When you tell someone what another person said, you have a choice. You can quote them word for word — Pierre m'a dit : « Je viens demain » — or you can fold their words into your own sentence — Pierre m'a dit qu'il viendrait le lendemain. The second option is le discours indirect, and it is one of the most mechanically demanding transformations in French. Everything has to shift at once: the speaker's je becomes il, the deictic demain becomes le lendemain, and the future viens becomes the conditional viendrait. This page is the structural reference for those shifts. Once the rules are internalized, the transformation becomes automatic.
The basic frame
Indirect speech in French uses three reporting structures, depending on what was said:
- Statements are introduced by que: il dit que…, elle a répondu que…
- Yes/no questions are introduced by si: il demande si…
- WH-questions are introduced by the same WH-word as the original question (with two important exceptions covered below)
- Imperatives are introduced by de plus the infinitive: il m'a dit de partir
Each structure has its own behaviour around tense and pronouns. The single most important variable is whether the reporting verb (dire, demander, répondre, expliquer, ajouter, affirmer, prétendre) is in the present or in a past tense. A present matrix verb requires almost no work; a past matrix verb triggers the entire system of tense shifts known as concordance des temps.
Reporting with a present matrix verb
When the reporting verb is in the present, nothing in the embedded clause shifts grammatically. The original tenses are preserved exactly. Only the pronouns change to fit the new perspective.
Direct : Pierre dit : « Je viens demain. »
Direct: Pierre says, 'I'm coming tomorrow.'
Indirect : Pierre dit qu'il vient demain.
Indirect: Pierre says he's coming tomorrow.
The original je (Pierre's first person) becomes il (third person from the reporter's perspective). The verb stays in the present; demain stays as demain because it is still being uttered now. This is the easy case.
Le médecin affirme que ce traitement n'a aucun effet secondaire.
The doctor states that this treatment has no side effects.
Marie répond qu'elle prendra le train de seize heures.
Marie answers that she'll take the four o'clock train.
A future stays a future, a passé composé stays a passé composé, a subjunctive stays a subjunctive. The matrix is anchored in the present, so the embedded clause is interpreted relative to the present moment.
Reporting with a past matrix verb — the tense shifts
When the reporting verb is in a past tense (il a dit, elle disait, ils avaient affirmé, on m'avait expliqué), the embedded clause shifts to remain consistent with that past anchor. This is the heart of the system.
| Direct speech (original tense) | Indirect speech (after past matrix) | What it expresses |
|---|---|---|
| présent — je viens | imparfait — qu'il venait | simultaneous with the moment of speaking |
| passé composé — je suis venu | plus-que-parfait — qu'il était venu | anterior to the moment of speaking |
| futur simple — je viendrai | conditionnel présent — qu'il viendrait | posterior to the moment of speaking |
| futur antérieur — j'aurai fini | conditionnel passé — qu'il aurait fini | completed-future relative to the moment of speaking |
| imparfait — je venais | imparfait — qu'il venait (no shift) | ongoing past situation |
| plus-que-parfait — j'étais venu | plus-que-parfait — qu'il était venu (no shift) | action anterior to a past anchor |
| conditionnel présent — je viendrais | conditionnel présent — qu'il viendrait (no shift) | hypothetical or polite |
The pattern that links these shifts is straightforward once you see it: each tense steps "one notch back" into the past, except for tenses that are already past-anchored (imparfait, plus-que-parfait, conditionnel) — those have nowhere left to go and stay as they are.
Pierre m'a dit qu'il était fatigué.
Pierre told me he was tired.
Elle a expliqué qu'elle avait perdu son passeport.
She explained she had lost her passport.
On m'avait promis qu'on me rappellerait.
They had promised me they would call me back.
Notice the third example: the original speaker said on vous rappellera (futur), but reported under a past matrix the futur becomes the conditionnel rappellerait. This is the famous future-in-the-past, and it matches English exactly: they would call back.
