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Reported Speech: Rules, Examples, Exceptions

👉 Quiz 1 / Quiz 2

Advanced Grammar Course

What is reported speech?

“Reported speech” is when we talk about what somebody else said – for example:

• Direct Speech: “I’ve been to London three times.”
• Reported Speech: She said she’d been to London three times.

There are a lot of tricky little details to remember, but don’t worry, I’ll explain them and we’ll see lots of examples. The lesson will have three parts – we’ll start by looking at statements in reported speech, and then we’ll learn about some exceptions to the rules, and finally we’ll cover reported questions, requests, and commands.

So much of English grammar – like this topic, reported speech – can be confusing, hard to understand, and even harder to use correctly. I can help you learn grammar easily and use it confidently inside my Advanced English Grammar Course.

In this course, I will make even the most difficult parts of English grammar clear to you – and there are lots of opportunities for you to practice!

Backshift of Verb Tenses in Reported Speech

When we use reported speech, we often change the verb tense backwards in time. This can be called “backshift.”

Here are some examples in different verb tenses:

Reported Speech (Part 1) Quiz

Exceptions to backshift in reported speech.

Now that you know some of the reported speech rules about backshift, let’s learn some exceptions.

There are two situations in which we do NOT need to change the verb tense.

No backshift needed when the situation is still true

For example, if someone says “I have three children” (direct speech) then we would say “He said he has three children” because the situation continues to be true.

If I tell you “I live in the United States” (direct speech) then you could tell someone else “She said she lives in the United States” (that’s reported speech) because it is still true.

When the situation is still true, then we don’t need to backshift the verb.

He said he HAS three children

But when the situation is NOT still true, then we DO need to backshift the verb.

Imagine your friend says, “I have a headache.”

• If you immediately go and talk to another friend, you could say, “She said she has a headache,” because the situation is still true
• If you’re talking about that conversation a month after it happened, then you would say, “She said she had a headache,” because it’s no longer true.

No backshift needed when the situation is still in the future

We also don’t need to backshift to the verb when somebody said something about the future, and the event is still in the future.

Here’s an example:

• On Monday, my friend said, “I ‘ll call you on Friday .”
• “She said she ‘ll call me on Friday”, because Friday is still in the future from now.
• It is also possible to say, “She said she ‘d (she would) call me on Friday.”
• Both of them are correct, so the backshift in this case is optional.

Let’s look at a different situation:

• On Monday, my friend said, “I ‘ll call you on Tuesday .”
• “She said she ‘d  call me on Tuesday.” I must backshift because the event is NOT still in the future.

Review: Reported Speech, Backshift, & Exceptions

Quick review:

• Normally in reported speech we backshift the verb, we put it in a verb tense that’s a little bit further in the past.
• when the situation is still true
• when the situation is still in the future

Reported Requests, Orders, and Questions

Those were the rules for reported statements, just regular sentences.

What about reported speech for questions, requests, and orders?

For reported requests, we use “asked (someone) to do something”:

• “Please make a copy of this report.” (direct speech)
• She asked me to make a copy of the report. (reported speech)

For reported orders, we use “told (someone) to do something:”

• “Go to the bank.” (direct speech)
• “He told me to go to the bank.” (reported speech)

The main verb stays in the infinitive with “to”:

• She asked me to make a copy of the report. She asked me  make  a copy of the report.
• He told me to go to the bank. He told me  go  to the bank.

For yes/no questions, we use “asked if” and “wanted to know if” in reported speech.

• “Are you coming to the party?” (direct)
• He asked if I was coming to the party. (reported)
• “Did you turn off the TV?” (direct)
• She wanted to know if I had turned off the TV.” (reported)

The main verb changes and back shifts according to the rules and exceptions we learned earlier.

Notice that we don’t use do/does/did in the reported question:

• She wanted to know did I turn off the TV.
• She wanted to know if I had turned off the TV.

For other questions that are not yes/no questions, we use asked/wanted to know (without “if”):

• “When was the company founded?” (direct)
• She asked when the company was founded.” (reported)
• “What kind of car do you drive?” (direct)
• He wanted to know what kind of car I drive. (reported)

Again, notice that we don’t use do/does/did in reported questions:

• “Where does he work?”
• She wanted to know  where does he work.
• She wanted to know where he works.

Also, in questions with the verb “to be,” the word order changes in the reported question:

• “Where were you born?” ([to be] + subject)
• He asked where I was born. (subject + [to be])
• He asked where was I born.

Reported Speech (Part 2) Quiz

Learn more about reported speech:

• Reported speech: Perfect English Grammar
• Reported speech: BJYU’s

If you want to take your English grammar to the next level, then my Advanced English Grammar Course is for you! It will help you master the details of the English language, with clear explanations of essential grammar topics, and lots of practice. I hope to see you inside!

I’ve got one last little exercise for you, and that is to write sentences using reported speech. Think about a conversation you’ve had in the past, and write about it – let’s see you put this into practice right away.

Master the details of English grammar:

More Espresso English Lessons:

About the author.

Shayna Oliveira

Shayna Oliveira is the founder of Espresso English, where you can improve your English fast - even if you don’t have much time to study. Millions of students are learning English from her clear, friendly, and practical lessons! Shayna is a CELTA-certified teacher with 10+ years of experience helping English learners become more fluent in her English courses.

Reported Speech

Perfect english grammar.

Reported Statements

Here's how it works:

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. ( Click here for more about using 'say' and 'tell' .) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: I like ice cream.
• Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'. (As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

But , if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

• Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

* doesn't change.

• Direct speech: The sky is blue.
• Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Click here for a mixed tense exercise about practise reported statements. Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?

• Direct speech: Where do you live?
• Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
• Direct speech: Where is Julie?
• Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.
• Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
• Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

Click here to practise reported 'wh' questions. Click here to practise reported 'yes / no' questions. Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

• Direct speech: Close the window, please
• Or: Could you close the window please?
• Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
• Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.
• Direct speech: Please don't be late.
• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

• Direct speech: Sit down!
• Reported speech: She told me to sit down.
• Click here for an exercise to practise reported requests and orders.
• Click here for an exercise about using 'say' and 'tell'.
• Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

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How to use reported speech.

Learn about Reported Speech in English grammar. Clear and simple explanation of meaning and use, with examples.

Forming reported speech

• Direct speech: “I’m not playing football.” Reported later: “He said that he wasn’t playing football.”
• Direct speech: Jane: “I don’t like living here.” (Jane is referring to herself) Reported speech: Jane said (that) she didn’t like living here. (The pronoun she refers to Jane )
• Direct speech: “I like this car.” Reported speech: He said (that) he liked that car.
• Direct speech: “I went to Tokyo last week .” Reported speech: She said (that) she’d been to Tokyo the week before .

We use reported speech to tell someone what another person said:

Jim says to you:

“I don’t feel well.” “I can’t drive.” “My parents have gone on holiday.” “I’m going out now so you will have to wait until I get back.” “I’ll help you.”

Later, you tell your friend what Jim said:

Jim said (that) he didn’t feel well. He said (that) he couldn’t drive. He said (that) his parents had gone on holiday. He said (that) he was going out now so I would have to wait until he got back. He said that he would help me .

Additional points

• Direct speech: “My car is bigger than yours.”
• Reported speech: He said his car is/was bigger than mine.
• Direct speech: “The earthquake happened at half past seven.”
• Reported speech: The radio said that the earthquake  happened at half past seven.
• Direct speech: “I should go to the dentist.”
• Reported speech: He said that he should go to the dentist.

