Discours direct et indirect - Reported speech French
1. | Direct Speech |
2. | Indirect Speech |
Reported speech is repeating what someone said in the past. There are two different kinds: direct speech and indirect speech.
Il m’a dit : ‘Je te rappellerai demain.’ (= direct speech)
Il m’a dit qu’il me rappellerait demain. (= indirect speech)
1. Direct speech
· In direct speech the original words are repeated in exactly the same way as they were originally said:
Marie m’a dit : ‘Tu n’as pas changé du tout !’
· The person whose speech is being reported can be the same as the person speaking:
Je me suis demandé : ‘Est-ce que c’est vrai ?’
However, it is most often other people whose words are being quoted:
Je ne me souviens plus de ce qu’il m’a dit, si c’était : ‘Tu devrais lui en parler’, ou bien : ‘Je suis sûr que tu lui en as déjà parlé.’
· In both French and English, direct speech is indicated by quotation marks around the words quoted.
· In written French, the change from one speaker to another is indicated by a dash. The quotation marks are closed only at the end of an unbroken section of conversation, not at the end of each speaker’s comments as in English:
‘C’est bizarre !
- Pourquoi ?
- Je ne sais pas, je trouve ça surprenant.’
· Sections of the conversation can be introduced or followed by verbs such as dire, demander, s’écrier etc.:
‘Qu’en pensez-vous ?’, demanda-t-elle.
‘Encore !’, s’écria-t-il.
Note:
Remember that the normal order of subject and verb is inverted when the verb follows direct speech.
2. Indirect speech
· In indirect speech the words actually spoken are changed and appear in a subordinate clause which is introduced by a verb of saying of some kind:
Elle m’a annoncé qu’elle allait se marier.
Il m’a dit à quel point il était déçu.
· Indirect speech is very common in story-telling:
Je n’ai pas dit qu’il ne se sentait pas bien, mais qu’il était un peu déprimé.