Direct and Indirect Speech
No discurso direto, nós temos as palavras exatamente como são ditas pela pessoa que fala e geralmente indicadas entre aspas ou travessão. No discurso indireto, quando relatamos as palavras ditas por alguém, mantemos o mesmo significado, mas com uma forma diferente. Say e tell são os verbos usados nesse tipo de estrutura. Veja nas tabelas a seguir as principais mudanças a serem feitas para converter o discurso direto em indireto:
| Mudança nos tempos verbais | |
| Discurso direto | Discurso Indireto |
| Simple Present | Simple Past |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous |
| Simple Past | Past Perfect |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect |
| Simple Future | Simple Conditional |
| Simple Conditional | Conditional Perfect |
| May | Might |
| Can | Could |
| Past Continuous | Past Continuous |
| Past Perfect | Past Perfect |
| Could | Could |
| Might | Might |
| Should | Should |
| Ought | Ought |
Exemplos:
Ringo said, “I study hard to pass my exams”.
Ringo said he studied hard to pass his exams.
Anthony said “I am going downtown now”.
Anthony said he was going downtown then.
Emilia said “I didn’t buy that dog!”
Emilia said she hadn’t bought that dog.
I said “I have lived here for ages”.
I said I had lived there for ages.
The boys said to his friends “we’ll win the match!”
The boys told his friends that they would win the match.
I said to my girlfriend “love can tear us apart”.
I told my girlfriend that love could tear us apart.
Observações:
1. O verbo say é usado tanto no discurso direto quanto no indireto e pede a preposição to quando acompanha o objeto indireto. O verbo tell é usado apenas no discurso indireto, sem preposição.
2. A conjunção that é opcional.
| Outras mudanças | |
| Discurso Direto | Discurso Indireto |
| Here | There |
| Now | Then |
| Today | That day |
| Tomorrow | The next day (the following day) |
| Yesterday | The day before (the previous day) |
| Last week | The week before |
| Ago | Before |
| This/these | That/those |
Observações:
1. As perguntas indiretas têm estrutura afirmativa aparecendo com verbos como ask, know, wonder, tell, want to know:
The boss wants to know where the files are.
Could you tell me where I can take a taxi?
Mom’s asking if you’ve got a pencil.
Exercises:
I. Put the sentences below into the reported speech:
Diane says: I´m enjoying my new job here=
Diane says: My father isn´t very well =
Sarah says: we´re going to buy a new house now=
Sarah says: I have to go early =
Peter says: my sister has gone to Australia =
Ann says: I cannot find a job =
Steve says: I´ll phone you tomorrow=
Angela says: I don´t like my job =
Angela says: my son doesn´t like school =
I say: I feel fine today=