Indirect speech is an advanced construction, quite possibly one of the most complex constructions
there are in Italian.
So what is it and how is it used?
When reporting the speech or thoughts of someone else, you might textually cite the words of
the person by using quotation marks.
This is called discorso diretto, or direct speech.
But you may choose to cite the contents indirectly, after an appropriate verb.
In English this would include phrases like: He said, she exclaimed, he shouted, and so
forth.
This is called discorso indiretto, or indirect speech.
Now, this sort of transformation is relatively simple when the main clause is in the present.
Look at the following examples in English and compare them to Italian.
But what if someone wants to report what Uncle Joe has said, without quoting him directly?
Simple enough, no?
Now let’s do another one, but add some details.
Let’s report what she said using direct speech.
Now let’s say the same thing but with indirect speech.
Now there’s a bit to discuss here, so let’s examine precisely what’s happening.
First, the colon and quotation marks disappear as it is no longer a direct quote.
Then, any first or second person pronouns or verbs become third person.
So vado becomes va, and mi metto becomes si mette.
Third, questo, or this, becomes quello, or that.
And finally, with the present indicative in the main clause, no change of tense occurs
in the dependent clause.
Now, this still isn’t too bad.
But things immediately become more complicated when the introductory tense in the main clause
changes from present tense to an historical tense.
In this case, the verb in the main clause will also need a transformation.
Let’s first use passato prossimo, so this is when we want to report somebody’s words
not immediately, but after some time has passed, whether a few hours, a day, a week, a year,
or more.
So this is not what she is saying right now, it’s what she has said in the past.
Or, we may want to use another historical tense, like the imperfect:
As you can see here the switch to an historical tense in the main clause is causing the verb
in the dependent clause to modify as well.
Unfortunately, the transformations don’t end here.
Let’s go through several other tenses, and pay close attention to the transformations
for each.
This is quite a lot to remember, but one thing we can do is to notice and recall the main
changes or modifications which can happen.
Let’s try just a few more examples to see if it can sink in.
In each case we will show what the person said verbatim, and then construct our indirect
speech to report what that person said to someone else.
Along with the first phrase will be provided in parentheses the verb we are intended to
use when constructing the indirect speech.
And with that we have covered an introduction to indirect speech in Italian.
So next time you’re walking the streets of Rome and a detective asks you to repeat
something you overheard in a café, you’ll know just what to say!