REPORTED SPEECH (estilo indirecto)
En general, el estilo indirecto en inglés se corresponde con su forma en castellano:
|
Estilo directo |
Estilo indirecto |
| "Are you hungry" "¿Tienes hambre?" |
She asked if she was hungry Preguntó si él tenía hambre. |
|
"I will go next week" Iré la próxima semana |
He said he would go the
following week Dijo que iría la semana siguiente |
|
"I went to the cinema yesterday" "Ayer fui al cine" |
She said she had gone to the cinema the previous day Dijo que había ido al cine el día anterior |
Sin embargo, la elección de la forma verbal en estilo indirecto dependerá del punto de vista del hablante. Por ejemplo, la frase siguiente tendrá diferentes versiones, dependiendo de cuándo se comenta o relata lo que ha sido dicho por otra persona:
"We are leaving at 5"
They say they are leaving at 5 (Se comenta inmediatamente)
They said they are leaving at 5 (Se comenta antes de que ellos se vayan)
They said they were leaving at 5 (Se dice una vez que ellos se han ido o dudamos de lo afirmado por ellos)
Normalmente utilizaremos la versión en pasado, en cuyo caso los siguientes cambios en los verbos se aplican:
|
Estilo directo |
Estilo indirecto |
|
Present simple or continuous |
Past simple or continuous |
| Past simple or continuous / present perfect / past perfect | Past perfect |
Ejemplos:
| wait(s) |
waited |
| am/is/are waiting |
was/were waiting |
|
waited / has waited / had waited |
had waited |
|
was waiting/has been waiting/had been waiting |
had been waiting |
| will | would | can/could | could |
| must/have to | had to | ought to | ought to |
| shall/should | should | may | might |
Otros cambios lógicos se aplican a adverbios de lugar y tiempo, demostrativos, pronombres, etc., dependiendo del contexto.
| I/we | he or she/they | this/these | that/those |
| here | there | today | that day |
| now/at the moment | then/at that moment | tomorrow | the day after/following day |
| three months ago | three months before | yesterday | the day before/previous day |
En cuanto a las preguntas, en estilo indirecto solo puede haber frases negativas o afirmativas, por lo que hay que tener especial cuidado con el orden de las palabras. También hay que tener en cuenta que:
He said to me: "What time do you get up?" He asked me what time I got up.
He said: "Has John studied English" He asked me if John had studied English.
Nota: No se usaría "that" nunca: He asked me that if John had studied English.
Los verbos que se utilizan en las oraciones de estilo indirecto son de dos tipos:
| Verbos parecidos a SAY (no necesitan complemento) |
admit answer declare indicate observe mention report believe think prove... |
|
Verbos parecidos a TELL (necesitan complemento) |
advise convince inform notify teach promise remind... |
Por último las órdenes, ruegos y peticiones requieren una estructura diferente en estilo indirecto, siendo los verbos más utilizados TELL y ASK + OBJETO + (NOT) TO infinitivo, como por ejemplo:
The doctor told me: "Take the pills before meals": The doctor told me to take the pills before meals.
He said: "Don't go near the sea, children!": He told the children not to go near the sea.
"Would you turn on the radio, please?", he asked: He asked me to turn on the radio.
javier hernández benito