33 Reporting
33.1 Direct and indirect speech
An important function in language is to report what other people have said. This may
be done by reproducing the exact words expressed by the speaker or, more often, by
reporting his or her words in an indirect way. Reproducing the same words said by a
speaker presents no problem, as all we need is a reporting verb like decir, ‘to say’, ‘to
tell’, plus the words we want to report, as in:
‘No quiero volver a verte aqui’, me dijo ella.
‘I don’t want to see you here again’, she said to me.
This kind of reporting is not often used in the spoken language, but it is very frequent
in written narrative, especially in fiction.
33.2 Indirect speech
In indirect speech we need a reporting phrase like dice que... , ‘he/she says (that).. .’,
dijo que... , ‘he/she said (that).. .’, which normally comes before the words being
reported. Often, in this type of reporting, there will be changes in the original
utterance, which may affect verb forms as well as other parts of speech:
(a) The time lapse between the direct statement, question, request, etc., and the
reporting may call for changes in verb forms. Compare for instance:
Nos iremos a finales de mes.
We’ll leave at the end of the month.
Dicen que se irán a finales de mes.
They say they will leave at the end of the month.
Dijeron que se irían a finales de mes.
They said they would leave at the end of the month.
33.3 (p. 198)
(b) Possessive adjectives and pronouns may require adjustment (e.g. su, ‘his/her’,
instead of mi, ‘my’; suyo, ‘his/hers’, instead of mío, ‘mine’).
Mi casa está cerca.
My house is near.
Dice que su casa está cerca.
He/she says his/her house is near.
