When learning French, you quickly reach a point where understanding and forming simple sentences is no longer enough. You also need to know how to report what someone has said, asked, or thought. In French, this is done through reported speech, known as discours indirect.

Reported speech allows you to reformulate a sentence without repeating it exactly as it was originally said. Instead of quoting someone’s exact words, you integrate them into a new sentence, adapting them to the context and the speaker’s point of view.

For example:

« Est-ce que tu viens ? » → Il demande si tu viens.

Many learners find this structure challenging because it requires several transformations at once. However, with a clear and gradual approach, it can be mastered without difficulty.

In this article, we’ll explore how reported speech works in French, what changes it involves, and how to use it correctly in the most common situations.

1. What is reported speech?

Reported speech (discours indirect) is a structure that allows you to report someone’s words or thoughts without using quotation marks and without keeping the exact original wording.

To do this, you typically use reporting verbs such as dire, demander, penser, vouloir savoir, ignorer, usually followed by que or si.

For example: Il dit que demain il ira au cinéma.

In this sentence, we are not quoting the person directly, but reformulating what he/she said. This makes the sentence smoother and more natural, especially in written French or in formal contexts.

When moving from direct to reported speech, certain changes are required. These transformations affect pronouns, sentence structure, verb tenses, and some expressions of time and place.

2. Changing pronouns

One of the first aspects to consider is personal pronouns and possessive adjectives, which need to be adapted to the new point of view.

When reporting a sentence, the reference subject changes, and as a result, the pronouns change as well.

Demain j’irai au cinéma. → Il dit que demain il ira au cinéma.

In this case, je becomes il, because the speaker is no longer speaking directly.

Jean me dit : « Ton dîner est très bon. » → Jean pense que mon dîner est très bon.

Here, ton becomes mon, because the point of view has shifted.

The same type of transformation also occurs in questions:

Pierre : « Où se trouve votre maison ? » → Pierre nous demande où se trouve notre maison.

These adjustments are essential to keep the sentence coherent.

3. Transforming questions

When a question is turned into reported speech, the transformation does not only affect a few words—it involves the entire structure of the sentence. The question is no longer independent, but becomes a subordinate clause depending on a reporting verb such as demander, vouloir savoir, or se demander.

This change has important consequences: the sentence loses its direct interrogative form and takes on a statement structure, while still keeping the meaning of a question.

One of the most noticeable changes is the disappearance of structures typical of direct questions. The expression est-ce que is no longer used, and subject-verb inversion disappears. The sentence therefore follows the standard subject–verb–object order, as in a declarative sentence.

To better understand these transformations, it is useful to distinguish between different types of questions.

In the case of yes/no questions, that is, questions that expect a yes or no answer, the conjunction si is used. This applies both to questions introduced by est-ce que and to those with inversion.

« Est-ce que tu viens ? » → Il demande si tu viens.

In the case of open questions, the same interrogative words are kept, but the sentence structure changes. Words such as quand, pourquoi, comment, où are used, followed by a clause with normal word order.

« Quand est-ce que tu viens ? » → Il demande quand tu viens.

« Quand venez-vous ? » → Il demande quand vous venez.

Another important case concerns questions introduced by qui. Here, the interrogative word remains unchanged, but the direct structure is still removed.

« Qui est-ce qui viendra ce soir ? » → Il demande qui viendra ce soir.

« Qui est-ce que tu invites ? » → Il demande qui tu invites.

Finally, it is essential to pay attention to structures with qu’est-ce qui and qu’est-ce que, which in reported speech become ce qui and ce que respectively.

« Qu’est-ce qui se passe ? » → Il demande ce qui se passe.

« Qu’est-ce que tu penses de ce roman ? » → Il demande ce que tu penses de ce roman.

As you can see, all these transformations have a common goal: to integrate the question into a larger sentence, making it grammatically correct in reported speech.

For this reason, it is important not to translate word for word, but to understand how the structure works. Once these rules are internalized, moving from direct to reported speech becomes much more natural and automatic.

4. Changing verb tenses

A key aspect of reported speech (discours indirect) is the transformation of verb tenses. This step is essential because it ensures a correct time relationship between when something was said and when it is being reported.

To understand when and how this transformation takes place, it is important to start with a basic distinction.

If the reporting verb is in the present, as in il dit que, the verb tenses in the reported clause generally do not change. In this case, the moment of speaking and the moment of reporting coincide, so no adjustment is needed.

