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Le président dit qu'il y ira sans le ministre.

Le président dit qu'il y ira sans le ministre.
The president says that he will go there without the minister.
From Lesson 177:Reported statements (il dit que)·French

Questions & Answers about Le président dit qu'il y ira sans le ministre.

Does the tense change in reported speech here?
No. Because the introductory verb dit (says) is in the present tense, the tense of the original quote does not change. If the president originally said J'y irai (I will go there) in the future tense, it stays in the future tense (il y ira) in reported speech.
I don't recognize the verb ira. What is it?
ira is the future tense of the highly irregular verb aller (to go) for il/elle/on. Combined with the pronoun y (there), il y ira means he will go there.
Why does the pronoun y go before the verb in the second part of the sentence?
In French, object pronouns like y are placed directly before the conjugated verb they belong to. The reported speech structure (il dit que...) doesn't change this rule, so y stays right in front of ira.
Why is it qu'il and not que il?
The word que (that) must drop its e and use an apostrophe when followed by a vowel or a silent h. This is a strict rule in French. As a quick refresher: qui (who) never drops its i, but que always drops its e before a vowel.

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