Pronunciation

See the phonemic chart for IPA symbols used below.

If we use that  in reported speech, we pronounce the weak form.

• I said that he’d do it: /ðət/

Related grammar points

Reported Questions Reporting Verbs Say and Tell

Keith Taylor

Keith is the co-founder of Eslbase and School of TEFL . He's been a teacher and teacher trainer for over 20 years, in Indonesia, Australia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Poland, France and now in the UK.

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16 comments

Hello, I’m not a teacher, I’m an ESL class student. So, I’m here to ask you guys a question about wich is still making me to be confused. I asked my teacher, ”if you say, ”I am a teacher”, should I make it a reported speech as ” she said she was a teacher?”. she answered that I needed to say ,” she said she is a teacher”. One more thing: I found a sentence in worksheet written , ”He told his birthday is next week”. Is it correct? I thought it had to be ” he told his birhday would be next week” So, is this modern English rule? Is that a difference? Can you pleeease, explain and help me to make sure to correct this hesitation.

Thanks for your questions.

1. “She said she was a teacher” and “She said she is a teacher” are both correct. Often we don’t change the tense if the fact that we are reporting is still true. So, if it is still true that she is a teacher, then she can report it with “She said she is a teacher” (see Additional point number 1 above).

2. “He told his birthday is next week”. First of all, if you use “told” then you must add a direct object, like this: “He told me his birthday is next week”.

Now, let’s look at the different ways we can use reported speech for this. If the person says “My birthday is next week” then we can report it like this: – He told me his birthday was next week – He told me his birthday is next week (it’s still true so we don’t need to change the tense)

If the person says “My birthday will be next week” then we can report it like this: – He told me his birthday would be next week.

I hope that helps!

This is what I wanted to know. Thanks a lot!

I ask one of my students to introduce him/herself (name, age, hobbies)… and ask other students to take notes. When they are finished, I ask “What did he say?”

I tell students to think about what happened to them before they came to class. For example, “what did your mom, dad, husband, wife say to them? They write down the direct speech and then the reported speech.

I prepare cards with several questions in different tenses, such as:

“What were you doing yesterday at 6?” “How long have you been studying English?” “Will you do your homework for tomorrow?”

I put my students in pairs and ask them to interview each other using the questions on the cards. Once they’ve got their answers, they change partners and share everything they’ve learnt about the previous student.

Cut a dialogue into four parts. Paste it on four walls. Students work in pairs. One of them is the messenger and the other one is a receiver. The messenger runs to the walls and remembers the sentences, comes back and narrates the same to the receiver.

I did a “Find someone who…” mingling activity with my students and then divided the group into two teams. I asked a member from the first team to report one of the replies to a question they had asked. If their reply was correctly put into reported speech, they got a point for their team. I repeated the process until I had covered all the responses from the activity. The team with the most points won the game and was rewarded with cream eggs!

I have students make 10 questions they would ask their favourite actor or actress. Then, they use these questions to interview another partner who pretends to be that famous person. He or she will answer those questions the same way the famous person would. Students end up reporting their answers to the teacher. In that way, they can practice reported speech in an interesting form.

If you have the resources, you can play a short listening/video about an important event, news, etc. Students then have to report to the teacher what they heard.

I show them some debate shows on the Internet after advising them to make notes of the main points. Then I ask them to report what different participants opined. SBS insight has nice discussions to be used for this purpose.

I showed some slides about a fire at a petrol station and the group had to make up a conversation between two witnesses to the fire. We then wrote it as a newspaper report.

I put students in groups of three. Two in the group are a couple quarrelling, but who will not speak to each other. The middle man/woman receives information from one and uses reported speech to relay the message(s).

I ask students to think of a fun sentence. I put them all in a line and the student at the end whispers their sentence to the one beside them, this student then reports the sentence to the following student, and so on. The last student says the sentence aloud and we see if they did it correctly… it is like the “telefono descompuesto” in Spanish.

I ask students to tell their partner three secrets. Then, this student tells other students in the class (a good way to explain the word: gossip!). This activity helps students practice reporting but in a fun way!

I give the students comic strips from the funny pages, and they have to summarize the direct speech. There are always lots of questions, and that makes especially good practice.

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Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

Exercises on reported speech.

If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.

When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

• present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

→ more on statements in reported speech

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

Also note that you have to:

• transform the question into an indirect question
• use the interrogative or if / whether

→ more on questions in reported speech

→ more on requests in reported speech

Additional Information and Exeptions

Apart from the above mentioned basic rules, there are further aspects that you should keep in mind, for example:

• main clauses connected with and / but
• tense of the introductory clause
• reported speech for difficult tenses
• exeptions for backshift
• requests with must , should , ought to and let’s

→ more on additional information and exeptions in reported speech

Statements in Reported Speech

• no backshift – change of pronouns
• no backshift – change of pronouns and places
• with backshift
• with backshift and change of place and time expressions

Questions in Reported Speech

Requests in reported speech.

• Exercise 1 – requests (positive)
• Exercise 2 – requests (negative)
• Exercise 3 – requests (mixed)

Mixed Exercises on Reported Speech

• Exercise on reported speech with and without backshift

Grammar in Texts

• „ The Canterville Ghost “ (highlight direct speech and reported speech)

The Reported Speech

Table of Contents

What is reported speech.

Reported speech is when you tell somebody what you or another person said before. When reporting a speech, some changes are necessary.

For example, the statement:

• Jane said she was waiting for her mom .

is a reported speech, whereas:

• Jane said, “I’m waiting for my mom.”

is a direct speech.

Reported speech is also referred to as indirect speech or indirect discourse .

Before explaining how to report a discourse, let us first distinguish between direct speech and reported speech .

Direct speech vs reported speech

1. We use direct speech to quote a speaker’s exact words. We put their words within quotation marks. We add a reporting verb such as “he said” or “she asked” before or after the quote.

• He said, “I am happy.”

2. Reported speech is a way of reporting what someone said without using quotation marks. We do not necessarily report the speaker”‘s exact words. Some changes are necessary: the time expressions, the tense of the verbs, and the demonstratives.

• He said that he was happy.

More examples:

Different types of reported speech

When you use reported speech, you either report:

• Requests/commands
• Other types

A. Reporting statements

When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

• place and time expression

1- Pronouns

In reported speech, you often have to change the pronoun depending on who says what.

She says, “My dad likes roast chicken.” => She says that her dad likes roast chicken.

• If the sentence starts in the present, there is no backshift of tenses in reported speech.
• If the sentence starts in the past, there is often a backshift of tenses in reported speech.

No backshift

Do not change the tense if the introductory clause (i.e., the reporting verb) is in the present tense (e. g. He says ). Note, however, that you might have to change the form of the present tense verb (3rd person singular).

• He says, “I write poems.” => He says that he writes English.

You must change the tense if the introductory clause (i.e., the reporting verb) is in the past tense (e. g. He said ).

• He said, “I am happy.”=> He said that he was happy.

Examples of the main changes in verb tense :

3. Modal verbs

The modal verbs could, should, would, might, needn’t, ought to, and used to do not normally change.

• He said: “She might be right.” => He said that she might be right.
• He told her: “You needn’t see a doctor.” => He told her that she needn’t see a doctor.

Other modal verbs such as can, shall, will, must, and ma y change:

4- Place, demonstratives, and time expressions

Place, demonstratives, and time expressions change if the context of the reported statement (i.e. the location and/or the period of time) is different from that of the direct speech.

In the following table, you will find the different changes of place; demonstratives, and time expressions.