Transformations occur when the reporting verb is in the past, for example in structures such as il a dit que, elle a affirmé que, ils ont raconté que.

In this case, the speech is reported from a later point of view, and the verb tenses must be adapted accordingly.

This phenomenon is known as the sequence of tenses.

The main transformations are the following:

• présent → imparfait, 
• passé composé → plus-que-parfait, 
• futur → conditionnel présent.

Let’s look at how they work in detail.

When the verb in the original sentence is in the present, it becomes imparfait in reported speech, because the action is seen as simultaneous with a moment in the past.

« Je prends le train de 18 heures. » → Il a dit qu’il prenait le train de 18 heures.

If the verb is in the passé composé, expressing a completed action in the past, it becomes plus-que-parfait in reported speech, indicating that the action took place before the moment of reporting.

« J’ai déjà acheté le billet. » → Il a dit qu’il avait déjà acheté le billet.

Finally, when the original sentence contains a future tense, it becomes conditionnel présent, because the action is viewed as occurring after a point in the past.

« J’arriverai à 21 heures. » → Il a dit qu’il arriverait à 21 heures.

These transformations ensure a logical and consistent timeline between events. In other words, we are not just changing verb tenses—we are reorganizing the sentence based on a new temporal reference point.

For this reason, it is important not to memorize these changes mechanically, but to understand the principle behind them: when reporting speech in the past, verb tenses must be adjusted to reflect the correct sequence of events.

5. Changing time and place expressions

In addition to pronouns and verb tenses, certain expressions of time and place also change when we move to reported speech.

This happens because the reference point of the sentence shifts: it is no longer the moment when the words were originally spoken, but the moment when they are being reported.

To maintain coherence, these expressions must therefore be adapted to the new temporal and spatial context.

The most common transformations are summarized in the following table:

Discours direct	Discours indirect
ici, là	à cet endroit-là
aujourd’hui	ce jour-là
maintenant	alors
hier	la veille
demain	le lendemain
l’année dernière	l’année précédente
il y a (3 semaines)	(3 semaines) plus tôt
dans (2 jours)	(2 jours) plus tard

These transformations make it possible to place events correctly in relation to the new moment of reporting.

Let’s now see how they work within a sentence.

« Est-ce que tu es allé à la campagne hier ? » → Il a demandé si j’étais allé à la campagne la veille.

In this case, hier becomes la veille, because the time reference has changed.

« Est-ce que tu iras à la campagne demain ? » → Il a demandé si j’irais à la campagne le lendemain.

Here, demain becomes le lendemain, indicating a moment after a point in the past.

Understanding and correctly applying these transformations is essential to make reported speech clear, accurate, and natural.

6. Key steps to remember

Reported speech (discours indirect) is a very useful structure because it allows you to report words, questions, and thoughts in a smoother and more integrated way within a sentence. However, to use it correctly, it is necessary to follow certain rules and pay attention to several aspects.

When moving from direct to reported speech, it is important to keep the following steps in mind:

• adapt personal and possessive pronouns to the new point of view, depending on who is speaking and who is reporting
• transform the sentence structure, especially in questions, by removing est-ce que and inversion and using forms such as si, quand, pourquoi, comment, où, ce que, ce qui
• apply the sequence of tenses when the reporting verb is in the past, for example changing the present to the imparfait or the future to the conditional
• modify time and place expressions to fit the new context, using forms such as la veille, le lendemain, ce jour-là, alors
• always check the overall coherence of the sentence, making sure that the temporal and logical perspective is clear

Understanding and applying these steps correctly is essential to use reported speech accurately and naturally, and to improve your ability to express yourself in French, both in writing and in speaking.

8. Want to go further?

If you would like to review these rules with a complete overview, you can consult the grammar sheet dedicated to reported speech (discours indirect).

The sheet allows you to quickly revise the main transformations and to always have a clear reference point while studying.

9. Keep improving your French

Understanding how reported speech works is an important step in improving your French, especially in both written and spoken production.

However, to use it confidently, it is essential to practice and encounter it in real contexts.

The course Et voilà! is designed precisely for this: to help you strengthen your grammatical foundations and use them naturally in everyday communication.

Through clear explanations, concrete examples, and progressive exercises, you will be able to build confidence and improve your ability to express yourself in French in a fluent and effective way.

And if you’re not sure where to start, you can take the placement test: in just a few minutes, you will discover the best starting point for your learning journey.