Pronoun shifts
In indirect speech, every pronoun is interpreted from the reporter's perspective, not the original speaker's. The most common shifts:
- The original speaker's je / me / mon becomes il (elle) / le, lui / son
- The original addressee's tu / te / ton becomes either je / me / mon (if I was the one being addressed) or il (elle) / le, lui / son (if someone else was)
- nous / vous shift according to who is now in those groups
Direct : Marie m'a dit : « Tu as raison. »
Direct: Marie told me, 'You're right.'
Indirect : Marie m'a dit que j'avais raison.
Indirect: Marie told me I was right.
Here tu (Marie's word for me) becomes je, because I am now telling the story. And as shifts from présent to imparfait under the past matrix.
Time-marker substitutions
Time and place expressions are also relative to a vantage point. When the matrix verb is in the past, deictic words anchored in the moment of original speaking must be replaced by versions anchored in the past moment being reported. This is purely a French convention — the substitutions are fixed and must be memorized.
| Direct (anchored to moment of speaking) | Indirect (anchored to past moment reported) |
|---|---|
| aujourd'hui | ce jour-là |
| hier | la veille |
| avant-hier | l'avant-veille |
| demain | le lendemain |
| après-demain | le surlendemain |
| maintenant | à ce moment-là / alors |
| en ce moment | à ce moment-là |
| la semaine prochaine | la semaine suivante / d'après |
| la semaine dernière | la semaine précédente / d'avant |
| ici | là |
Direct : Il a dit : « Je pars demain. »
Direct: He said, 'I'm leaving tomorrow.'
Indirect : Il a dit qu'il partait le lendemain.
Indirect: He said he was leaving the next day.
Forgetting these substitutions is one of the most visible markers of a non-native speaker writing French. Il m'a dit qu'il partait demain is grammatical, but it means demain relative to right now — and that is rarely the intended meaning when reporting a past conversation.
Reporting questions
Questions follow a different syntactic frame. The most important rule is that indirect questions never use inversion or est-ce que. The word order returns to plain SVO.
Yes/no questions: introduced by si
Direct : Il m'a demandé : « Tu viens ? »
Direct: He asked me, 'Are you coming?'
Indirect : Il m'a demandé si je venais.
Indirect: He asked me if I was coming.
Si corresponds to English if or whether. The verb demander is the standard reporting verb for questions; vouloir savoir and se demander are also common.
Je me demande s'il aura le temps.
I wonder if he'll have the time.
(Note the elision: si + il → s'il, but si + elle keeps both vowels: si elle.)
WH-questions: keep the WH-word, but watch two cases
For most WH-questions, the original interrogative word is preserved as a subordinator, and the rest of the clause follows ordinary statement word order.
Direct : Il a demandé : « Pourquoi tu pars ? »
Direct: He asked, 'Why are you leaving?'
Indirect : Il a demandé pourquoi je partais.
Indirect: He asked why I was leaving.
Elle voulait savoir où nous habitions.
She wanted to know where we were living.
Je ne sais pas quand il rentrera.
I don't know when he'll be back.
Two interrogative patterns are special in French and trip up nearly every learner.
Que → ce que when reporting a direct-object question. The standalone que (or qu'est-ce que) cannot introduce a subordinate clause; it must be replaced by ce que.
Direct : Il a demandé : « Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? »
Direct: He asked, 'What are you doing?'
Indirect : Il a demandé ce que je faisais.
Indirect: He asked what I was doing.
Qu'est-ce qui → ce qui when reporting a subject question.
Direct : Elle a demandé : « Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? »
Direct: She asked, 'What's going on?'
Indirect : Elle a demandé ce qui se passait.
Indirect: She asked what was going on.
The mnemonic: in indirect questions, what always becomes one of the ce-relatives — ce que for the object slot, ce qui for the subject slot. The bare que is reserved for declaratives.
A short standalone pourquoi can be reported on its own, without an embedded verb:
Direct : « Pourquoi ? »
Direct: 'Why?'
Indirect : Il a demandé pourquoi.
Indirect: He asked why.
Reporting commands
Imperatives are reported with the structure dire à quelqu'un de + infinitif. The imperative form disappears and is replaced by an infinitive complement to the verb of saying.
Direct : Il m'a dit : « Pars ! »
Direct: He said to me, 'Leave!'
Indirect : Il m'a dit de partir.
Indirect: He told me to leave.
