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Reporting what someone else said—whether spreading news, relaying facts, or discussing rumors—requires connecting a reporting verb to the original statement. 

### Reporting Information with أن

When relaying what someone declared, told, or confirmed, Arabic uses reporting verbs like صرح (to declare) or أخبر (to tell) followed by the conjunction أن (that). 

Remember that أن is one of the "sisters of Inna." This means the noun that immediately follows it must be in the accusative case (منصوب) or attached as a pronoun suffix (like أنها or أنه).

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### The Sequence of Tenses (No Backshifting)

Here is the most important rule for reported speech in Arabic: **do not change the original tense**.

In English, we "backshift" tenses in reported speech (e.g., "I *want* to go" becomes "She said she *wanted* to go," or "It *will* fail" becomes "He said it *would* fail"). In Arabic, the reported statement stays in the exact same tense the original speaker used:

- If the original quote was a present-tense verb or a present equational (verbless) sentence, it stays in the present when reported.
- If the original quote was in the future tense, it stays in the future.

Notice in the following examples how the English translations use the past or conditional tense, but the Arabic clauses remain in the present (تريد) or future (لن تنتشر).

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### Claims and Pronouns

When relaying claims using verbs like ادعى (to claim), the same rules apply. If the subject of the reported clause is the same as the speaker, simply attach the corresponding pronoun directly to أن.

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### The Special Rule for قال

There is one major exception when choosing your conjunction. If your reporting verb is a form of قال (to say), you **must** use إن instead of أن. 

It behaves exactly the same way—taking accusative nouns or attached pronouns—but changes its pronunciation and spelling at the beginning of the quoted clause.

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Reported speech

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
to declare	صرحsarraha
the rumor	شائعةshâ'i'a
fake	مزيفmuzayyaf
The minister declared that the rumor was fake.	صرح الوزير أن الشائعة مزيفة.sarraha al-wazîru anna ash-shâ'i'ata muzayyafah
to spread (intransitive)	انتشرintashara
A fake rumor spread in the city suddenly.	انتشرت شائعة مزيفة في المدينة فجأة.intasharat shâ'i'atun muzayyafatun fi-l-madînati faj'atan
to tell (information)	أخبرakhbara
the shock	صدمةsadma
My friend (f) told me that the news was a shock.	أخبرتني صديقتي أن الخبر صدمة.akhbaratnî sadîqatî anna-l-khabara sadmah
to confirm	أكدakkada
the scandal	فضيحةfadîha
The journalist (f) confirmed that the scandal was a fake rumor.	أكدت الصحفية أن الفضيحة شائعة مزيفة.akkadati as-sahafiyyatu anna al-fadihata shâ'i'atun muzayyafah
The manager confirmed that all the employees had left except one employee.	أكد المدير أن جميع الموظفين غادروا إلا موظفا واحدا.akkada al-mudîru anna jamî'a al-muwadhdhafîna ghâdarû illâ muwadhdhafan wâhidan
to clarify	أوضحawdaha
The doctor (f) clarified that she wanted to hide the shock.	أوضحت الطبيبة أنها تريد أن تخفي الصدمة.awdahati at-tabîbatu annahâ turîdu an tukhfiya as-sadmata
The police declared that the scandal would not spread.	صرحت الشرطة أن الفضيحة لن تنتشر.sarrahati ash-shurtatu anna al-fadihata lan tantashira
to claim	ادعىidda'â
The actress claimed that she was sick.	ادعت الممثلة أنها مريضة.iddaʿatil mumaththilatu annahâ marîdatun
He said that the document was fake.	قال إن الوثيقة مزيفة.qâla inna-l-wathîqata muzayyafah
I clarified to the director that the employee had told me the truth.	أوضحت للمدير أن الموظف أخبرني بالحقيقة.awdahtu lilmudîri anna almuwazzafa akhbaranî bilhaqîqah
The shock was great when the rumor spread.	كانت الصدمة كبيرة عندما انتشرت الشائعة.kânati s-sadmatu kabîratan 'indamâ intasharati sh-shâ'i'ah
The minister claimed that he did not know, but the report confirmed the scandal.	ادعى الوزير أنه لم يعرف، لكن التقرير أكد الفضيحة.iddâ al-wazîru annahu lam yarif, lâkinna at-taqrîra akkada al-fadîhata
saying, statement	قولqawl
This is a true statement.	هذا قول صحيح.hâdhâ qawlun sahîhun
The manager confirmed the employee's statement.	أكد المدير قول الموظف.akkada al-mudiru qawla al-muwazzafi
to shout	صاحsâha
The boy shouted: Where is my mother?	صاح الولد: أين أمي؟sâha-l-waladu: ayna ummî?
The woman cried out when the news spread.	صاحت المرأة عندما انتشر الخبر.sâHati al-mar'atu 'indamâ intashara al-khabar
newspaper	جريدةjarîda
I read the news in the newspaper.	قرأت الخبر في الجريدة.qara'tu al-khabara fi al-jaridati.
The newspaper published the scandal.	نشرت الجريدة الفضيحة.nasharati al-jaridatu al-fadihah

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