B. Reporting Questions

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• The pronouns
• The place and time expressions
• The tenses (backshift)

Also, note that you have to:

• transform the question into an indirect question
• use the question word ( where, when, what, how ) or if / whether

>> EXERCISE ON REPORTING QUESTIONS <<

C. Reporting requests/commands

When transforming requests and commands, check whether you have to change:

• place and time expressions
• She said, “Sit down.” – She asked me to sit down.
• She said, “don’t be lazy” – She asked me not to be lazy

D. Other transformations

• Expressions of advice with must , should, and ought are usually reported using advise / urge . Example: “You must read this book.” He advised/urged me to read that book.
• The expression let’s is usually reported using suggest . In this case, there are two possibilities for reported speech: gerund or statement with should . Example : “Let’s go to the cinema.” 1. He suggested going to the cinema. 2. He suggested that we should go to the cinema.

Main clauses connected with and/but

If two complete main clauses are connected with and or but , put that after the conjunction.

• He said, “I saw her but she didn’t see me.=> He said that he had seen her but that she hadn’t seen him.

If the subject is dropped in the second main clause (the conjunction is followed by a verb), do not use that .

• She said, “I am a nurse and work in a hospital.=> He said that she was a nurse and worked in a hospital.

punctuation rules of the reported speech

Direct speech:

We normally add a comma between the reporting verbs (e.g., she/he said, reported, he replied, etc.) and the reported clause in direct speech. The original speaker”s words are put between inverted commas, either single (“…”) or double (“…”).

• She said, “I wasn’t ready for the competition”.

Note that we insert the comma within the inverted commas if the reported clause comes first:

• “I wasn’t ready for the competition,” she said.

Indirect speech:

In indirect speech, we don’t put a comma between the reporting verb and the reported clause and we omit the inverted quotes.

• She said that she hadn’t been ready for the competition.

In reported questions and exclamations, we remove the question mark and the exclamation mark.

• She asked him why he looked sad?
• She asked him why he looked sad.

Can we omit that in the reported speech?

Yes, we can omit that after reporting verbs such as he said , he replied , she suggested , etc.

• He said that he could do it. – He said he could do it.
• She replied that she was fed up with his misbehavior. – She replied she was fed up with his misbehavior.

List of reporting verbs

Reported speech requires a reporting verb such as “he said”, she “replied”, etc.

Here is a list of some common reporting verbs:

• Cry (meaning shout)
• Demonstrate
• Hypothesize
• Posit the view that
• Question the view that
• Want to know

In reported speech, we put the words of a speaker in a subordinate clause introduced by a reporting verb such as – “ he said ” and “ she asked “- with the required person and tense adjustments.

Related pages

• Reported speech exercise (mixed)
• Reported speech exercise (questions)
• Reported speech exercise (requests and commands)
• Reported speech lesson

Reported speech

Speech can be direct and indirect, or reported. 

When you express your thought orally or in writing, it is direct speech. We usually put it in quotes.

When you communicate what someone else said, it is reported speech.

Reported statements

Sue: "I am hungry."

Sue says (that)  she is hungry.

To transfer a positive or a negative sentence to reported speech, we need two parts:

• the main part (she says that... / he claims that... / they deny that...),
• the dependent part which is the transformed direct speech.

Pay attention

In the reported speech, we must replace the pronouns. Otherwise, we won't keep the meaning.

Mary: "I am glad to help you!"

Mary says she is glad to help me . BUT NOT Mary says I am glad to help you.

You should also be careful with  time indicators (today, now, next week etc.) not to lose the idea of the original direct statement.

The word  that  can be used or left out, both options are correct.

Backshift of tenses in reported speech

When we have a sentence that consists of the main and the dependent part we need to be careful with the verb tenses. The tense in the main part affects the tense in the dependent part. This is called backshifting.

If the main part is in the present simple (e.g., "she says...", "he tells me..."), the dependent part remains unchanged.

John: "I have just got up."

John says he has just got up. "Says" is the present simple → no backshifting

If the main part is in the  past simple, we have to do the backshifting. Its basic principle is that the past simple in the main part "pushes" the tense of the dependent part one step back in time. This way we balance both parts of the sentence.

You can view the topic ' reported statements ' with an explanation and exercises.

Reported questions

If the direct question began with a question word (when, what, how, why and so on), then in the reported speech:

• the sentence changes from question to positive, with a direct word order
• we need to do the backshifting if we have the past simple in the main part

"Why did you leave the door open?" → She asked me why I had left the door open.

"Where have you been?" → She asked me where I had been.

If the direct question didn't have a question word (it was a yes/no question), we add the word "if" to transform it into reported speech. The rules of backshifting are the same.

"Will it rain tomorrow?" → They wanted to know if it would rain the next day.

"Can I lend your pen for a second?" → I asked if I could lend his pen for a second.

You can also view the topic ' reported questions ' for a detailed explanation and exercises.

Reported requests and demands

If we want to transform somebody's demand or request into reported speech, we say:

• tell somebody to do something — for reported commands
• ask somebody to do something — for reported requests

If the imperative was negative (don't go, don't do), we put "not" before "to":  tell somebody not to do something.

"Do not cross the red line, please!" → The officer told us not to cross the red line.

"Could you put the flowers in the vase, please?" → She asked me to put the flowers in the vase.

You can also view the topic ' reported requests & demands ' for a detailed explanation and exercises.

Reported Speech in English Grammar

Direct speech, changing the tense (backshift), no change of tenses, question sentences, demands/requests, expressions with who/what/how + infinitive, typical changes of time and place.

• Lingolia Plus English

Introduction

In English grammar, we use reported speech to say what another person has said. We can use their exact words with quotation marks , this is known as direct speech , or we can use indirect speech . In indirect speech , we change the tense and pronouns to show that some time has passed. Indirect speech is often introduced by a reporting verb or phrase such as ones below.

Learn the rules for writing indirect speech in English with Lingolia’s simple explanation. In the exercises, you can test your grammar skills.

When turning direct speech into indirect speech, we need to pay attention to the following points:

• changing the pronouns Example: He said, “ I saw a famous TV presenter.” He said (that) he had seen a famous TV presenter.
• changing the information about time and place (see the table at the end of this page) Example: He said, “I saw a famous TV presenter here yesterday .” He said (that) he had seen a famous TV presenter there the day before .
• changing the tense (backshift) Example: He said, “She was eating an ice-cream at the table where you are sitting .” He said (that) she had been eating an ice-cream at the table where I was sitting .

If the introductory clause is in the simple past (e.g. He said ), the tense has to be set back by one degree (see the table). The term for this in English is backshift .

The verbs could, should, would, might, must, needn’t, ought to, used to normally do not change.

If the introductory clause is in the simple present , however (e.g. He says ), then the tense remains unchanged, because the introductory clause already indicates that the statement is being immediately repeated (and not at a later point in time).

In some cases, however, we have to change the verb form.

When turning questions into indirect speech, we have to pay attention to the following points:

• As in a declarative sentence, we have to change the pronouns, the time and place information, and set the tense back ( backshift ).
• Instead of that , we use a question word. If there is no question word, we use whether / if instead. Example: She asked him, “ How often do you work?” → She asked him how often he worked. He asked me, “Do you know any famous people?” → He asked me if/whether I knew any famous people.
• We put the subject before the verb in question sentences. (The subject goes after the auxiliary verb in normal questions.) Example: I asked him, “ Have you met any famous people before?” → I asked him if/whether he had met any famous people before.
• We don’t use the auxiliary verb do for questions in indirect speech. Therefore, we sometimes have to conjugate the main verb (for third person singular or in the simple past ). Example: I asked him, “What do you want to tell me?” → I asked him what he wanted to tell me.
• We put the verb directly after who or what in subject questions. Example: I asked him, “ Who is sitting here?” → I asked him who was sitting there.

