REPORTED STATEMENTS = Reported Speech

Il discorso indiretto (reported speech) si usa quando vogliamo dire a qualcuno una frase che ci è stata detta da qualcun altro. Usiamo i 'reporting verb', come 'say' e 'tell'. 
Se il reporting verb è al presente ('she says'), anche il tempo del discorso indiretto resterà al presente:
Es. Direct speech: I like ice cream.
Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

Senza dover effettuare alcun cambiamento di tempo, ma solo cambiando la 'persona' da 'I' a 'you, he, she, ecc', o gli aggettivi come 'my' in 'your, her, his, ecc' quando necessario. 
Spesso, possiamo anche scegliere se usare 'that' o meno.  Ma, se il reporting verb è al passato ('she said'), di solito dobbiamo cambiare anche i tempi  nel reported speech:

Es. Direct speech: I like ice cream. 
Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

Si segue la seguente conversione verbale:

Tense	Direct Speech	Reported Speech
present simple	I like ice cream	PAST SIMPLE She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present continuous	I am living in London	PAST CONTINUOUS She said (that) she was living in London.
past simple	I bought a car	(PAST SIMPLE O) PAST PERFECT She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she bought a car.
past continuous	I was walking along the street	PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS She said (that) she had been walking along the street.
present perfect	I haven't seen Julie	PAST PERFECT She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.
past perfect*	I had taken English lessons before	PAST PERFECT She said (that) she had taken English lessons before.
will	I'll see you later	WOULD She said (that) she would see me later.
would*	I would help, but..”	WOULD She said (that) she would help but...
can	I can speak perfect English	COULD She said (that) she could speak perfect English.
could*	I could swim when I was four	COULD She said (that) she could swim when she was four.
shall	I shall come later	WOULD She said (that) she would come later.
should*	I should call my mother	SHOULD She said (that) she should call her mother
might*	I might be late	MIGHT She said (that) she might be late
must	I must study at the weekend	MUST/HAD TO She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend

*verbi che non subiscono cambiamenti

Talvolta, non è nemmeno necessario cambiare il present tense nel past tense, se l’informazione nel direct speech è ancora vera (ciò vale solo per i fatti generali):

Es. Direct speech: The sky is blue. 
Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Reported Questions

Quando si vuole riportare una domanda, si usano i verbi del chiedere es. "ask". 
I cambiamenti dei  tempi seguono le stesse regole del normale reported speech. 
DOBBIAMO però cambiare la domanda trasformandola in una normale frase affermativa, ossia eliminando 'do' o 'does', ponendo il soggetto davanti al verbo e cambiando il tempo del verbo, ad es. dal present simple al past simple.

Es. Direct speech: Where do you live? 
Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.

Es. Direct speech: Where is Julie?  
Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

Direct Question	Reported Question
Where is the Post Office, please?	She asked me where the Post Office was.
What are you doing?	She asked me what I was doing.
Who was that fantastic man?	She asked me who that fantastic man had been.

Se dobbiamo riportare una domanda che preveda una risposta del tipo 'yes / no' , si deve usare ' if ' e poi seguire le regole enunciate per le reported questions:

Es. Direct speech: Do you like chocolate? 
Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

Direct Question	Reported Question
Do you love me?	He asked me if I loved him.
Have you ever been to Mexico?	She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.
Are you living here?	She asked me if I was living here.

Reported Request

Per riportare che qualcuno ci chiede cortesemente di fare qualcosa.

·         

Si usa il costrutto 'ask me + to + infinitive' per le frasi affermative ed 'ask me  + not + to + infinitive' per le negative:

·        Es. Direct speech: Close the window, please/ Could/Would you close the window please?
Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Direct speech: Please, don't be late.

·         Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Direct Request	Reported Request
Please, help me.	She asked me to help her.
Please, don't smoke.	She asked me not to smoke.
Could you bring my book tonight?	She asked me to bring her book that night.
Could you pass the milk, please?	She asked me to pass the milk.
Would you mind coming early tomorrow?	She asked me to come early the next day.

         Reported Orders

Per riportare un 'ordine' in inglese:

·         Direct speech: Sit down!

Lo riportiamo nel reported speech allo stesso modo in cui ci è stato richiesto, usando 'tell':

·         Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Direct Order	Reported Order
Go to bed!	He told the child to go to bed.
Don't worry!	He told her not to worry.
Be on time!	He told me to be on time.
Don't smoke!	He told us not to smoke.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech
Spesso occorre cambiare anche le espressioni di tempo.
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".

now	then / at that time
today	yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June
yesterday	the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December
last night	the night before, Thursday night
last week	the week before / the previous week
Tomorrow	today / the next day / the following day / Friday