Breakdown of Je lui ai dit que les survivants avaient oublié la tragédie.
je
I
lui
him / to him / to her (indirect object)
avoir
to have
oublier
to forget
Questions & Answers about Je lui ai dit que les survivants avaient oublié la tragédie.
What tense was used in the original direct quote before it became reported speech?
It could have been either the passé composé (ont oublié) or the plus-que-parfait (avaient oublié). When a reporting verb is in a past tense (like ai dit), the passé composé backshifts to the plus-que-parfait. However, if the original statement was already in the plus-que-parfait, it remains unchanged because you cannot shift any further back in time.
What would happen to the tense of avaient oublié if the reporting verb were in the present (Je lui dis)?
If the reporting verb is in the present tense, you do not backshift the reported speech. You simply keep whatever tense the speaker originally used. For example, if the original quote used the passé composé, you would say: Je lui dis que les survivants ont oublié la tragédie.
Why is the pronoun lui used here instead of le?
The verb dire (to say/tell) requires an indirect object when indicating who you are speaking to, because the French structure is dire quelque chose à quelqu'un (to say something to someone). Lui is the indirect object pronoun for both "to him" and "to her".
Since les survivants is plural, why doesn't the past participle oublié take an "s"?
In compound tenses that use the auxiliary verb avoir (like the plus-que-parfait avaient oublié), the past participle only agrees with a direct object if that object is placed before the verb. Here, the direct object is la tragédie, which comes after the verb, so oublié does not change to match the plural subject.