We don’t just use indirect questions to report what another person has asked. We also use them to ask questions in a very polite manner.

When turning demands and requests into indirect speech, we only need to change the pronouns and the time and place information. We don’t have to pay attention to the tenses – we simply use an infinitive .

If it is a negative demand, then in indirect speech we use not + infinitive .

To express what someone should or can do in reported speech, we leave out the subject and the modal verb and instead we use the construction who/what/where/how + infinitive.

Say or Tell?

The words say and tell are not interchangeable. say = say something tell = say something to someone

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• B1-B2 grammar

Reported speech

Daisy has just had an interview for a summer job. 

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of reported speech. They are in  red  in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, reported speech correctly.

Sophie:  Mmm, it’s so nice to be chilling out at home after all that running around.

Ollie: Oh, yeah, travelling to glamorous places for a living must be such a drag!

Ollie: Mum, you can be so childish sometimes. Hey, I wonder how Daisy’s getting on in her job interview.

Sophie: Oh, yes, she said she was having it at four o’clock, so it’ll have finished by now. That’ll be her ... yes. Hi, love. How did it go?

Daisy: Well, good I think, but I don’t really know. They said they’d phone later and let me know.

Sophie: What kind of thing did they ask you?

Daisy: They asked if I had any experience with people, so I told them about helping at the school fair and visiting old people at the home, that sort of stuff. But I think they meant work experience.

Sophie: I’m sure what you said was impressive. They can’t expect you to have had much work experience at your age.

Daisy:  And then they asked me what acting I had done, so I told them that I’d had a main part in the school play, and I showed them a bit of the video, so that was cool.

Sophie:  Great!

Daisy: Oh, and they also asked if I spoke any foreign languages.

Sophie: Languages?

Daisy: Yeah, because I might have to talk to tourists, you know.

Sophie: Oh, right, of course.

Daisy: So that was it really. They showed me the costume I’ll be wearing if I get the job. Sending it over ...

Ollie: Hey, sis, I heard that Brad Pitt started out as a giant chicken too! This could be your big break!

Daisy: Ha, ha, very funny.

Sophie: Take no notice, darling. I’m sure you’ll be a marvellous chicken.

We use reported speech when we want to tell someone what someone said. We usually use a reporting verb (e.g. say, tell, ask, etc.) and then change the tense of what was actually said in direct speech.

So, direct speech is what someone actually says? Like 'I want to know about reported speech'?

Yes, and you report it with a reporting verb.

He said he wanted to know about reported speech.

I said, I want and you changed it to he wanted .

Exactly. Verbs in the present simple change to the past simple; the present continuous changes to the past continuous; the present perfect changes to the past perfect; can changes to could ; will changes to would ; etc.

She said she was having the interview at four o’clock. (Direct speech: ' I’m having the interview at four o’clock.') They said they’d phone later and let me know. (Direct speech: ' We’ll phone later and let you know.')

OK, in that last example, you changed you to me too.

Yes, apart from changing the tense of the verb, you also have to think about changing other things, like pronouns and adverbs of time and place.

'We went yesterday.'  > She said they had been the day before. 'I’ll come tomorrow.' >  He said he’d come the next day.

I see, but what if you’re reporting something on the same day, like 'We went yesterday'?

Well, then you would leave the time reference as 'yesterday'. You have to use your common sense. For example, if someone is saying something which is true now or always, you wouldn’t change the tense.

'Dogs can’t eat chocolate.' > She said that dogs can’t eat chocolate. 'My hair grows really slowly.' >  He told me that his hair grows really slowly.

What about reporting questions?

We often use ask + if/whether , then change the tenses as with statements. In reported questions we don’t use question forms after the reporting verb.

'Do you have any experience working with people?' They asked if I had any experience working with people. 'What acting have you done?' They asked me what acting I had done .

Is there anything else I need to know about reported speech?

One thing that sometimes causes problems is imperative sentences.

You mean like 'Sit down, please' or 'Don’t go!'?

Exactly. Sentences that start with a verb in direct speech need a to + infinitive in reported speech.

She told him to be good. (Direct speech: 'Be good!') He told them not to forget. (Direct speech: 'Please don’t forget.')

OK. Can I also say 'He asked me to sit down'?

Yes. You could say 'He told me to …' or 'He asked me to …' depending on how it was said.

OK, I see. Are there any more reporting verbs?

Yes, there are lots of other reporting verbs like promise , remind , warn , advise , recommend , encourage which you can choose, depending on the situation. But say , tell and ask are the most common.

Great. I understand! My teacher said reported speech was difficult.

And I told you not to worry!

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ENGLISH 4U English Language Learning

• GRAMMAR EXERCISES
• TENSES EXERCISES
• GRAMMAR QUIZZES & TESTS
• IRREGULAR VERBS

Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

Change of the tenses.

If the reporting verb is in the past form (said, told,...), you have to change the tense .

Example: Peter said, "Carol is a nice girl." Peter said (that) Carol was a nice girl.

Don't change these verbs: might, could, would, should

He said, "I might arrive late." He said (that) he might arrive late.

It isn't necessary to change the present tense into the past tense if the information in the direct speech is still true or a general statement .

Frank said, "My sister is a secretary." Frank said (that) his sister is (was) a secretary.

He told us, "The sun rises in the east." He told us that the sun rises (rose) in the east.

Change of the pronouns

When you form the reported speech, you have to pay attention that the pronouns refer to the correct persons.

Susan said, " My parents are clever scientists." Susan said (that) her parents were clever scientists.

Tom said, " I like PE best." Tom said (that) he liked PE best.

They said, " We went swimming with our friends." They said (that) they had gone swimming with their friend.

Betty said, "Sam told me the truth." Betty said (that) Sam had told her the truth.

You and your:

They told her / him / me / them / us , "George likes you ."

They told her / him / me / them / us (that) George liked her / him / me / them / us .

They told her / him / me / them / us ,"George likes your sister."

They told her / him / me / them / us (that) George likes her / his / my / their / our sister.

They told her / him / me / them / us ," You are clever."

They told her / him / me / them / us (that) she / he / I / they / we was / were clever.

Change of expressions of time and place

Example: She said, "I have already seen Carol today ." She said (that) she had already seen Carol that day .

Reported Questions

If there is a question word , we keep it.

They asked me, " Where is the next supermarket?" They asked me where the next supermarket was.

She asked them, " How often do you play golf?" She asked them how often they played golf.

If there is no question word , we start the reported speech with if or whether .

She asked me, "Do you like some tea?" She asked me if/whether I liked some tea.

We asked them, "Did she arrive in time?" We asked them if/whether she had arrived in time.

Reported Requests

If someone asks you in a polite way, use (not) to + infinitive

He asked her, "Could you close the door, please?" He asked her to close the door.

She asked them, "Help me, please." She asked them to help her.

Reported Commands

If someone doesn't ask you politely or gives you an order, use (not) to + infinitive .

She told us, "Don't stay up too late!" She told us not to stay up too late.

