Love-Spanish.com: INDIRECT SPEECH

Showing posts with label INDIRECT SPEECH. Show all posts

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Tell Me, What Are Your Parents Going To Say?

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. Maybe there is an important and unavoidable decision for you to make (in the future). The other person wants to know what your parents are likely to say about it. The other person may say something like: "tell me, what are your parents going to say?".

In Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:

Dime, ¿qué van a decir tus padres?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:

Dígame, ¿qué van a decir sus padres?

OUR TIP

The question is an invitation for you to report what other people are going to say. When reporting what other people may say, you DO NOT need to be concerned about the level of formality in the other person's question. Your main concern should be about communicating what people are going to say. Perhaps you want to report that:

A single person is going to say something - affirmative;
A single person is going to say something – negative;
A single person is going to say nothing;
Two or more people are going to say something - affirmative;
Two or more people are going to say something – negative;
Two or more people are going to say nothing;

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

Mi madre va a decir que acceptará mi decisión* (my mother is going to say she will accept my decision);
Mi madre va a decir que no le gusta verme preocupado* (my mother is going to say that she doesn't like to see me worried);
Mi padre no va decir nada (my father is not going to say anything);
Mis padres van a decir que quieren lo mejor para mi* (my parents are going to say that they want the best for me);
Mis padres van a decir que no quieren meterse en mis cosas* (my parents are going to say that they don't want to get involved in my affairs);
Mis padres no van a decir nada (my parents are not going to say anything);

Now you should practise further replying to someone who says to you:

Dime, ¿qué van a decir tus padres?

*Please see grammar below

Grammar-Indirect Speech

Indirect speech is a form of speech which helps express what people say but using our own words, not theirs. The situation above and the reply examples are typical of the use of indirect speech. In Spanish “decir” (to say/ to tell) is a verb commonly used to enable the speaker to report what other people say. It should be noted that indirect speech subordinate/ dependent clauses do not require a subjunctive.

Some further examples of indirect speech are:

Dirás que vas a hacer los deberes (you will say that you are going to do your homework);
Ian dirá que es fácil aprender español (Ian will say that learning Spanish is easy);
Diremos que vamos a hacer los deberes (we will say that we are going to do our homework);
¿Diréis que vais a aprender español por internet? (will you say that you are going to learn Spanish online?)
Ann y Simon dirán que les gustaba aprender español por internet (Ann and Simon will say that they enjoy learning Spanish online);

Now you should practise the use of indirect speech with some more sentences of your own

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Monday, 8 October 2012

Tell Me, What Were Your Fellow Students Saying?

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. Maybe you are catching up with recent changes to your Spanish lessons. Perhaps you have been canvassing your fellow students about the changes. The other person wants a report and says to you something like: "tell me, what were your fellow students saying?".

In Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:

Dime, ¿qué te decían tus compañeros?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:

Dígame, ¿qué le decían (a usted) sus compañeros?

OUR TIP

The question is an invitation for you to report what other people said to you. When reporting what other people say, you DO NOT need to be concerned about the level of formality in the other person's question. Your main concern should be about communicating what people said. Perhaps you want to report that:

A single person said something - affirmative;
A single person said something – negative;
A single person said nothing;
Two or more people said something - affirmative;
Two or more people said something – negative;
Two or more people said nothing;

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

Pedro me decía que antes aprendía mucho más español* (Pedro was saying that before he was learning much more Spanish);
Pedro me decía que antes no tenía tantos deberes* (Pedro was saying that before he didn't have as much homework);
Pedro no me decía nada (Pedro didn't say anything);
Ann y Simon me decían que antes aprendían mucho más español* (Ann and Simon were saying that before they were learning much more Spanish);
Ann y Simon me decían que antes no tenían tantos deberes* ( Ann and Simon were saying that before they didn't have as much homework);
Ann y Simon no me decían nada ( Ann and Simon didn't say anything );

Now you should practise further replying to someone who says to you:

Dime, ¿qué te decían tus compañeros?

*Please see grammar below

Grammar-Indirect Speech

Some further examples of indirect speech are:

¿Me decías que ibas a hacer los deberes? (were you telling me that you were going to do your homework?);
Ian nos decía que era fácil aprender español (Ian was telling us that learning Spanish was easy);
Estábamos diciendo que ibamos a hacer los deberes (we were saying that we were going to do our homework);
¿Decíais que aprendíais español por internet? (were you saying that you were learning Spanish online?)
Ann y Simon decían que les gustaba aprender español por internet (Ann and Simon were saying that they enjoyed learning Spanish online);

Now you should practise the use of indirect speech with some more sentences of your own

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Visit: Love-Spanish.com

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Thursday, 7 June 2012

Tell Me, What Do Your Fellow Students Say?

SCENARIO

In Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:

Dime, ¿qué te dicen tus compañeros?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:

Dígame, ¿qué le dicen (a usted) sus compañeros?

OUR TIP

The question is an invitation for you to report what other people say to you. When reporting what people say, you DO NOT need to be concerned about the level of formality in the other person's question. Your main concern should be about communicating what people say. Perhaps you want to report that:

A single person says something - affirmative;
A single person says something – negative;
A single person says nothing;
Two or more people say something - affirmative;
Two or more people say something – negative;
Two or more people say nothing;

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

Pedro me dice que ahora aprende mucho más español* (Pedro tells me that he is now learning much more Spanish);
Pedro me dice que ahora no tiene tantos deberes* (Pedro tells me that he doesn't have as much homework now);
Pedro no dice nada (Pedro doesn't say anything);
Ann y Simon me dicen que ahora aprenden mucho más español* (Ann and Simon tell me that that they are now learning much more Spanish);
Ann y Simon me dicen que ahora no tienen tantos deberes* ( Ann and Simon tell me that now they don't have as much homework);
Ann y Simon no dicen nada ( Ann and Simon don't say anything );

Now you should practice further replying to someone who says to you:

Dime, ¿qué te dicen tus compañeros?

*Please see grammar below

Grammar-Indirect Speech

Indirect speech is a form of speech which helps express what people say but using our own words, not theirs. The situation above and the reply examples are typical of the use of indirect speech. In Spanish “decir” (to say/ to tell) is a verb commonly used to enable the speaker to report what people say. It should be noted that indirect speech subordinate/ dependent clauses do not require a subjunctive.

Some further examples of indirect speech are:

Digo que voy a estudiar español (I say that I will study Spanish);
¿Me dices que vas a hacer los deberes? (are you telling me that you are going to do your homework?);
Ian nos dice que es fácil aprender español (Ian tells us that learning Spanish is easy);
Estamos diciendo que vamos a hacer los deberes (we are saying that we are going to do our homework);
¿Decís que aprendéis español por internet? (are you saying that you are learning Spanish online?)
Ann y Simon dicen que les gusta aprender español por internet (Ann and Simon say they enjoy learning Spanish online);

Now you should practise the use of indirect speech with some more sentences of your own

Love-Spanish.com/ Lessons-Online

For more Free Spanish:

Visit: Love-Spanish.com

Google+:Google+ Love-Spanish

Twitter: @LoveSpanish_com

Facebook: Facebook.com/ Love.Spanish