferred going during the wintertime.”
Vous avez raison, il y a moins de touristes. »
“You are right actually, it is less touristy.”
In novels, reporting verbs tagged after direct speech have a different subject-verb order. While in English, it is subject + verb, in French, it is verb + subject linked with a dash.
« Elle est jolie », dit-il.
“She is pretty,” he says.
lit. lit. “She is pretty,” says he.
When your reporting verb ends in "e" you’ll need to add "t" between the verb and the pronouns il, elle, or on. This helps with pronunciation. For those who love a bit of jargon, this is called a “euphonic t.”
« Il est gentil », raconte-t-elle.
lit. “She is pretty,” says he.
In English, “to be like” is often used to report a speech when speaking informally; its equivalent in French is faire(to do) and it is used just like any other reporting verb for direct reported speech.
You can also add indirect object pronounsNo definition set for indirect object pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like me(to me) or lui(to him, to her) to indicate who the person was talking to.
Il m’a sorti : « Je vais me marier !! »
He was like, “I’m going to get married!!”
Il m’a fait : « Euh… j’suis pas sûr. »
He was like, “Er…I’m not too sure.”
When using faire in direct reported speech, try to imitate the person’s voice!
Right! Now, you know how direct speech works, let’s study indirect speech!
Indirect reported speech in French is a method of relaying what someone else said, thought, asked, or communicated in some way. As we have seen earlier, indirect reported speech changes the perspective from the speaker to the reporter, which means that you may need to alter the direct speech before reporting it indirectly, the same as you would in English.
For indirect speech, you'll need to be able to conjugate French verbs and use a variety of pronouns. Let’s make sure you have everything you need in your French tool box! Don’t hesitate to click on the links if you need a refresher.
Verbs tenses (présent, imparfait, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur simple, conditionnel présent)
If you feel comfortable with conjugation, let’s get started!
Use indirect speech when you don’t want to quote exactly what someone said, asked, or thought, and, instead, you refer to what you’ve heard using a subordinate clauseNo definition set for subordinate clauseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., most commonly introduced by que(that).
Elle a dit qu’elle voulait venir.
She said (that) she wanted to come.
Using indirect reported speech can be a bit trickier than using direct reported speech, because sometimes using indirect speech will require you to change pronounsNo definition set for pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., verb tenses, or other words in the sentence. Let’s take a look.
When the direct reported speech is in the present tense and doesn’t involve the subject pronouns je, tu, nous, vous, no change occurs in the indirect speech:
Direct reported speech | → | Indirect reported speech |
|---|---|---|
« C’est ennuyeux », dit Nicolas. “It’s boring,” says Nicolas. | → | Nicolas dit que c’est ennuyeux. Nicolas says (that) it is boring. |
However, when someone is talking about themselves or to “you,” you need to alter subject pronounsNo definition set for subject pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., reflexive pronounsNo definition set for reflexive pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., possessive adjectivesNo definition set for possessive adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., and adapt the verb, just like in English.
In the example below, the subject pronouns and possessive pronouns must change in the indirect reported speech, along with the verb conjugations!
Direct reported speech | → | Indirect reported speech |
|---|---|---|
pronounverb « Je me suis retourné et j’ai vu mon frère. » “I turned around and saw my brother.” | → | pronounverb Sylvain dit qu’il s’est retourné et qu’il a vu son frère. Sylvain says (that) he turned around and saw his brother. |
Like in English, verbs of motion differ between direct and indirect reported speech because the point of reference changes from the original speaker’s point of view to the reporter’s point of view.
DIRECT SPEECH | → | INDIRECT SPEECH |
|---|---|---|
venir(to come) | → | aller(to go) |
revenir(to come back) | → | retourner(to go back) |
DIRECT SPEECH | → | INDIRECT SPEECH |
|---|---|---|
« Viens vers moi ! » “Come towards me!” | → | Elle m’a dit d’aller vers elle. She told us to go towards her. |
« Reviens à la maison avant minuit ! » “Come back home before midnight!” | → | Mes parents m’ont dit de retourner à la maison avant minuit. My parents told me to go back home before midnight. |
If you want to indirectly report something that was said in the past (using phrases like, “He said that…” or “She thought that…”), you’ll need to learn the correspondence of verb tenses that change between direct and indirect past reported speech. Luckily, it is similar in English!
