01 · Passing on what she said
Dijo que estaba cansado.
He said he was tired.
Que is the hinge — everything after it is what he actually said, just handed to you secondhand.
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Indirect Speech
Retell what anyone said — statements, questions, requests — smoothly in live conversation.
Report a statement with que and shift the tense back when your reporting verb is past: present becomes imperfect ("Tengo hambre" → Dijo que tenía hambre), future becomes conditional (Dijo que vendría al día siguiente), and the preterite or perfect becomes pluperfect (Dijo que había ido al cine). Yes/no questions take si — Me preguntó si quería ir al cine — while requests take que + imperfect subjunctive: Me pidió que cerrara la puerta. Time words shift with the perspective: hoy → ese día, mañana → al día siguiente.
Below: every shift with its phrases, how gossip actually gets retold across Latin America, the over-shifting trap — and a way to practise reporting real quotes out loud instead of rewriting them on paper.
The warm-up pack
Retelling what someone actually said — not rewriting a sentence on paper, saying it back to a person.
01 · Passing on what she said
Dijo que estaba cansado.
He said he was tired.
Que is the hinge — everything after it is what he actually said, just handed to you secondhand.
02 · The detail that came with it
Me contó que vivía en Barcelona.
She told me she lived in Barcelona.
Contó works exactly like dijo here — swap in whichever reporting verb fits how the news arrived.
03 · When "tengo" becomes "tenía"
Dijo que tenía hambre.
He said he was hungry.
The original was 'tengo hambre,' present tense. Once you're reporting it in the past, tengo automatically becomes tenía — that shift is the whole rule.
04 · Tomorrow becomes "the next day"
Dijo que vendría al día siguiente.
He said he would come the next day.
'Vendré mañana' becomes vendría — future flips to conditional the moment you're retelling it later.
05 · What's already happened, backed up a layer
Dijo que había comido.
He said he had eaten.
'He comido' — something already finished — goes one layer further back: había comido. It's the past of the past.
06 · Reporting a yes/no question
Me preguntó si quería ir al cine.
He asked me if I wanted to go to the cinema.
A yes/no question in reported speech always takes si — not que, and never a question mark.
07 · Reporting a "where"
Me preguntó dónde vivía.
She asked me where I lived.
Wh-questions keep their question word (dónde, cuándo, por qué) and just lose the question mark and the flipped word order.
08 · Turning a request into someone else's words
Me pidió que cerrara la puerta.
He asked me to close the door.
A request doesn't take que plus a normal verb — it needs the subjunctive, because someone is trying to make someone else do something.
09 · Passing along a suggestion
Sugirió que fuéramos al restaurante nuevo.
She suggested we go to the new restaurant.
Same shape as pidió — any suggestion or recommendation reported back needs que plus subjunctive too.
10 · Yesterday moves with the story
Dijo que el día anterior había llovido.
He said the day before it had rained.
Ayer only makes sense from today. Once you're retelling it later, it becomes el día anterior — the time word travels with the story.
11 · Hedging what you heard
Según ella, el examen había sido muy difícil.
According to her, the exam had been very difficult.
Según ella is a shortcut around a whole 'dijo que' clause — useful when you're citing someone without quoting them directly.
FLUENT
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Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/indirect-speechRegional 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
No sentence-rewrite exercises — in the Indirect Speech lessons you retell things to Carla and she talks back. She hands you a quote — "Estoy ocupado" — and you report it both ways out loud: Dice que está ocupado with a present reporting verb, Dijo que estaba ocupado with a past one. Then she pushes you into the fun stuff: two-layer chains (Me dijo que Ana le había dicho que…) and the classic gossip opener locals lean on — resulta que me dijo que…
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Indirect Speech is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
When the reporting verb is past: present → imperfect (Dijo que tenía hambre), future → conditional (Dijo que vendría), preterite and present perfect → pluperfect (Dijo que había comido).
Yes/no questions use si: Me preguntó si quería ir al cine. Wh-questions keep their question word: Me preguntó dónde vivía. In Mexico you'll also hear the colloquial que si: me preguntó que si quería ir.
With que + imperfect subjunctive: Me pidió que cerrara la puerta, Sugirió que fuéramos al restaurante nuevo, Recomendó que estudiáramos más.
No — if what was said is still true, keep the present: Dijo que Madrid es la capital de España. Over-shifting when the context is current is a common learner tell.
They shift with the timeline: hoy → ese día, mañana → al día siguiente, ayer → el día anterior, and aquí → allí: "Ayer llovió" → Dijo que el día anterior había llovido.