Discurso indirecto / Reported speech

El discurso indirecto o reported speech en inglés es el acto de citar lo que otra persona ha dicho. Hay dos formas principales de citar lo que ha dicho otra persona:

Hay dos maneras diferentes de citar lo que otros hablantes dicen:

1. Discurso directo que es el acto de copiar exactamente lo que el emisor o el hablante ha dicho, y, si el discurso fuera de manera escrita, tendrías que utilizar comillas.
2. Discurso indirecto, para citar lo que ha dicho otra persona, pero de forma indirecta. Al usar el discurso indirecto, debes cambiar ciertos elementos gramaticales.

¿Qué ocurre cuando uso el discurso indirecto?

Al usar el discurso indirecto o reported speech cambias varios elementos de la oración para que funcione gramaticalmente.

Tales como: el orden de las palabras y pronombres y, más importante, los tiempos verbales que sean regidos por reglas. Abajo, vamos a elaborar su uso.

Ejemplo del discurso directo y el discurso indirecto/reported speech

• Discurso directo: »I like going to the park».  Reportero: She said »I like going to the park».
• Discurso indirecto/reported speech: »I like going to the park». Reportero: »She said, (that) she liked going to the park».

En el primer ejemplo que usa ‘discurso directo’, la frase va así ‘I like going to the park’.  Esto fue reportado de manera directa, sin cambios, de ahí el término ‘discurso directo’

En el segundo ejemplo, ‘discurso indirecto’, ‘I like going to the park’. Esto fue reportado de manera indirecta, ‘She said she liked going to the park’.

Este reporte añade cambios, por ejemplo: los pronombres. El reportero del discurso ahora está hablando en el momento presente, así que hace falta un cambio de verbo.

Gráfico de las reglas del discurso indirecto de todas las formas verbales

Verbo	Discurso directo	Discurso indirecto/reported speech
presente simple	I like to play sports.	pasado simple She said (that) she liked to play sports.
presente continuo	I am doing my exam.	pasado continuo He said (that) he was doing his exam.
pasado simple	I cleaned my room.	pasado perfecto simple She said (that) she had cleaned his room.
pasado continuo	I was playing my video game.	pasado perfecto continuo He said (that) he had been playing his video game.
presente perfecto	I haven’t been to the park.	pasado perfecto She said (that) she hadn’t been to the park.
pasado perfecto	I had seen that guy before Wednesday.	pasado perfecto She said (that) she hadn’t seen that guy before Wednesday.
presente perfecto continuo	I have been living in Spain for two years.	pasado perfecto continuo She said (that) she had been living in Spain for two years.
futuro simple	I will go to the market.	condicional (would) She said (that) she would go to the market.
condicional	He wouldn’t go to the concert.	condicional (would) He said (that) he wouldn’t go to the concert.
ought to	I ought to buy a phone.	ought to She said she ought to buy a phone.
may	I may come tonight.	could/would He said he would/could come tonight.
need to	I need to get a new cup.	must/had to He said (that) he must get a new cup/ he said that he had to get a new cup.
can	I can speak Spanish.	could She said (that) she could speak Spanish.
could	I could dance when I was younger.	could She said (that) she could dance when she was younger.
shall	They shall not come this evening.	would He said (that) they wouldn’t come this/that evening.
should	I should buy a new phone.	should She said (that) she should buy a new phone.
might	I might arrive late today.	might She said (that) she might arrive late today/yesterday/the other day.
must	I must go to the mall.	must She said (that) she must go to the mall.

Esta es una lista completa de todas las formas verbales activas y auxiliares modales con sus formas respectivas que funcionan en discurso indirecto.

Es importante notar que las expresiones del tiempo pueden cambiar, por ejemplo::

‘I cleaned my room yesterday. = ‘He said (that) he had cleaned his room yesterday/the other day/Tuesday/Friday/two weeks ago etc.’

La referencia del tiempo dependerá completamente por la situación y punto del tiempo.

Ver también