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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**.

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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**).

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### 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).

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- *gestern* becomes **am Tag zuvor** (the day before).
- *letzte Woche* becomes **in der Woche zuvor** (the week before).

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### 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).

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- *morgen* becomes **am folgenden Tag** (on the following day).
- *morgen früh* becomes **am folgenden Vormittag** (on the following morning).

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### 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.

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Reported speech: Time and place shifts

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the class reunion	das Klassentreffen
The class reunion was planned, but I had almost forgotten it.	Das Klassentreffen wurde geplant, aber ich hätte es beinahe vergessen.
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.
the time capsule	die Zeitkapsel
the schoolyard	der Schulhof
One day, the time capsule was buried in the schoolyard.	Eines Tages wurde die Zeitkapsel auf dem Schulhof vergraben.
Anna explained she had hidden the time capsule there back then.	Anna erklärte, sie habe die Zeitkapsel damals dort versteckt.
previously	zuvor
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.
following	folgend
He promised he would come to the class reunion on the following day.	Er versprach, er werde am folgenden Tag zum Klassentreffen kommen.
the envelope	der Briefumschlag
Mia wrote she wanted to open the envelopes on the following morning.	Mia schrieb, sie wolle die Briefumschläge am folgenden Vormittag öffnen.
to seal	versiegeln
Every envelope was sealed by the students back then.	Jeder Briefumschlag wurde damals von den Schülern versiegelt.
The principal reported the box had been sealed on that evening.	Der Direktor berichtete, die Kiste sei an jenem Abend versiegelt worden.
former	ehemalig
to gather (people)	sich versammeln
The former students gathered when the time capsule was opened.	Die ehemaligen Schüler versammelten sich, als die Zeitkapsel geöffnet wurde.
A former friend said he had almost arrived too late on that day.	Ein ehemaliger Freund meinte, er wäre an diesem Tag beinahe zu spät gekommen.
Tom said they had gathered in the schoolyard the day before.	Tom sagte, sie hätten sich am Tag zuvor auf dem Schulhof versammelt.
in retrospect	rückblickend
In retrospect, the meeting was perfectly organized.	Rückblickend wurde das Treffen perfekt organisiert.
She emphasized that, in retrospect, the year there had been wonderful.	Sie betonte, rückblickend sei das Jahr dort wunderschön gewesen.