How do you form indirect speech in French?

Attach the reported words to a verb of speaking with que for statements, si or a question word for questions, and de plus an infinitive for orders. Then adjust the pronouns, shift the tense if the reporting verb is in the past, and re-anchor any time or place words.

Which tenses change in French indirect speech?

After a past reporting verb: present becomes imperfect, passé composé becomes pluperfect, future becomes conditional, and futur antérieur becomes conditional perfect. The imperfect, pluperfect and conditional stay as they are, and after a present reporting verb nothing changes at all.

How do you report a question in French?

Use si for a yes-or-no question and the question word itself otherwise, with no inversion and no question mark: il demande si tu viens, il demande où tu habites. Qu'est-ce que becomes ce que and qu'est-ce qui becomes ce qui.

How do you report a command in French?

With de plus an infinitive: il m'a dit de partir, elle m'a demandé de l'attendre. For a negative command, de comes first and the negative words follow: il m'a dit de ne pas bouger.

Can you leave out que in French indirect speech?

No. English allows he said he was late with nothing joining the clauses, but French requires il a dit qu'il était en retard, and every additional reported clause needs its own que.

French grammar · Intermediate

Direct and Indirect Speech in French: Reporting What Was Said

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Direct speech quotes what was said; indirect speech folds it into your own sentence with que, si or de. Three things move in the process — the pronouns, the tense, and any word anchored to the original moment of speaking. Nothing else changes.

Elle a dit qu'elle viendrait le lendemain.

She said she'd come the next day.

What it is

Direct speech keeps the original words inside quotation marks. Indirect speech dissolves them into the reporting sentence, which means everything anchored to the original speaker has to be re-anchored to you: their je becomes il or elle, their demain becomes le lendemain, and if you are reporting from a later vantage point, their present becomes an imperfect.

Il a dit qu'il avait froid. — He said he was cold.

How to spot it

A verb of speaking followed by que, si, ce que, or de plus an infinitive — and a tense that has usually moved one step back.

Il a répondu qu'il ne savait pas. — He replied that he didn't know.
Elle m'a demandé si j'étais libre. — She asked me whether I was free.
Ils ont expliqué qu'ils avaient tout perdu. — They explained that they'd lost everything.
Le médecin m'a dit de me reposer. — The doctor told me to rest.

Que for statements, si for yes-or-no questions, de plus an infinitive for orders. Those three connectors cover almost every case.

Indirect Speech Quick Reference

What each kind of utterance becomes

Direct speech	Connector	Reported
Je suis prêt.	que	Il a dit qu'il était prêt.
Tu viens ?	si	Il a demandé si je venais.
Qu'est-ce que tu veux ?	ce que	Il a demandé ce que je voulais.
Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas ?	ce qui	Il a demandé ce qui n'allait pas.
Où est la gare ?	où	Il a demandé où était la gare.
Attends !	de + infinitive	Il m'a dit d'attendre.
Ne bouge pas.	de ne pas + infinitive	Il m'a dit de ne pas bouger.

Common Indirect Speech Examples in French

The four things people report, and how each is handled:

Reporting Statements

Elle a dit qu'elle était fatiguée.: She said she was tired.
Il a annoncé qu'il partait en juin.: He announced he was leaving in June.
Ils ont prétendu qu'ils n'avaient rien vu.: They claimed they'd seen nothing.
J'ai répondu que je réfléchirais.: I replied that I'd think about it.

Que is compulsory in French. English allows he said he was tired with nothing between the two halves; French does not.

Reporting Questions

Il m'a demandé si j'avais faim.: He asked me if I was hungry.
Elle veut savoir quand tu arrives.: She wants to know when you're arriving.
On m'a demandé ce que je faisais là.: I was asked what I was doing there.
Personne ne sait pourquoi il est parti.: Nobody knows why he left.

An indirect question has no inversion and no question mark: il demande où tu habites, never où habites-tu.