Le professeur nous a demandé de fermer nos cahiers.
The teacher asked us to close our notebooks.
Maman m'a dit de ne pas rentrer trop tard.
Mom told me not to come back too late.
Notice the negation: with infinitives, ne pas sits as a unit before the infinitive — de ne pas rentrer, not de ne rentrer pas. Reporting verbs that take this construction include dire, demander, ordonner, prier, supplier, conseiller, recommander, interdire, and many more — they all share the syntax verbe + à quelqu'un + de + infinitif.
For a positive command rendered as an indirect command, no negation appears:
Le médecin lui a conseillé de boire plus d'eau.
The doctor advised her to drink more water.
Practice transformations
Each row below shows a direct utterance and its transformation under both a present matrix verb (no shift) and a past matrix verb (full shift).
| Original | Present matrix | Past matrix |
|---|---|---|
| « Je suis fatigué. » | Il dit qu'il est fatigué. | Il a dit qu'il était fatigué. |
| « J'ai vu Marie hier. » | Il dit qu'il a vu Marie hier. | Il a dit qu'il avait vu Marie la veille. |
| « Je viendrai demain. » | Il dit qu'il viendra demain. | Il a dit qu'il viendrait le lendemain. |
| « Tu pars ? » | Il demande si je pars. | Il a demandé si je partais. |
| « Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? » | Il demande ce que je fais. | Il a demandé ce que je faisais. |
| « Reste ici ! » | Il me dit de rester là. | Il m'a dit de rester là. |
Common Mistakes
❌ Il a dit qu'il viendra demain.
Incorrect — under a past matrix, futur must shift to conditionnel.
✅ Il a dit qu'il viendrait le lendemain.
He said he would come the next day.
❌ Il m'a demandé qu'est-ce que je faisais.
Incorrect — *qu'est-ce que* is an interrogative form, not a subordinator. It cannot introduce a reported question.
✅ Il m'a demandé ce que je faisais.
He asked me what I was doing.
❌ Elle a demandé si est-ce que je venais.
Incorrect — never combine *si* with *est-ce que* in indirect speech.
✅ Elle a demandé si je venais.
She asked if I was coming.
❌ Il m'a dit que partir.
Incorrect — imperatives are not reported with *que*; they require *de + infinitif*.
✅ Il m'a dit de partir.
He told me to leave.
❌ Il a affirmé qu'il a fini son travail hier.
Incorrect — past matrix triggers passé composé → plus-que-parfait, and *hier* must shift to *la veille*.
✅ Il a affirmé qu'il avait fini son travail la veille.
He stated that he had finished his work the day before.
Key takeaways
Reported speech in French is mechanical once the moving parts are clear. The reporting verb's tense determines whether shifts apply. The original tense determines what the embedded tense becomes. Pronouns adjust to the new perspective. Time markers swap into their past-anchored equivalents. And questions and commands have their own syntactic frames — si / ce que / ce qui / de + infinitif — that look nothing like their direct-speech counterparts. Drilling the transformation table until it becomes reflexive is the surest path to fluency in this construction.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Le Discours IndirectB1 — Reporting what someone said: tense shifts, time markers, and how to embed questions and commands in French indirect speech.
- La Concordance des TempsB1 — How French embedded clauses re-tense themselves to match a past matrix verb — and the modern simplifications you can rely on.
- Concordance des Temps au PasséB1 — How embedded clauses re-tense themselves when the matrix verb is in the past — and the modern relaxation that lets you skip the shift when the embedded fact is still true.
- Conditionnel for the Future-in-the-Past (Reported Speech)B1 — When you report past speech that pointed to the future, French shifts the futur to the conditionnel — exactly the way English shifts will to would. Master the rule, the time-reference shifts, and the journalistic patterns where this construction is everywhere.
- Ce qui, Ce que, Ce dont: relatifs sans antécédentB1 — Ce qui, ce que, and ce dont are the French relatives meaning 'what' — used when the antecedent is unspecified or refers to a general idea rather than a named noun. The choice among the three depends entirely on the syntactic role inside the relative clause: subject (ce qui), direct object (ce que), or de-complement (ce dont). Master this and you fix one of the most common B1 errors.