Reported Speech Exercise 1 - statements - mixed tenses

Reported Speech Exercise 2 - statements - present tense

Reported Speech Exercise 3 - statements - present tense

Reported Speech Exercise 4 - statements - mixed tenses

Reported Speech Exercise 5 - statements - mixed tenses

Reported Speech Exercise 6 - statements, questions, commands

Reported Speech Exercise 7 - statements, questions, commands

Reported Speech Exercise 8 - questions, commands

Reported Speech Exercise 9 - questions, commands

Reported Speech Exercise 10 - statements, questions, commands

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Reported Speech (Meaning, Rules, Examples, And FREE Worksheet)

Have you ever wondered how we can share what someone said without using their exact words?

That’s where reported speech comes in.

Whether you’re recounting a story, sharing an interview, or simply conveying what someone said, reported speech adds depth and authenticity to your communication.

In this blog post, we’ll uncover the secrets of transforming direct speech into indirect speech, making conversations come to life in a whole new way.

What Is Reported Speech?

Picture this scenario: your best friend tells you about a great movie he watched. Later, when you’re chatting with another friend, you tell them, “ My best friend said he watched a great movie. ”

Bingo! That’s reported speech.

It’s how we pass along or ‘report’ what someone else has said. Instead of repeating their exact words (that’s called direct speech), we often rephrase things, put them in our own words, or change the tense. 

We use reported speech all the time, often without even realizing it—it’s a key part of how we share information.

In the  English language , reported speech (also known as indirect speech ) is a handy tool, so let’s dig into it some more. 

Don’t worry. We’ll take it step by step!

Reported Speech Rules

Alright, now that we know what reported speech is, let’s talk about the rules. Don’t worry, and it’s not as scary as it sounds. Just like in a football game or a board game, rules help everything flow smoothly. 

Here’s how it works with reported speech:

1. Say Bye To Quotation Marks

When we’re using reported speech, we don’t need quotation marks . Quotation marks are like party guests who show up when we’re quoting someone’s words directly. But for reported speech, we’re rephrasing things, so the quotation marks can take a little break.

2. Change The Tense

Usually, we shift the tenses back. This is because we’re usually talking about something that happened in the past. It’s like time  travel  but with words! If someone said, “I love pizza,” and you reported it, you’d say, “She said she loved pizza.”

3. Adjust Pronouns

Just like you wouldn’t wear your friend’s glasses, we don’t use the same pronouns when we shift to reported speech. We need to change them to match who we’re talking about. If your brother said, “I aced my  IELTS speaking test ,” you would tell your friends, “My brother said he aced his IELTS speaking test.”

4. Time And Place References

If the direct speech mentions a  specific time  or place, you may have to change these references too. So if your friend tells you on a Monday, “I’ll visit you tomorrow,” and you report it on Tuesday, you’d say, “She said she would visit me today.”

Tense Change In Reported Speech

Changes in time and place in reported speech.

When we’re telling someone else about a conversation that happened at another time or place, it’s super important to adjust the time and place references.

It might sound complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really just about making sure everything makes sense.

Let’s check out more examples:

Isn’t it cool how these little changes help keep the timeline clear when we’re sharing past conversations? That way, there’s no mix-up over when or where things happened! It’s one of the many neat tricks that language gives us.

Questions In Reported Speech

You know when someone asks a question, it sounds and looks a certain way, right? Well, when we talk about that question later, we change it up a bit.

We turn the question into a statement.

Sounds tricky? Don’t worry, I’ll explain!

See what we did there? We made those questions smooth out into statements. It’s like ironing the question mark right out of them!

Oh, and one more thing. If the question starts with a question word (like ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘where’), keep it in the reported speech. But if it’s a yes/no question, use ‘if’ or ‘whether.’

Reported Speech Worksheet With Answers

Here are a few reported speech exercises to practice and reinforce your understanding:

Exercise 1: 

Rewrite the following direct speech sentences as reported speech sentences.

• “I love ice cream,” said Emily.
• “Have you finished your homework?” asked the teacher.
• “We’re going on vacation next week,” said Mark.
• “Why didn’t you attend the meeting?” he asked.
• “I will help you with your project,” she promised.
• “I will visit my grandparents next weekend,” said Jack.
• Emily said she loved ice cream.
• The teacher asked if I had finished my homework.
• Mark said they were going on  vacation   the following week.
• He asked why I hadn’t attended the meeting.
• She promised to help me with my project.
• Jack said he would visit his grandparents the following weekend.

Exercise 2: Change the following sentences from reported speech to direct speech.

• He said that he had finished his work.
• She told me that she would call me later.
• They said they were going to the movies.
• The teacher told us to study for the test.
• He said he had seen the movie before.
• “I have finished my work,” he said.
• “I will call you later,” she told me.
• “We are going to the movies,” they said.
• “Study for the test,” the teacher told us.
• “I have seen the movie before,” he said.

FAQs On Reported Speech 

What are the 5 examples of reported speech.

Here are five examples for you:

1. “She’s really tired,” becomes, “He said she was really tired.” 2. “I’ll help you tomorrow,” becomes, “She said she would help me tomorrow.” 3. “I’m reading a great book,” becomes, “He said he was reading a great book.” 4. “We’re going on vacation,” becomes, “They said they were going on vacation.” 5. “I’ve lost my hat,” becomes, “She said she had lost her hat.”

What Are The 3 Most Common Reporting Verbs In Reported Speech?

The three most common reporting verbs are “say,” “tell,” and “ask.” We use these all the time in reported speech!

What Is An Example Of Reported Speech For Kids?

If your friend Billy says, “I have a new bike,” and you want to tell someone else what Billy said, you would use reported speech. You might say, “Billy told me that he had a new bike.”

What Are The 3 Main Elements Of A Reported Speech?

The three main elements are:

1. Pronoun: In reported speech, pronouns are typically changed to match the perspective of the person doing the reporting. For example, first-person pronouns in direct speech (“I,” “we”) become the third person (“he,” “she,” “they”) in reported speech. This keeps the meaning clear when the speaker’s words are reported by someone else.

2. Reporting Verb: This is the verb used to indicate that speech or thought is being reported. Common reporting verbs include “say,” “tell,” “ask,” “think,” and “feel,” among others. The choice of reporting verb can convey additional nuances about how the speech was originally delivered.

3. Tense Shift: Known as “backshifting,” the shifting of tenses is common in reported speech. If the direct speech is in the present tense , it’s customary to shift it to the past tense in reported speech. For instance, “I am happy” would become “she said she was happy.” This shift accurately portrays that the reported action or state happened at a previous time.

These elements work together to convey the original meaning of the speaker’s words while fitting into the grammatical structure of the reporting sentence .

Wrapping Up Reported Speech

Congratulations on completing your journey into the realm of reported speech! 

Remember to adjust pronouns, tenses, and other elements to accurately report speech. 

As you continue to practice and apply what you’ve learned, you’ll become more confident in reporting speech accurately and creatively.

If you’ve found this post helpful, please do follow Hi English Hub   on  Pinterest  and  Twitter  for more linguistic insights, and feel free to share this with others who might also benefit. 

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Reported Speech with Examples and Test (PDF)

Reported speech is used when we want to convey what someone else has said to us or to another person. It involves paraphrasing or summarising what has been said , often changing verb tenses , pronouns and other elements to suit the context of the report.

*doesn’t change

Formula of Reported Speech

The formula for reported speech involves transforming direct speech into an indirect form while maintaining the meaning of the original statement. In general, the formula includes:

• Choosing an appropriate reporting verb (e.g., say, tell, mention, explain).
• Changing pronouns and time expressions if necessary.
• Shifting the tense of the verb back if the reporting verb is in the past tense.
• Using reporting clauses like “that” or appropriate conjunctions.
• Adjusting word order and punctuation to fit the structure of the reported speech.

