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Change in Pronouns in Indirect Speech - Rules & Examples

To convert direct speech into indirect speech, the pronoun (subject) in the sentence is changed. See the following example.

Direct speech:
He said, “I write a letter”.
Indirect speech:
He said that he wrote a letter.

In the above example, pronoun (I) is changed into pronoun (He).

To learn the rules for changing pronouns, we should first understand the two parts of the sentence:

  1. Reporting Verb: The first part of the sentence (e.g., he said, she said) is called the reporting verb.
  2. Reported Speech: The second part of the sentence, which is enclosed in inverted commas, is called reported speech (e.g., “I write a letter”).

The pronouns in the reported speech are generally changed according to the pronouns in the reporting verb.

There rules for changing pronouns in indirect speech are as follows:

   Rule 1. First-Person Pronouns (I, We, My, Mine, Us, Our)

If the reported speech has 1st person pronoun (e.g., I, we, me, my, mine, us, our), and the reporting verb has 3rd person pronoun (e.g., he, she, they, it, his, her, their, its), the pronoun of the reported speech is changed according to the pronoun (subject) of the reporting verb.

Note: A pronoun can be used as a subject and also as an object in the reporting verb. The pronoun (whether subject or object) of the reported speech will change according to the subject pronoun of the reporting verb, not the object pronoun.

Example:

Direct Speech: He said to me, “I will wash my car.”

In this example, in the reporting verb part, ‘He’ is the subject pronoun and ‘me’ is the object pronoun. Therefore, the pronouns of the reported speech (e.g. I, my) will be changed according to the subject pronoun of the reporting verb (He) and not according to the object pronoun (me).

Indirect Speech: He said to me that he would wash his car.

Examples:

Direct Speech
Indirect Speech
He said, “I will buy a camera”.
He said that he would buy a camera.
She said, “I work in a hospital”.
She said that she worked in a hospital.
They said, “We have won a prize”.
They said that they had won the prize.
He said, “I like the music”.
He said that he liked the music.
She said, “I am eating an apple”.
She said that she was eating an apple.
He said, “My teacher is a nice man”.
He said that his teacher was a nice man.
She said, “My son is ill”.
She said that her son was ill.
They said, “We have studied our books”.
They said that they had studied their books.
She said, “I am cleaning my room”.
She said that she is cleaning her room.


   Rule 2. First-Person Pronouns Remain Unchanged

The 1st person pronoun (e.g., I, we, my, our, me, us) of reported speech is not changed, if the reporting verb has also 1st person pronoun (e.g., I, we) as its subject.

Examples:

Direct Speech
Indirect Speech
I said, “I write a letter”.
I said that I wrote a letter.
We said, “We saw a joker”.
We said that we had seen a joker.
I said, “I finished my work”.
I said that I had finished my work.
We said, “We are decorating our house”.
We said that we were decorating our house.

 

   Rule 3. Second-Person Pronouns (You, Your)

The 2nd person pronoun (e.g., you, your) of the reported speech is always changed according to the ‘object pronoun (person spoken to)’ of the reporting verb. In such cases, a pronoun is given which act as an object in reporting verb. .

Examples:

Direct Speech
Indirect Speech
He said to me, “You won a prize”.
He said to me that I had won a prize.
He said to her, “You won a prize”.
He said to her that she had won a prize.
He said to them, “You won a prize”.
He said to them that they had won a prize.
She said to him, “You won a prize”.
She said to him that he had won a prize.
He said to me, “Your shirt is nice”.
He said to me that my shirt was nice.
He said to her, “Your shirt is nice”.
He said to her that her shirt was nice.
He said to them, “Your shirts are nice”.
He said to them that their shirts were nice.
She said to him, “Your shirt is nice”.
She said to him that his shirt was nice.

   Rule 4. Third-Person Pronouns (He, She, They, It, His, Her, Their, Its, Them)

The 3rd person pronouns (e.g., he, she, they, it, his, her, their, its, them) of the reported speech remain unchanged in indirect speech.

Examples:

Direct Speech
Indirect Speech
She said, “He works in a factory”.
She said that he worked in a factory”.
They said, “He has passed the exam”.
They said that he had passed the exam.
He said, “She will buy a car”.
He said that she would buy a car.
They said, “She likes coffee”.
They said that she liked coffee.
He said, “They are playing football”.
He said that they were playing football.
He said, “She is washing her shirt”.
He said that she was washing her shirt.
She said, “He finished his task”.
She said that he had finished his task.
He said, “She made tea for them”.
He said that she had made tea for them.

   Rule 6. Compound Pronouns / Mixed Cases

In sentences with compound or mixed pronouns, each pronoun is changed according to the subject or object in the reporting verb as per above rules.

Examples:

Direct Speech
Indirect Speech
He said to me, “You and I are going to the park.”
He said to me that I and he were going to the park.
She said to me, “I and you should complete the project.”
She said to me that she and I should complete the project.
He said to us, “we and you would enjoy the the party.”
He said to us that they and we would enoy the party.
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