Reporting Orders

Le professeur nous a dit de nous asseoir.: The teacher told us to sit down.
Elle m'a demandé de la rappeler.: She asked me to call her back.
On leur a interdit de sortir.: They were forbidden to go out.
Il m'a conseillé de ne rien signer.: He advised me not to sign anything.

The imperative has no reported form. It becomes de plus an infinitive, with any negative words slotted between the two.

Words Anchored to the Moment

Il a dit qu'il viendrait le lendemain.: He said he'd come the next day.
Elle a expliqué qu'elle était arrivée la veille.: She explained she'd arrived the day before.
Ils ont dit qu'ils étaient occupés ce jour-là.: They said they were busy that day.
Il a répondu qu'il ne pouvait pas venir cette semaine-là.: He replied he couldn't come that week.

Demain, hier and aujourd'hui belong to the original speaker's present. Reported later, they have to be replaced or the sentence points at the wrong day.

The Moving Parts

Five rules, in the order you need them.

Que Cannot Be Dropped

Every reported statement needs its conjunction, and if you report two statements in a row, each clause needs its own que.

Je pense qu'elle a raison et qu'il devrait s'excuser.

I think she's right and that he should apologise.

One clause, one que.

Tenses Shift Only After a Past Main Verb

If the reporting verb is in the present, nothing moves. If it is in a past tense, the reported verb steps back: present to imperfect, passé composé to pluperfect, future to conditional.

Il dit qu'il vient, mais hier il a dit qu'il venait.

He says he's coming, but yesterday he said he was coming.

Present reporting verb, no shift.

The Future Becomes the Conditional

This is the one shift with no English equivalent in form: viendra becomes viendrait, which looks like a hypothesis but is simply a future seen from the past.

Elle a promis qu'elle m'écrirait.

She promised she'd write to me.

viendra gives viendrait.

Yes-or-No Questions Take Si

Si introduces the clause and there is no inversion behind it. It elides to s' before il and ils, but never before elle or on.

Je me demande s'il a compris.

I wonder whether he understood.

si, elided to s' before il.

Pronouns and Possessives Move with the Speaker

The reported je becomes il or elle, tu becomes the person addressed, and mon becomes son. Get this wrong and the sentence reports the wrong person.

Elle a dit qu'elle avait perdu son sac.

She said she'd lost her bag.

je gives elle; mon gives son.

Common Mistakes with Indirect Speech

Incorrect: Il a dit il était malade. — He said he was ill.

Correct: Il a dit qu'il était malade. — He said he was ill.

French cannot drop que the way English drops that. The conjunction is required however short the reported clause is.

Incorrect: Elle m'a demandé si est-ce que je venais. — She asked me whether I was coming.

Correct: Elle m'a demandé si je venais. — She asked me whether I was coming.

Si already marks the clause as a question. Est-ce que and inversion both disappear once a question is reported.

Incorrect: Il m'a demandé qu'est-ce que je voulais. — He asked me what I wanted.

Correct: Il m'a demandé ce que je voulais. — He asked me what I wanted.

Qu'est-ce que exists only in direct questions. Reported, it collapses to ce que, and qu'est-ce qui collapses to ce qui.

Incorrect: Il m'a dit que je pars tout de suite. — He told me to leave straight away.

Correct: Il m'a dit de partir tout de suite. — He told me to leave straight away.

An order cannot be reported as a clause. Dire de plus an infinitive is the only route, and que would turn the command into a statement about what you are doing.

The Tense Correspondences

What each tense becomes when the reporting verb is in the past, what happens when it is not, and how the various question types are handled.

After a past reporting verb

Every tense steps back one notch, except those that have nowhere further to go.

Pronoun	Direct	Reported
présent	Je viens.	Il a dit qu'il venait.
passé composé	J'ai fini.	Il a dit qu'il avait fini.
imparfait	Je dormais.	Il a dit qu'il dormait.
futur simple	Je viendrai.	Il a dit qu'il viendrait.
futur antérieur	J'aurai fini.	Il a dit qu'il aurait fini.
conditionnel	Je viendrais.	Il a dit qu'il viendrait.
impératif	Viens !	Il m'a dit de venir.

