Reported speech in Spanish: dijo que and the backshift
To report what someone said, join it on with *que* and move the tense back one step: *dijo que tenía que trabajar*. Pronouns, *este/ese* and time words move with it — *hoy* becomes *ese día*, *mañana* becomes *al día siguiente*. Questions use *si* or the question word: *me preguntó si venía*, *me preguntó dónde vivía*.
Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.
Direct and indirect
Direct quotes the words. A speech verb, a colon, quotation marks:
- Víctor me dijo: “Tengo que trabajar mañana”.
Indirect reports the content in your own words, joined on with que:
- Víctor me dijo que tenía que trabajar al día siguiente.
Three things changed in that one sentence, and they change together every time: the tense moved back, the time word moved with it, and had there been a tu or a mi in it, the pronoun would have moved too. Learners who get this wrong almost always change one of the three and leave the others.
The tense shift
When the reporting verb is in the past — dijo, me contó, preguntó — the reported verb steps back one:
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| present — “Bebo agua” | imperfect — dijo que bebía agua |
| present progressive — “Estoy estudiando” | past progressive — dijo que estaba estudiando |
| present perfect — “He escuchado tu canción” | pluperfect — dijo que había escuchado mi canción |
| preterite — “Toqué la guitarra” | pluperfect — me contó que había tocado la guitarra |
| imperfect — “Comía muchos dulces” | imperfect, unchanged — dijo que comía muchos dulces |
| pluperfect — “Habíamos comido” | pluperfect, unchanged — dijeron que habían comido |
| future — “Visitaré a mi abuela” | conditional — dijo que visitaría a su abuela |
| conditional — “Ayudaría si pudiera” | conditional, unchanged — dijo que ayudaría si pudiera |
| present subjunctive — “Necesito que vaya” | imperfect subjunctive — dijo que necesitaba que fuera |
| imperative — “Ve a tu habitación” | imperfect subjunctive — me dijo que fuera a mi habitación |
Two of those rows carry most of the errors.
The imperative row. An order does not stay an order. “Descansa mucho” becomes el doctor me dijo que descansara mucho — imperfect subjunctive, not que descanso and not que descansaría.
The future row. “Te llamo mañana” becomes dijo que me llamaría al día siguiente in careful Spanish. In speech you will hear the imperfect doing the same job — dijo que me llamaba al día siguiente — and it is completely normal. See the conditional.
Notice also that four rows do not move at all. The imperfect, the pluperfect and the conditional have nowhere further back to go, which is convenient: once you are already in the past, reporting costs you nothing.
Pronouns and possessives move with the speaker
The person reporting is not the person who spoke, so everything anchored to “me” has to be re-anchored.
- Alicia dijo: “Me encantan las fresas”. → Alicia dijo que le encantaban las fresas.
- Luis me contó: “Yo siempre me baño con agua caliente”. → Luis me contó que siempre se bañaba con agua caliente.
- Marta dijo: “Me gusta tu sofá”. → Marta dijo que le gustaba mi sofá. — tu becomes mi, because she was talking to me.
That last one is the standard exam trap and the standard real-life mistake. Reflexive verbs and gustar-type verbs both need the extra step: see reflexive verbs and gustar.
Time and place words
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| hoy | ese día / aquel día |
| ahora | entonces, en ese momento |
| mañana | al día siguiente |
| ayer | el día anterior |
| la semana que viene | la semana siguiente |
| acá / aquí | allí / allá |
| este, esta, estos | ese, esa, esos |
- “Hoy empiezan las lluvias.” → Dijeron que ese día empezaban las lluvias.
- “No puedo comer en este restaurante.” → Dijo que no podía comer en ese restaurante.
One honest qualification: hace tres años usually stays as it is when you are reporting on the same day and the reference point is still now — me contó que había tocado la guitarra hace tres años. Strictly it should be tres años antes, and in writing that is what you want, but nobody is going to correct you in a kitchen in Lima.
Reporting questions
Questions lose the question marks, lose the inversion, and pick up a joining word.
Yes/no questions take si:
- Mi mamá me preguntó: “¿Puedes hacer la cena?” → Mi mamá me preguntó si podía hacer la cena.
- “¿Ya hiciste la tarea?” → Le pregunté si ya había hecho la tarea.
Question-word questions keep the question word, accent and all:
- “¿Dónde vives?” → Me preguntó dónde vivía.
- “¿Qué quieres?” → Me preguntó qué quería.
- “¿Cuándo llega tu hermana?” → Me preguntó cuándo llegaba mi hermana.
The accent stays because the word is still asking something, even inside a statement — the same logic as in question words. And vives becomes vivía, never ¿vives? with the word order flipped back.
You will also hear que before si in speech — me preguntó que si tenía hambre. It is very common and perfectly Peruvian in conversation; write it without the que.
