Grammar Focus: Reported Speech (Basic)

Reported (indirect) speech tells what someone said without their exact words. We usually shift the tense back and change some pronouns/time words.

• Present Simple -> Past Simple: "I am busy." -> He said that he was busy.
• will -> would: "I will finish it." -> He said that he would finish it.
• Questions: use asked, statement word order, if/whether for yes/no, the question word for Wh-: "Are you tired?" -> I asked him if he was tired.

Use say without an object; use tell with an object (He told me that...).