The imperfect and the conditional do not move, which is why il a dit qu'il viendrait can report either je viendrai or je viendrais.

After a present reporting verb

Nothing shifts at all. The reported verb keeps the tense it was said in.

Pronoun	Direct	Reported
présent	Je viens.	Il dit qu'il vient.
passé composé	J'ai fini.	Il dit qu'il a fini.
futur simple	Je viendrai.	Il dit qu'il viendra.
impératif	Viens !	Il me dit de venir.

Only the pronouns change here. This is why reporting in the present is much the easier of the two operations.

Question types

Each question word behaves slightly differently, and the two forms built on qu'est-ce are the ones that catch people out.

Pronoun	Direct question	Reported
yes or no	Tu viens ?	Il demande si tu viens.
qu'est-ce que	Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?	Il demande ce que tu fais.
qu'est-ce qui	Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?	Il demande ce qui se passe.
où, quand, comment	Où habites-tu ?	Il demande où tu habites.
pourquoi	Pourquoi pleures-tu ?	Il demande pourquoi tu pleures.
qui	Qui a appelé ?	Il demande qui a appelé.

Qui is the one question word that survives untouched. Everything built on qu'est-ce loses that scaffolding entirely.

Adverbs, Reporting Verbs, and the Rumour Conditional

Three things that go beyond the mechanical conversion.

Time and place words shift too

Anything pointing at the moment or place of the original speech has to be re-anchored, or the report lands on the wrong day.

Il a dit qu'il partait le lendemain.: He said he was leaving the next day.
Elle a avoué qu'elle avait menti la veille.: She admitted she'd lied the day before.
Ils ont dit qu'ils habitaient là depuis deux ans.: They said they'd been living there for two years.

Demain gives le lendemain, hier gives la veille, aujourd'hui gives ce jour-là, maintenant gives alors, and ici gives là.

Reporting verbs other than dire

The verb you choose passes judgement on the utterance, which is why journalism keeps a large stock of them. None of them changes the grammar of the clause behind it.

Il a prétendu qu'il était innocent.: He claimed he was innocent.
Elle a admis qu'elle s'était trompée.: She admitted she'd been wrong.
Le ministre a laissé entendre qu'il démissionnerait.: The minister hinted he'd resign.

Prétendre reports without endorsing, admettre concedes, laisser entendre implies. The tense shift works identically after all three.

Reporting with no reporting verb

French can distance itself from a claim using the conditional by itself, or a phrase like selon lui. No que and no verb of speaking are required.

Selon lui, le projet serait déjà abandonné.: According to him, the project has already been dropped.
Le suspect aurait quitté le pays.: The suspect is said to have left the country.

This is the standard device of French news reporting. The conditional alone marks the statement as somebody else's.

Indirect Speech FAQs

How do you form indirect speech in French?: Attach the reported words to a verb of speaking with que for statements, si or a question word for questions, and de plus an infinitive for orders. Then adjust the pronouns, shift the tense if the reporting verb is in the past, and re-anchor any time or place words.
Which tenses change in French indirect speech?: After a past reporting verb: present becomes imperfect, passé composé becomes pluperfect, future becomes conditional, and futur antérieur becomes conditional perfect. The imperfect, pluperfect and conditional stay as they are, and after a present reporting verb nothing changes at all.
How do you report a question in French?: Use si for a yes-or-no question and the question word itself otherwise, with no inversion and no question mark: il demande si tu viens, il demande où tu habites. Qu'est-ce que becomes ce que and qu'est-ce qui becomes ce qui.
How do you report a command in French?: With de plus an infinitive: il m'a dit de partir, elle m'a demandé de l'attendre. For a negative command, de comes first and the negative words follow: il m'a dit de ne pas bouger.
Can you leave out que in French indirect speech?: No. English allows he said he was late with nothing joining the clauses, but French requires il a dit qu'il était en retard, and every additional reported clause needs its own que.