Introduction: Reporting What Was Said

Reported speech (indirecte rede) involves conveying what someone else said without quoting them directly. At B1, you likely practiced basic reported statements. B2 focuses on handling more complex sentences, including accurate shifts in tense, pronouns, time/place indicators, and reporting questions and commands.

Mastering reported speech is essential for recounting conversations, summarizing information from others, and writing narrative or informative texts.

Basic Structure Review

Reported speech usually involves a reporting verb (e.g., zeggen, vragen, antwoorden, vertellen) followed by a subordinate clause, often introduced by dat (that) for statements.

• Direct Speech: Jan zegt: "Ik ben moe." (Jan says: "I am tired.")
• Reported Speech: Jan zegt dat hij moe is. (Jan says that he is tired.)

Key Changes in Reported Speech

1. Pronoun Shifts: Pronouns and possessives change perspective.

• Direct: Zij zegt: "Ik zie mijn vriend." (She says: "I see my friend.")
• Reported: Zij zegt dat zij haar vriend ziet. (She says that she sees her friend.)
• Direct: Hij vraagt aan mij: "Heb jij jouw boek?" (He asks me: "Do you have your book?")
• Reported: Hij vraagt aan mij of ik mijn boek heb. (He asks me if I have my book.)

1. Tense Shifts (Backshift): This is a major focus at B2. When the reporting verb is in the past tense (e.g., zei, vroeg), the tense in the reported clause often shifts back one step.

• Present Simple -> Past Simple:
• Direct: Ze zei: "Ik werk hard." (She said: "I work hard.")
• Reported: Ze zei dat ze hard werkte. (She said that she worked hard.)
• Present Perfect -> Past Perfect:
• Direct: Hij zei: "Ik heb het gezien." (He said: "I have seen it.")
• Reported: Hij zei dat hij het had gezien. (He said that he had seen it.)
• Past Simple -> Past Perfect:
• Direct: Ze zei: "Ik ging gisteren weg." (She said: "I left yesterday.")
• Reported: Ze zei dat ze de dag ervoor was weggegaan. (She said that she had left the day before.) Note time shift too.
• Past Perfect -> Past Perfect (No change):
• Direct: Hij zei: "Ik had het al gedaan." (He said: "I had already done it.")
• Reported: Hij zei dat hij het al had gedaan. (He said that he had already done it.)
• Future (zullen) -> Conditional (zouden):
• Direct: Ze zei: "Ik zal je helpen." (She said: "I will help you.")
• Reported: Ze zei dat ze me zou helpen. (She said that she would help me.)

Important: If the reporting verb is in the present tense (zegt, vraagt), there is no tense backshift.

• Direct: Ze zegt: "Ik werk hard."
• Reported: Ze zegt dat ze hard werkt.

1. Shifts in Time and Place Expressions: Adverbs and expressions of time and place often need adjustment based on the perspective shift.

| Direct Speech | Reported Speech (with past reporting verb) | | :------------------- | :------------------------------------------ | | nu (now) | toen, op dat moment (then, at that moment) | | vandaag (today) | die dag (that day) | | gisteren (yesterday) | de dag ervoor (the day before) | | morgen (tomorrow) | de dag erna, de volgende dag (the day after, the next day) | | hier (here) | daar (there) | | dit/deze (this/these) | dat/die (that/those) | | eergisteren (day before yesterday) | twee dagen ervoor (two days before) | | overmorgen (day after tomorrow) | twee dagen later (two days later) |

• Direct: Hij zei: "Ik kom morgen." (He said: "I am coming tomorrow.")
• Reported: Hij zei dat hij de volgende dag zou komen. (He said that he would come the next day.)

Reporting Questions

1. Yes/No Questions: Use the conjunction of (if/whether). Word order becomes subordinate (verb at the end). No question mark.

• Direct: Ze vroeg: "Heb je tijd?" (She asked: "Do you have time?")
• Reported: Ze vroeg of ik tijd had. (She asked if I had time.)

1. Wh- Questions (wie, wat, waar, wanneer, waarom, hoe): Use the same question word as the conjunction. Word order becomes subordinate. No question mark.

• Direct: Hij vroeg: "Waar woon je?" (He asked: "Where do you live?")
• Reported: Hij vroeg waar ik woonde. (He asked where I lived.)
• Direct: Ze vroeg: "Wie heeft dat gedaan?" (She asked: "Who did that?")
• Reported: Ze vroeg wie dat had gedaan. (She asked who had done that.)

Reporting Commands and Requests

Use a reporting verb like vragen (to ask), zeggen (to say/tell), bevelen (to order) followed by om ... te + infinitive.

• Direct: De leraar zei: "Maak je huiswerk!" (The teacher said: "Do your homework!")
• Reported: De leraar zei om ons huiswerk te maken. (The teacher told us to do our homework.)
• Direct: Ze vroeg: "Kun je me alsjeblieft helpen?" (She asked: "Can you please help me?")
• Reported: Ze vroeg me om haar te helpen. (She asked me to help her.)

Accurate reported speech requires careful attention to shifts in pronouns, tense (especially backshift with past reporting verbs), and time/place expressions. Remember to use of for reported yes/no questions, the question word for wh- questions, and om ... te + infinitive for commands/requests. Practice transforming direct speech into reported speech in various contexts to master this complex but vital skill.