Reported Statements
When we want to tell someone what another person said, wrote, or heard, we use reported speech. In Croatian, you link the reporting phrase (e.g., "he said", "we heard") with the reported statement using the conjunction da (that).
The most important rule for reported statements in Croatian is: always keep the original tense of the speaker.
In English, we often shift the tense backward in time. If an actor originally said, "The scandal is a lie," English reports it as "The actor stated that the scandal was a lie."
Croatian does not do this backshifting. You report the statement exactly as it was originally spoken, preserving the present tense:
| The famous actor stated that the scandal was a lie. | Slavni glumac je izjavio da je skandal laž. |
This rule applies regardless of which reporting verb you use, and regardless of whether the reporting verb is in the past tense. If the original action was happening in the present, it stays in the present (je, vara):
| The journalists wrote that the divorce was just gossip. | Novinari su pisali da je razvod samo trač. |
| The media wrote that she was cheating on him. | Mediji su pisali da ga ona vara. |
Here are a few more examples from the tabloids. Notice how all the original statements remain in the present tense, even though the reporting verbs (izjavila, objavili, čuli) are in the past tense:
| In the interview, she stated that the truth was shocking. | U intervjuu je izjavila da je istina šokantna. |
| The media published that he was cheating on his wife. | Mediji su objavili da on vara suprugu. |
| We heard that the rumor about the divorce was a lie. | Čuli smo da je trač o razvodu laž. |
