Direct and Indirect Speech | Difference, Examples, Explanation

Direct and Indirect Speech: Direct and Indirect Speech Test is a part of English grammar. The English Language has two means to express the words said by a person. Rules of direct and indirect speech are discussed below. These two ways are as follows:

Direct Speech
Indirect Speech

Let us understand first by example.

Direct Speech: He says, “I am playing football”.
Indirect Speech: He says that he is playing football.

In the first statement, the reporter conveys the statement given by an individual person, using his own words to another person. But in the second statement, the reporter wants to convey the message in his/her own words.to another person. Thus both the speeches direct and indirect are two different ways of expressing statements whose meaning is the same in both the cases.

Direct and Indirect Speech Definition

Direct speech is a statement given by the reporter as stated by the person. He/she uses exact words or the actual words mentioned by the person. For example:

I want to play
I am in school
I am studying
I want to go to the cinema hall.

Indirect speech is the reported speech. This is also known as an indirect narration or indirect discourse. In English grammar, when a person reports any other person’s statement in his/her own words, then that statement is called indirect speech. For example:

He wants to play
He is in school
He is studying
He wants to go to the cinema hall

Direct and Indirect Speech Important Terms

To convert direct speech into indirect speech you should be knowing the important terms related to it. There are the following terms given here to understand direct and indirect speech exercises with answers PDF:

Reporting Speech
Reported Speech
Reporting Verb
Reported Verb

Now let us understand these terms with the help of an example.

Direct Speech: She says, “I am feeling cold”.

Indirect Speech: She says that She is feeling cold.

Reporting Speech: The first part of the direct speech is reporting speech.
Reported Speech: The second part of the sentence, which is enclosed in inverted commas or quotation marks, is reported speech.
Reporting Verb: The verb of the reporting speech is known as the reporting verb.
Reported Verb: The verb of the reported speech is known as the reported verb.

Difference Between Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
These are the actual words spoken	These are the words expressed by the reporter in his/her own words
The purpose here is to state the exact words, expressed in quotations	It reports the statement which was started by someone in the past
It is stated with reporting verb, signal phrase or quotative frame	Its uses reporting verbs such as “say”,” tell”, “said”, “talk” and “speak”
The tense of the verb is the same in the statement	The tense of the verb changes in indirect speech

Direct and Indirect Speech Rules And Examples

Changes in Person of Pronouns

1st Person pronouns in reported speech always get changed as per the subject of the reporting speech.
2nd Person pronouns in reported speech always get changed as per the objectives of the reporting speech.
3rd Person pronouns in reported speech do not get changed.

Changes in Verbs

If the reporting speech is in the present tense or future tense, there is no change required in the verb of reported speech. This verb could be in the present, past, or future tense.

Direct and Indirect Speech Examples

She says, “I am sick.”	She says that she is sick.
He says, “He played guitar.”	He says that he played guitar
You say, “I shall go to Paris.”	You say that you will go to Paris.

Other Rules

If the reporting verb is in the past tense, then reported verb will be changed as per the following condition

Tense	Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present indefinite tense is changed into past indefinite tense.	He said he does exercise every day	He said that he took exercise every day
Present continuous is changed into the past continuous tense.	He said,” he is taking exercise every day”	He said he is taking exercise every day
Present perfect is changed into the past perfect tense.	He said,” he has taken exercise”	He said that he had taken exercise
Present perfect continuous tense is changed into past perfect continuous tense.	He said,” he has been taking exercise since evening”	He said that he had been taking exercise since the evening
Past indefinite is changed into past perfect tense.	He said,” he took exercise”	He said that he had taken exercise.
Past continuous tense is changed into past perfect continuous tense.	He said,” he was taking shower”	He said that he had been taking a shower
No changes are required to be made into past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses.	He said, “he had taken shower”	He said that he had taken a shower
In Future Tense, the tense is not changed, except shall and will are changed into would.	He said, “he will take exercise”	He said that he would take exercise

Change in Tenses

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple	Past Simple
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Past Simple	Past Perfect
Will	Would
Can	Could
Have To	Had to

FAQ’s on Direct and Indirect Speech

Question 1.
What is direct speech with examples?

Answer:
Direct speech is a statement given by the reporter as stated by the person. He/she uses exact words or the actual words mentioned by the person.

For Example, I want to play

Question 2.
What is indirect speech with examples?

Answer:
Indirect speech is the reported speech. This is also known as an indirect narration or indirect discourse. In English grammar, when a person reports any other person’s statement in his/her own words, then that statement is called indirect speech.

For Example, He wants to play

Question 3.
What are the rules of Indirect speech?

Answer:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple	Past Simple
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Past Simple	Past Perfect

Question 4.
What is the difference between direct and indirect speech?