El Estilo indirecto o Reported speech es una estructura que se emplea cuando queremos decir o hacer mención sobre algo que alguien ha dicho previamente.

Para hacer mención sobre lo que alguien ha dicho usamos verbos como explain, promise, say, tell, suggest... Aunque los más utilizados son say y tell.

No es necesario cambiar el tiempo del verbo si el verbo de la oración principal está en presente. En el ejemplo anterior podríamos decir: She said that she always drink coffee.

Para introducir lo que ha dicho, usamos that aunque muchas veces se puede omitir esta palabra.

Al convertir una oración de "Direct Speech" a "Reported Speech" tenemos en cuenta que el verbo principal retrocede un tiempo verbal.

Tabla de cambios que sufre el verbo:

Direct speech		Reported speech
present simple I am happy I sleep		past simple He said he was happy He said he slept
present continuos I am feeling happy I am sleeping		past continuos He said he was feeling happy He said he was sleeping
past simple I was happy I slept		past perfect He said he had been happy He said he had slept
present perfect I have been happy I have slept		past perfect He said he had been happy He said he had slept
present perfect continuos I have been feeling happy I have been sleeping		past perfect continuos He said he had been feeling happy He said he had been sleeping
future I will be happy I will sleep		simple conditional He said he would be happy He said he would sleep
future perfect I will have been happy I will have sleep		simple conditional perfect He said he would have been happy He said he would have slept

Verbos modales

Direct speech		Reported speech
CAN I can sleep		COULD He said he could sleep
MAY I may sleep		MIGHT He said he might sleep
WILL I will sleep		WOULD He said he would sleep
MUST I must sleep		HAD TO He said he had to sleep

Cambios que pueden sufrir algunas partículas de lugar y tiempo:

now		at that moment, then
tonight		that night
today		that day
last night		the night before
this morning		that morning
this week		that week
next week		the following week
next year		the year after
here		there

Reported Speech: questions

En las oraciones interrogativas usamos el mismo orden gramatical: el sujeto va después del verbo pero no es necesario usar el auxiliar "do" o "did".