Here’s a simplified formula:

Reporting Verb + Indirect Object + Conjunction + Reported Clause

For example:

• She said (reporting verb) to me (indirect object) that (conjunction) she liked ice cream (reported clause).

Here’s how we use reported speech:

Reporting Verbs: We use verbs like ‘say’ or ‘tell’ to introduce reported speech. If the reporting verb is in the present tense, the tense of the reported speech generally remains the same.

If the reporting verb is in the past tense , the tense of the reported speech often shifts back in time.

Tense Changes: Tense changes are common in reported speech. For example, present simple may change to past simple, present continuous to past continuous, etc. However, some verbs like ‘would’, ‘could’, ‘should’, ‘might’, ‘must’, and ‘ought to’ generally don’t change.

Reported Questions: When reporting questions, we often change them into statements while preserving the meaning. Question words are retained, and the tense of the verbs may change.

Reported Requests and Orders: Requests and orders are reported similarly to statements. Reported requests often use ‘asked me to’ + infinitive, while reported orders use ‘told me to’ + infinitive.

Time Expressions: Time expressions may need to change depending on when the reported speech occurred in relation to the reporting moment. For instance, ‘today’ may become ‘that day’ or ‘yesterday’, ‘yesterday’ might become ‘the day before’, and so forth.

Reported Speech with Examples PDF

  Reported Speech PDF – download

Reported Speech Test

  Reported Speech A2 – B1 Test – download

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Middle East Crisis Biden Endorses Israeli Road Map for a Cease-Fire in Gaza

• Share full article

• Palestinians returning to devastated parts of the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza on Friday. Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Palestinian boys playing in Rafah on Friday. Eyad Baba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Protesting outside the Israeli cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Amir Levy/Getty Images
• Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Friday at the funeral of Sgt. Yonatan Elias, who was killed in action in Gaza. Maya Alleruzzo/Associated Press
• Houthi supporters in Yemen brandish rifles as they rally in support of Gazans on Friday. Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

Follow live news updates on the crisis in the Middle East .

‘It’s time for this war to end’ in Gaza, Biden says.

Biden endorses israeli cease-fire proposal, president biden at the white house on friday outlining a new three-phase proposal from the israeli government that ideally would lead to a permanent cease-fire in gaza..

Israel has offered a comprehensive new proposal. It’s a road map to an enduring cease-fire and the release of all hostages. This proposal has been transmitted by Qatar to Hamas. This is truly a decisive moment. Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it. Hamas needs to take the deal. For months, people all over the world have called for cease-fire. Now it’s time to raise your voices and demand that Hamas come to the table, agrees to this deal and ends this war that they began. At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another Oct. 7. And the Palestinian people have endured sheer hell in this war. Too many innocent people have been killed, including thousands of children. It’s time to begin this new stage. The hostages come home, for Israel to be secure, for the suffering to stop. It’s time for this war to end, and for the day after to begin. Thank you very much.

Declaring Hamas no longer capable of carrying out a major terrorist attack on Israel, President Biden said on Friday that it was time for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and endorsed a new plan he said Israel had offered to win the release of hostages and end the fighting.

“It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” Mr. Biden said, speaking from the State Dining Room at the White House. He also gave a stark description of Hamas’s diminished capabilities after more than seven months of Israeli attacks, saying that “at this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another Oct. 7.”

“This is truly a decisive moment,” Mr. Biden said. “Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.”

With that statement, Mr. Biden appeared to be revealing his true agenda: making public elements of the proposal in an effort to pressure both Hamas and Israel to break out of a monthslong deadlock that has resulted in the killing of thousands of Palestinians.

American officials have described Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar , as interested only in his own survival and that of his family and inner circle, as they presumably operate from tunnels deep under southern Gaza. But officials have also said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has little incentive to move to a real cease-fire, because of the widespread belief in Israel that as soon as the surviving hostages are returned, and a last cease-fire begins, he will most likely lose his fragile hold on power.

Mr. Biden’s remarks came at a pivotal moment in his re-election campaign, a day after his rival, former President Donald J. Trump, was convicted of 34 felony charges. At the same time, he has been facing growing pressure at home over the bloodshed in Gaza, which has led to eruptions on college campuses and on the streets of American cities, and alienated many of his own supporters.

Mr. Biden described the three-phase Israeli plan as a “comprehensive new proposal” that amounted to a road map to an “enduring cease-fire.” But at several moments in the past few months, Mr. Netanyahu has directly contradicted Mr. Biden. And so far, Hamas has never accepted a comprehensive proposal, declaring in its public statements that fighting must end before major hostage releases or any agreement with Israel.

Hints of differences came almost as soon as Mr. Biden finished speaking. Following his speech, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said the Israeli government was “united in the desire to bring home our hostages as soon as possible.”

But it added that Mr. Netanyahu had stipulated to Israeli negotiators that they could not reach a deal that would end the war before all their goals were achieved, including the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capacities in Gaza.

“The exact outline that Israel has offered — including the conditional progression from stage to stage — enables Israel to maintain that principle,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said.

Hamas reacted positively to Mr. Biden’s speech in a statement on social media, saying that it was willing to deal “constructively” with any cease-fire proposal based on a permanent truce, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and a “serious prisoner exchange.”

Many of the hard-liners in Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition did not immediately respond to Mr. Biden’s address because of the Jewish Sabbath, which began before his remarks. Mr. Netanyahu’s nationalist allies, like Itamar Ben-Gvir , the national security minister, have said they could leave the government if an agreement ended the war before Hamas’s complete destruction.

“I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely,” Mr. Biden said, adding that some in Mr. Netanyahu’s government have made clear they want to “occupy Gaza.”

“They want to keep fighting for years, and the hostages are not a priority to them,” Mr. Biden said in what appeared to be a direct message to the far-right members of Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet. “I’ve urged leadership of Israel to stand behind this deal.”

Mr. Biden has faced questions over how long he was willing to support Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and particularly its most recent attacks in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The bloodshed in Gaza has left more than 36,000 people dead.

Israel’s national security adviser said this week that he expected the war to continue through at least the end of the year.

Global pressure to scale down the military operation increased after the International Court of Justice, an arm of the United Nations, ruled last week that Israel must halt its military offensive in Rafah. The court, however, has no means of enforcing the order.

Friday’s remarks were Mr. Biden’s first public comments about the war since an Israeli strike and subsequent fire on Sunday killed at least 45 people, including children, and wounded 249 in an encampment for the displaced, according to Gazan health officials. A visual analysis by The New York Times found that Israel used U.S.-made bombs in the strike, forcing the White House to face difficult questions over American responsibility for rising death toll.

Mr. Biden said on Friday that he saw the “terrible images” from the deadly fire.

“The Palestinian people have endured sheer hell in this war,” Mr. Biden said after describing the pain of those whose relatives were “slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7” and the “anguish” of Israeli families waiting for hostages to be released.

Mr. Biden also said too many innocent people had been killed in Gaza, “including thousands of children,” and addressed the many Americans who are infuriated over the way his administration has handled the conflict.

“I know this is a subject on which people in this country feel deep passionate convictions,” Mr. Biden added. “So do I. This has been one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world. There’s nothing easy about this.”

In describing the four-and-a-half page Israeli proposal, Mr. Biden said it would be broken into three phases. The first would begin with a roughly six-week cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza and a release of elderly and female hostages held by Hamas, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees. Mr. Biden said there were still details that still needed to be negotiated to move on to the next phase — apparently including how many Palestinians would be released in return for each freed Israeli hostage.