Direct speech reported in the… | Indirect speech reported later on in the… |
|---|---|
Présent « Ce n’est pas loin. » “It is not far.” | Imparfait Il a dit que ce n’était pas loin. He said it was not far. |
Futur simple « On partira ensemble. » “We will go together.” | Conditionnel présent Ils ont dit qu’ils partiraient ensemble. They said they would go together. |
Direct speech reported in the… | Indirect speech reported later on in the… |
|---|---|
Passé composé « Nous avons mangé dehors. » “We ate outside.” | Plus-que-parfait Ils ont expliqué qu’ils avaient mangé dehors. They explained that they had eaten outside. |
Futur simple « Je vais travailler. » “I am going to work.” | Imparfait of the verb aller + infinitive Elle a ajouté qu’elle allait travailler. She added she was going to work. |
The good news is that all other tenses, like the imperfect or the present conditional, remain the same between direct and indirect reported speech.
Direct reported speech | Indirect reported speech |
|---|---|
« Il fallait que j’y aille. » “I had to go.” | Elle a dit qu’il fallait qu’elle y aille. She said she had to go. |
Verb correspondences aren’t the only changes you’ll want to learn with past indirect reported speech. Indeed, there are also some adverbial changes that will take place when you alter the tenses. See our list of French adverbs that change in indirect reported speech (p. 2)!
Now, let’s take a look at indirect speech used to report questions and interjections/commands.
When indirectly reporting a question, que can’t introduce the clause, as it has in our examples above. If the answer is yes or no, you’ll use si, which is the equivalent of “whether.”
Tu es content ? → Il m’a demandé si j’étais content.
Are you happy? → He asked me whether I was happy.
Just like in English, when indirectly reporting a questions with the 4 Ws in French qui, quand, où, pourquoi(who, when, where, why) ) and comment(how), you’ll need to use an interrogative pronoun instead of que or si to introduce the indirect speech.
Direct reported speech | → | Indirect reported speech |
|---|---|---|
Pourquoi tu ris ? Why are you laughing? | → | Elle me demande pourquoi je ris. She asks me why I’m laughing. |
→ | EIle m’a demandé pourquoi je riais. She asked me why I was laughing. |
Qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui turn into ce que and ce qui, respectively, in reported questions. But it is quite a common mistake among native French speakers to keep qu’est-ce que in the reported speech.
Direct reported speech | Indirect reported speech |
|---|---|
Qu’est-ce que tu veux faire ? What do you want to do? | ❌Il m’a demandé qu’est-ce que / quoi je voulais faire. ✅Il m’a demandé ce que je voulais faire. He asked me what I wanted to do. |
Direct reported speech | Indirect reported speech |
|---|---|
Qu’est-ce qui t’intéresse ? What are you interested in? | ❌Il m’a demandé qu’est-ce qui m’intéressait. ✅Il m’a demandé ce qui m’intéressait. He asked me what I was interested in. |
Let’s say you just want to indirectly report an interjectionNo definition set for interjectionLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like Merci(Thank you) or a short command like Sors !(Get out!) — what would you say?!
Let’s start with commands, because it will help you with interjections. The imperative mood, which expresses an order, can be indirectly reported like so:
Reporting Verb
dire(to say)
demander(to ask)
ordonner(to order)
obliger(to urge)
de
Infinitive of the command
Il m’a demandé d'arrêter.
He asked me to stop.
What about the negation?
The negation goes after de.
Direct reported command | → | Indirect reported command |
|---|---|---|
Ne reste pas ici ! Don’t stand here! | → | Il m’a demandé de ne pas rester là. He asked me not to stand there. |
Now, let’s talk about interjections. Just like in English, there are verbs derived from these single words which can be used to describe what was said.
Direct reported interjection | Indirect reported interjection |
|---|---|
Merci ! Thank you! | Il nous a remerciées. He thanked us. |
Chut ! Sh! | Il lui a dit de se taire. He asked him to keep it down. |
When reporting speech directly or indirectly in French, remember what you’ve learned in this post! Here’s a recap:
Direct reported speech works the same in French and English, except for with certain punctuation and the subject-verb order, i.e. “he says” = dit-il.
Faire is the equivalent to the English reporting phrase “to be like.”
For indirect reported speech, que(that) is not optional, unlike in English.
Some tenses will change between direct and indirect reported speech (present tense → imperfect, future → present conditional), but the other tenses don’t change.
For yes or no questions, use si(whether). In other questions, qu’est-ce que/qui(what) turns into ce que/qui.
Use a reporting verb followed by de and an infinitive to indirectly report a command or interjection.
Now that you’ve reviewed the key rules to reported speech, you’re ready to head to our French reported speech activities.
Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.
