Reported speech worksheets for ESL
44 worksheets · Modals & verb patterns
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Reported speech worksheets
44 printable worksheets with answer keys; the 24 most used, easiest level first.
About Reported speech
Reported speech tells us what someone said without quoting their exact words. After a past reporting verb, tenses usually move back: 'I'm tired' → She said she was tired. 'I'll call you' → He said he would call me. Pronouns and time and place words also change (tomorrow → the next day), and reported questions use statement word order: She asked me where I lived.
It is typically introduced at B1 with statements and say or tell, then extended at B2 to questions, commands (He told me to wait) and reporting verbs such as suggest, promise and refuse. Common errors include *He said me, question word order in reported questions (*She asked where did I live), and mechanical backshift when the situation is still true.
This page collects printable reported speech worksheets with answer keys, ready to print as PDFs or complete online via a class link.
Teaching tips: Reported speech
- Play 'gossip': learners whisper sentences along a line and the last person reports what they heard.
- Give a table of tense changes, but stress that backshift is optional when the statement is still true: She said she lives in Leeds.
- Teach say and tell with a simple rule: tell someone something, say something (to someone).
- Watch for inverted word order in reported questions, and use if or whether for yes/no questions: He asked if I was ready.
- At B2, group reporting verbs by pattern: verb + to-infinitive (promise, refuse), verb + object + to-infinitive (tell, advise) and verb + -ing (deny, suggest).
Questions teachers ask
Do tenses always change in reported speech?
No. If the reporting verb is in the present (She says she's tired) or the information is still true, the tense can stay the same.
What's the difference between say and tell?
Tell needs a person as its object (He told me the news); say does not, and if a person is mentioned it needs to: He said to me that…
How do you report a command?
Use tell, ask or order + object + to-infinitive: 'Sit down' → She told us to sit down. For negatives, put not before to: He told me not to worry.