Reporting Speech with إنّ
In the previous lesson, you learned to use أنّ as the word "that" to connect verbs of knowledge and perception to statements of fact. However, Arabic has a very strict exception to this rule when it comes to reporting speech.
Whenever you use the verb "to say" (قال) or any of its variations, you must ALWAYS use إنّ instead of أنّ for the word "that". Even though it appears in the middle of a sentence, the verb "to say" acts as a hard break, essentially introducing a fresh, quoted sentence.
Let's see this in action using some courtroom vocabulary:
| The judge said in the court that the defendant is innocent. | قال القاضي في المحكمة إن المتهم بريء.qâla al-qâdi fî al-mahkamati inna al-muttahama barî'un. |
| The witness said that the defendant is guilty in this crime. | قال الشاهد إن المتهم مذنب في هذه الجريمة.qâla ash-shâhidu inna al-muttahama mudhnibun fî hâdhihi al-jarîmah |
Applying the Rule Across Tenses and Pronouns
This rule is absolute and applies no matter the tense of the verb. Whether you are using the past tense (قال) or the present tense (يقول), the word "that" immediately introducing the statement must be إنّ.
| The lawyer says that the defendant is innocent in this case. | يقول المحامي إن المتهم بريء في هذه القضية.yaqûlu al-muhâmî inna al-muttahama barî'un fî hâdhihi al-qadiyyah |
| The people say that the defendant is guilty. | يقول الناس إن المتهم مذنب.yaqûlu an-nâsu inna al-muttahama mudhnibun |
Just like in previous lessons, if the subject of the reported speech is a pronoun, it attaches directly to the particle. For example, "said that he..." becomes قال إنه.
| The young man said that he is innocent and does not want prison. | قال الشاب إنه بريء ولا يريد السجن.qâla sh-shâbbu innahu barî'un wa lâ yurîdu s-sijna |
As long as you are using a form of the verb "to say", إنّ is the only correct choice to introduce the reported statement, even when combining multiple clauses.
| The lawyer said that the man is guilty and will enter the prison. | قال المحامي إن الرجل مذنب وسيدخل السجن.qâla al-muhâmî inna ar-rajula mudhnibun wa-sayadkhulu as-sijna |