French grammar: discours indirect au passé

What this grammar point covers

Indirect speech in the past (discours indirect au passé) is how you report what someone said in the past, without quoting their exact words. In French, you often need to change the tense of the verbs when reporting speech from the past.

When to use it

Use indirect speech in French when you want to report what someone said, thought, or asked, especially when the reporting verb is in the past (like « il a dit », « elle a expliqué »).

Key forms

• Use verbs like « il a dit que », « elle a demandé si » to introduce indirect speech.
• Change the tense of the original statement according to specific rules:
• - présent → imparfait
• - passé composé → plus-que-parfait
• - futur → conditionnel présent
• - impératif → de + infinitif

Examples

Tips

• Remember to change the tense of the verb in indirect speech.
• Pay attention to words like « aujourd’hui », « demain », which also change (for example: « aujourd’hui » → « ce jour-là »).
• Do not use quotation marks in indirect speech.

Exceptions and edge cases

• If the information is still true or a general fact, sometimes the tense does not change.
• Questions and commands have special indirect forms.