In the second phase, as described by a senior administration official who briefed reporters after Mr. Biden spoke, all the remaining Israeli hostages would be released, including male soldiers. All hostilities would end, and, the official said, all Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. In the past, Mr. Netanyahu has publicly rejected a complete withdrawal, maintaining that would result in a resurgent Hamas, once again in control of the territory.

It is unclear, from the description given to reporters in the briefing, who would govern the territory, though in the past the United States has said that would most likely be the Palestinian Authority, which has struggled to run the West Bank.

In the third phase, the remains of hostages who have died would be exchanged, rubble cleared and a three- to five-year reconstruction period would begin, backed by the United States, Europe and international institutions. But that plan sounded almost aspirational, given the level of destruction and the near-famine conditions.

Mr. Biden, however, portrayed this road map as reasonable — if the terrorist group goes along. “As long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, a temporary cease-fire will become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, a cessation of hostilities permanently,” Mr. Biden said.

American officials said they believed that following the meeting in Paris last weekend between William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, Israel made significant concessions on the hostage talks. Those included reducing the number of live hostages they required to be released in the early phase.

Still, a person briefed on the matter said the negotiations were “on pause” while Israel conducts its operation in Rafah.

Mr. Biden has also been involved in the hostage talks, even though he has not traveled for any of the negotiating sessions. Mr. Biden’s role, officials said, has been most notable in the pressure he has put on Mr. Netanyahu to continue to negotiate and reduce Israeli demands.

But on Friday, Mr. Biden was clearly focusing his pressure on Hamas, arguing that taking this offer was their best shot at ending the war and moving toward a cease-fire.

“Everybody who wants peace now must raise their voices,” Mr. Biden said, adding that the public should let Hamas leaders “know they should take this deal. Work to make it real, make it lasting and forge a better future out of the tragic terror attack and war.”

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Julian E. Barnes from Washington.

— Zolan Kanno-Youngs and David E. Sanger Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Rehoboth Beach, Del., where President Biden will be spending the weekend. David E. Sanger reported from Washington.

Congressional leaders, divided over Gaza, invite the Israeli prime minister to address a joint session.

The top four congressional leaders formally invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday to address a joint meeting of Congress, in a show of bipartisan unity that masked a fraught behind-the-scenes debate over receiving him.

The invitation, which set no date, came amid deep political divides in the United States over the war between Israel and Hamas, which has intensified after Israel’s recent attacks in Rafah.

Speaker Mike Johnson had been pressing to issue the invitation for weeks, seeking to hug Mr. Netanyahu closer as some Democrats, particularly progressives, repudiate him and condemn his tactics in the war, which have caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza and a humanitarian disaster for Palestinians.

Republicans have unequivocally backed Mr. Netanyahu’s policies, while Democrats, many of whom view his far-right government as an impediment to peace, have been deeply split over them. On Friday, Mr. Biden called for a permanent cease-fire and said, “It’s time for this war to end.”

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, earlier this year called for Mr. Netanyahu to step down and for new elections . In response, Mr. Netanyahu assailed Mr. Schumer in a closed-door virtual speech to Senate Republicans. Mr. Schumer at the time had refused to allow Mr. Netanyahu to make a similar address to Senate Democrats, arguing that it was not helpful to Israel for the prime minister to address American lawmakers in a partisan fashion.

Even before the invitation went out on Friday afternoon, the prospect of Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to the Capitol had divided Democrats. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he would boycott a speech from the prime minister, and House progressives said they would plan some sort of gesture to register their opposition to Mr. Netanyahu’s government and to his presence at the Capitol.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi had said Mr. Schumer should not add his name to the invitation.

But on Friday, Mr. Schumer, along with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, and Mr. Johnson, extended a bipartisan invitation for Mr. Netanyahu to address all of Congress at once in a formal joint meeting of both chambers.

“The existential challenges we face, including the growing partnership between Iran, Russia and China, threaten the security, peace and prosperity of our countries and of free people around the world,” the four leaders wrote in the letter. “To build on our enduring relationship and to highlight America’s solidarity with Israel, we invite you to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combating terror and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.”

The lack of a date was somewhat unusual for an invitation to a foreign leader.

Mr. Netanyahu last addressed Congress in 2015, during a more formal joint meeting in which he took the podium before members of the House and Senate to argue strenuously against the policies of President Barack Obama related to a nuclear agreement with Iran. At the time, 58 members of Congress boycotted the speech .

The latest invitation is part of a weekslong campaign that House Republicans have undertaken to spotlight Democratic divisions on Israel, while portraying their own party as stalwart friends of the Jewish state.

Progressive groups called the move disgraceful. In a statement, Eva Borgwardt, a spokeswoman for IfNotNow, a left-wing Jewish group that has protested the war, said all four congressional leaders “will forever be remembered as the leaders who invited the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to give a speech to Congress in the middle of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, days after he crossed President Biden’s red line on an invasion of Rafah.”

— Annie Karni Reporting from Washington

What we know about the latest Gaza cease-fire proposal.

President Biden on Friday outlined a road map put forward by Israel that would begin with an immediate, temporary cease-fire and work toward a permanent end to the war and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Here are some of the details, as described by Mr. Biden, a senior U.S. administration official who briefed reporters after the president spoke and Israeli officials who have discussed the possible deal.

First Phase

Both sides would observe a six-week cease-fire. Israel would withdraw from major population centers in Gaza, and a number of hostages would be released, including women, the elderly and the wounded. The hostages would be exchanged for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees. Aid would begin flowing into Gaza, working up to some 600 trucks a day. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians would also be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza. Most Palestinians fled the north following Israel’s mass evacuation order before the ground invasion began.

During the first phase, Israel and Hamas would continue to negotiate to reach a permanent cease-fire. If the talks take more than six weeks, the first phase of the truce will continue until they reach a deal, Mr. Biden said.

Second Phase

With a permanent cease-fire, Israel would withdraw completely from Gaza. All the remaining living Israeli hostages would be released, including male soldiers, and more Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange.

It was also unclear who would govern the territory under the agreement. Hamas could use a cease-fire to reconstitute its rule in Gaza. In the past, the United States has said that the Palestinian Authority, which has struggled to run the West Bank, ought to be brought in to run Gaza. Israeli officials, including Mr. Netanyahu, have generally rejected either the Palestinian Authority or Hamas running Gaza.

Third Phase

Hamas would return the remains of hostages who had died. Rubble would be cleared and a three- to five-year reconstruction period would begin, backed by the United States, Europe and international institutions.

— Jesus Jiménez and Aaron Boxerman

Israel’s push into central Rafah defies international pressure.

The Israeli military said on Friday that its forces had advanced into central Rafah, pushing even deeper into the southern Gaza city despite an international backlash and pressure from allies to scale back the latest offensive.

Israeli commandoes backed by tanks and artillery were operating in central Rafah, the Israeli military said in a statement, without specifying precise locations. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had established “operational control” over the border zone with Egypt, an eight-mile-long strip known as the Philadelphi Corridor on the outskirts of Rafah.

Commercially available satellite imagery taken by Planet Labs on Thursday also showed that the Israeli military had set up positions in parts of central Rafah, while military vehicles and tanks could be spotted as far as the outskirts of the Tel al-Sultan area in western Rafah.

Despite nearly eight months of fighting, Israel has yet to accomplish its stated goals of bringing home the roughly 125 hostages held in Gaza and toppling Hamas. Israeli officials have said that shutting down Hamas’s cross-border smuggling network and rooting out militants in Rafah would be key steps toward those goals.

