When opening a time capsule at a class reunion, you are looking back at what people said decades ago. When we report past speech, the original speaker's "here" and "now" are no longer our "here" and "now."
In German, just as in English, you must shift deictic words—references to time, place, and people—so the sentence makes sense from your current perspective.
Shifting "Here" and "Now"
If a teacher said, "I am looking forward to the reunion today (heute)," reporting it years later means changing "today" to "on that day." In German, heute becomes an jenem Tag or an diesem Tag.
| The teacher said he had looked forward to the class reunion very much on that day. | Der Lehrer sagte, er habe sich an jenem Tag sehr auf das Klassentreffen gefreut. |
Similarly, if a student said, "I am hiding the time capsule here (hier)," you must shift "here" to "there" (dort) when reporting it, and "now" to "back then" (damals).
| Anna explained she had hidden the time capsule there back then. | Anna erklärte, sie habe die Zeitkapsel damals dort versteckt. |
Shifting "Yesterday" and "Last Week"
When the original speaker referred to "yesterday" (gestern) or "last week" (letzte Woche), we shift these references backwards from the day they spoke using the word zuvor (previously / before).
| previously | zuvor |
- gestern becomes am Tag zuvor (the day before).
- letzte Woche becomes in der Woche zuvor (the week before).
| Peter claimed he had seen something in the schoolyard the day before. | Peter behauptete, er habe am Tag zuvor etwas auf dem Schulhof gesehen. |
| They said they had already been there the week before. | Sie sagten, sie seien schon in der Woche zuvor dort gewesen. |
Shifting "Tomorrow"
If someone made a promise about "tomorrow" (morgen), you cannot use morgen in your reported speech, because that would mean the actual tomorrow of the current day. Instead, use the adjective folgend (following).
| following | folgend |
- morgen becomes am folgenden Tag (on the following day).
- morgen früh becomes am folgenden Vormittag (on the following morning).
| He promised he would come to the class reunion on the following day. | Er versprach, er werde am folgenden Tag zum Klassentreffen kommen. |
Shifting Pronouns
Naturally, pronouns must shift as well. If someone says "I" (ich) or "we" (wir), you will report it using "he/she" (er/sie) or "they" (sie). Keep an eye out for these pronoun changes alongside the time and place shifts.
Combined with Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) to show that you are reporting someone else's claim, these shifts allow you to perfectly capture statements from the past.
| She emphasized that, in retrospect, the year there had been wonderful. | Sie betonte, rückblickend sei das Jahr dort wunderschön gewesen. |