When Peruvians leave the present alone
The backshift is a rule about agreement of tenses, not a rule about truth. If what was said is still true when you report it, the present very often stays:
- Me dijo que vive en Arequipa. — and he still does
- Jhoslyn dijo que la clase es a las seis. — the class has not happened yet
- El doctor dijo que tengo que tomar esto tres veces al día. — still my instructions
All three are also correct with the imperfect (vivía, era, tenía), and in writing the imperfect is the safer choice. But in speech the unshifted version is extremely common in Peru, and it carries a small extra meaning: this still holds. Shifting to me dijo que vivía en Arequipa quietly suggests he may have moved.
If the reporting verb is in the present, nothing shifts at all:
- Dice que viene a las ocho.
- Me cuenta que está buscando trabajo.
Dice que, meaning “apparently”
One local habit worth recognising. Dice que with no stated subject works as a hearsay marker — someone said so, I am not vouching for it:
- Dice que va a llover toda la semana.
- Dice que el puente está cerrado.
It is not “he says”. It is closer to English “apparently” or “they reckon”, and it is how a great deal of information travels. More markers like this in discourse markers.
Verbs other than decir
Decir does most of the work, but the alternatives carry information and are worth having:
- contar — to tell, as a story. Me contó que se había mudado.
- comentar — to mention. Comentó que estaba cansada.
- avisar — to let someone know. Me avisó que llegaría tarde.
- responder / contestar — to answer. Respondió que no podía.
- preguntar — to ask. Always with si or a question word.
- pedir — to ask for, and it takes the subjunctive: me pidió que la ayudara.
Preguntar and pedir are not interchangeable. Me preguntó is a question; me pidió is a request, and it takes que + subjunctive.
Try it
Put these into indirect speech, reporting them today:
- Ana me dijo: “Estoy aprendiendo español para viajar”.
- Luisa preguntó: “¿Quieres un gato negro?”
- El ingeniero me dijo: “Trabaja con esta computadora”.
- Mi hermana dijo: “Mañana visitaré a mi abuela”.
- David me contó: “Compré este sofá hace dos años”.
→ 1 Ana me dijo que estaba aprendiendo español para viajar. · 2 Luisa me preguntó si quería un gato negro. · 3 El ingeniero me dijo que trabajara con esa computadora. · 4 Mi hermana dijo que al día siguiente visitaría a su abuela. · 5 David me contó que había comprado ese sofá hacía dos años.
Next
The same backshift logic turns up again whenever a past main verb pulls a whole clause back with it.
Topics The pastPeruvian SpanishJoining ideas
Dijo que…
Eight sentences on reporting what someone else said — the tense shift, the pronouns, the time words, and the question forms.
-
1*Ana me dijo: “Estoy aprendiendo español”.* Reported:
Answer
Ana me dijo que estaba aprendiendo español. — The present progressive steps back to the past progressive when the reporting verb is in the past. *Estuve* is a preterite and reports a finished stretch, which is not what she said.
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2*El doctor me dijo: “Descansa mucho”.* Reported:
Answer
El doctor me dijo que descansara mucho. — An order becomes *que* plus the imperfect subjunctive. This is the row learners miss most often — the conditional turns the instruction into a prediction.
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3*Marta dijo: “Me gusta mucho tu sofá”.* Which report is right?
Answer
Marta dijo que le gustaba mucho mi sofá. — She was talking to me, so *tu* becomes *mi* — and *gustar* keeps its third-person shape while the indirect pronoun moves from *me* to *le*.
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4*Luisa preguntó: “¿Quieres un gato negro?”* Reported:
Answer
Luisa preguntó si quería un gato negro. — Yes/no questions are joined with *si*. Using *dijo que* turns her question into a statement about what she herself wanted.
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5*“¿Dónde vives?”* becomes *me preguntó ___ vivía.*
Answer
dónde — A question word survives into the report, accent included, because it is still asking something. Only yes/no questions need *si*.
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6*Mi hermana dijo: “Mañana visitaré a mi abuela”.* Reported the following week:
Answer
Mi hermana dijo que al día siguiente visitaría a su abuela. — Three things move together: the future becomes the conditional, *mañana* becomes *al día siguiente*, and *mi abuela* becomes *su abuela* because she is the one with the grandmother.
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7A friend says *me dijo que vive en Arequipa*, with no backshift. In Peru this usually signals:
Answer
that he still lives there — When what was said is still true, the present very often stays. Shifting to *vivía* quietly suggests he may have moved since.
-
8*Dice que va a llover toda la semana*, said with no subject named, works as:
Answer
apparently, or they reckon — information the speaker will not vouch for — *Dice que* on its own is a hearsay marker rather than a report of one named speaker. A great deal of local information travels this way.