01 · Right now, keep the tense
Dice que viene mañana.
He says he's coming tomorrow.
When the reporting verb is present — dice, not dijo — nothing shifts. The tense inside que just carries over as-is.
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Daily Reporter
Retell statements, questions and requests exactly as they landed — smoothly, out loud.
When the reporting verb is in the past, the tenses backshift: present → imperfect («Estoy cansada» → dijo que estaba cansada) and future → conditional (me prometió que me llamaría); the preterite stays put. Reported yes/no questions use si — me preguntó si tenía hambre — and wh-questions keep their question word but drop the inversion and the question marks: me preguntó dónde vivía. Reported commands take que + imperfect subjunctive: me dijo que viniera, nos pidió que esperáramos.
Below: the reporting phrases you'll actually say, the backshift slips that give learners away, and a way to practise relaying real quotes out loud — no drills, no fill-in-the-blanks.
The warm-up pack
What she said, and what you say back — the small shifts that happen the moment you retell it.
01 · Right now, keep the tense
Dice que viene mañana.
He says he's coming tomorrow.
When the reporting verb is present — dice, not dijo — nothing shifts. The tense inside que just carries over as-is.
02 · Backshift: present becomes past
Me dijo que estaba cansada.
She told me she was tired.
Once the reporting verb goes past — dijo — the tense inside shifts back one step too: estoy becomes estaba. This is the core move of the whole badge.
03 · Future becomes conditional
Me avisó que llegaría tarde.
He told me he'd arrive late.
Same backshift, different starting tense — a future llegaré becomes a conditional llegaría once you're reporting it after the fact.
04 · The word that isn't que
Me preguntó si tenía hambre.
She asked me if I was hungry.
Reporting a yes/no question uses si, not que — a small swap that trips up almost everyone the first time.
05 · Keep the question word, drop the mark
Me preguntó dónde vivía.
He asked me where I lived.
Dónde stays, but there's no ¿ ? and no inverted order — it just settles into a normal statement shape.
06 · Ask why, then report it
Le pregunté por qué estaba triste.
I asked him why he was sad.
Same pattern as dónde — the question word survives the retelling, everything else flattens into a plain sentence.
07 · A promise, reported
Me prometió que me llamaría.
He promised he would call me.
Prometer works exactly like decir here — past reporting verb, so the promise backshifts into the conditional, llamaría.
08 · Turning a command into a report
Me dijo que viniera pronto.
He told me to come soon.
A command doesn't backshift into a tense — it goes into the imperfect subjunctive, viniera. It sounds unfamiliar at first; it's worth recognizing even before you produce it.
09 · A request, softened
Nos pidió que esperáramos.
She asked us to wait.
Same shape as viniera — pedir + que + imperfect subjunctive is how a spoken request survives being retold.
10 · The quote versus the retelling
«Llámame mañana», me dijo — y por eso te digo que me llames mañana.
"Call me tomorrow," she told me — and that's why I'm telling you to call me tomorrow.
Seeing the direct quote and the reported version side by side is the fastest way to feel the shift, rather than just memorize the rule.
11 · One question, inside a bigger story
Le pregunté dónde vivía, pero no quiso contestarme.
I asked him where he lived, but he wouldn't answer me.
This is what relaying a conversation actually sounds like — one reported question, folded into a bigger story you're telling a friend.
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First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/daily-reporterRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
Reported speech is really just gossip and news, and that's how Carla treats it — no worksheets, all talk. She hands you a direct quote — «Estoy cansada», dijo — and you convert it live: dijo que estaba cansada. Then she makes you shift the whole frame, not just the verb: hoy becomes ese día, mañana becomes al día siguiente, aquí becomes allí — and finally she has you retell the same story swapping the reporting verb (contó, explicó, prometió, aseguró) to feel how each one colours it.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Daily Reporter is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
After a past reporting verb, tenses step back: present → imperfect, future → conditional. So me dijo que está cansada is the classic error — it's me dijo que estaba cansada, and dijo que vendrá becomes dijo que vendría.
With si alone: me preguntó si tenía hambre — not que si. (In casual Mexican speech you will hear it anyway: me preguntó que si neta venías — recognize it, but produce plain si.)
Keep the question word, use normal declarative order, drop the question marks: me preguntó dónde vivía, me preguntó qué quería hacer, le pregunté por qué estaba triste.
Que + imperfect subjunctive: «ven aquí» becomes me dijo que viniera pronto; also nos pidió que esperáramos, me dijo que no me preocupara.
Yes: hoy → ese día, mañana → al día siguiente, aquí → allí. So dijo: «Estoy aquí hoy» becomes dijo que estaba allí ese día.