Another recent focal point of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza has been Jabaliya in the north, where the military said it had conducted more than 200 airstrikes over weeks of intense fighting with Hamas militants. On Friday, Israeli forces withdrew, leaving widespread devastation in their wake, according to the military and Palestinian residents. The military said it was also still conducting some combat operations in central Gaza.

Military analysts have expressed skepticism that the offensive in Rafah will deal Hamas the decisive blow that Israel craves. But it has deepened the misery of ordinary Palestinians, who are still facing widespread hunger in the enclave. And since the offensive began, the amount of international aid reaching southern Gaza has declined, although there has been a slight uptick in the arrival of commercial goods.

Tzachi Hanegbi, the Israeli national security adviser, said on Wednesday that Israel’s military operations in Gaza would likely last through the end of the year. Mr. Hanegbi, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a radio interview that the fighting would continue for months more to “shore up the achievement” against Hamas.

More than one million Palestinians in Rafah, about half the territory’s total population, have fled the Israeli offensive over the past few weeks, according to the United Nations, many of them displaced for the second or third time in this conflict. Many had sought refuge there after Israel ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza in late October, swelling the city’s population to 1.4 million.

Israel has followed through with its offensive in Rafah despite concerns from close allies like the United States that any major military assault would place civilians in grave danger.

On Sunday, some of those fears appeared to be realized when at least 45 people were killed in an Israeli strike and subsequent fire, according to Gazan health officials. The Israeli military said the bombardment had precisely targeted two Hamas commanders, but unintentionally set off a blaze nearby where civilians were sheltering.

Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, later said there were “no tents in the immediate vicinity” of the structure targeted by Israeli aircraft. But a visual analysis by The New York Times found that the munitions hit inside a camp where displaced people had taken refuge.

Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli brigadier general, said on Friday that the offensive in Rafah would likely continue for weeks as Israeli forces destroyed tunnels in controlled demolitions and fought through parts of the city against remaining militants in an effort to “clean up” the area.

To prevent Hamas from rearming itself, Israeli forces would likely remain in the border zone near Egypt for the foreseeable future, said General Brom, who directed the military’s strategic planning division. Israeli officials, he said, have yet to move toward the only other feasible option — handing over security responsibility to a new administration.

Senior Israeli officials have expressed frustration with Mr. Netanyahu for not articulating a clear exit strategy for the war. Over the past few months, Israeli forces have repeatedly gone back to areas like Jabaliya — which they had conquered earlier in the war — to crack down on renewed Hamas insurgencies.

As long as Israel has no diplomatic endgame for Gaza, its forces will keep finding themselves bogged down in constant battles against Palestinian militants there, General Brom said.

“All kinds of operations will be launched, and they will all have military logic, but they won’t be part of any clear strategy,” General Brom said, adding that chipping away at the militant threat under an Israeli military regime in Gaza “could take years.”

Last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to rein in its ongoing military offensive in Rafah , warning of the risk of grave harm to civilians, although some of the judges wrote that Israel could still conduct some military operations there. The Israeli military pressed on with the operation despite that pressure, describing its Rafah campaign as limited and precise.

Much of eastern Rafah has been devastated since the offensive began in early May, particularly around the border crossing with Egypt, according to satellite photos from May 22. Israel captured the Rafah crossing in an overnight operation on May 7 that marked the beginning of their assault on the area.

most damage

Source: Satellite imagery from Planet Labs

The Rafah crossing has served as a vital conduit for getting humanitarian aid into Gaza amid widespread deprivation and hunger. It also served as the main gateway for sick and wounded Gaza residents to flee the fighting and receive urgent medical care.

Israeli officials say the portal was part of Hamas’s smuggling operations into the enclave, which has been subject to a crushing Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the Palestinian armed group seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The crossing has been shuttered since its capture by Israeli forces, and Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian officials have been unable to reach a deal to resume operations there.

After U.S. pressure, Egypt began diverting some aid trucks to another crossing, the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom, this week in an attempt to alleviate a sharp decline in aid entering Gaza.

Christiaan Triebert contributed reporting.

— Aaron Boxerman and Lauren Leatherby

Palestinian residents returning to Jabaliya in northern Gaza find wide devastation.

Residents who returned to the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya on Friday had expected to find mass devastation but said they were still shocked by the level of ruin they saw after three weeks of an Israeli offensive on the dense, urban area.

“The destruction is indescribable,” said Mohammad Awais, who returned with his family to their home in Jabaliya on Friday. “Our minds aren’t able to comprehend what we’re seeing.”

He said he and his family walked along devastated roads for nearly an hour in the heat and saw that no vehicle could navigate streets blocked by piles of rubble from homes and shops that had been destroyed by the Israeli military.

As they walked, rescue workers passed, carrying the wounded and bodies of those killed on stretchers. Some bodies were found in the streets, others had been dug out and pulled from the rubble — already beginning to decompose, said Mr. Awais, a social media marketer.

“Even the ambulances can’t drive through them to transport the injured and martyrs,” he said of the streets in Jabaliya.

The Israeli military said on Friday that it had finished its offensive in eastern Jabaliya and withdrawn after recovering the bodies of seven hostages, killing hundreds of fighters and destroying several miles of an underground tunnel network.

Satellite imagery captured in late May by Planet Labs showed the scale of the destruction in one southern area of the town and the area near the market.

Some buildings had already been destroyed before the latest Israeli offensive in the area, according to imagery from April. But by late May, far more structures in those areas appeared flattened and almost all vegetation was razed.

Mr. Awais and his family are among the few residents who still have a place to return to. Their home was only partially damaged. On Friday, they began to clean out parts of collapsed walls, broken wood and glass and ruined furniture so that their home would be inhabitable again. But the family supermarket, which had to close in December as a result of Israel’s siege on Gaza, was entirely destroyed, he said.

“Rubble is everywhere,” he added.

On May 11, the Israeli military said it had renewed its offensive in Jabaliya because Hamas, the armed Palestinian group that led the Oct. 7 attack, was trying to rebuild its infrastructure and operations in the area. At the time, Hamas accused Israel of “escalating its aggression against civilians all across Gaza” and vowed to continue fighting.

Israel first invaded northern Gaza after weeks of carrying out an intense aerial assault on the enclave in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack. The military has launched numerous deadly attacks on Jabaliya. Having survived the assault during the early months of the war, many people in Jabaliya thought they were safe from another Israeli offensive.

“Residents returned with tears in their eyes,” said Hossam Shbat, a journalist in Gaza. “Everything that we see is just rubble and destruction and wreckage. And more massacres.”

He added, “Residents have returned to see what no one can imagine: the destruction of the businesses and infrastructure and the shelters that sheltered thousands of displaced people.”

Jabaliya is often referred to as a camp because it was established more than 70 years ago by Palestinian refugees who were expelled or forced to flee from their homes in present-day Israel during the creation of the state. They were never permitted to return to their homes, and Jabaliya grew into a community populated by the refugees and their descendants.

In a video Mr. Shbat recorded on Thursday, he shows the ruins of Jabaliya around him. Behind him, in the shell of one four-story building, fires still smoldered in the debris.

“We can’t describe it in words,” he said in an interview. “The occupying military intentionally destroyed all the essentials of life.”

— Raja Abdulrahim and Lauren Leatherby

Israel says its latest operation in Jabaliya is over, and other news.

Israeli forces have finished their military operation in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, the Israeli military and a Palestinian resident said on Friday, after weeks of intense fighting that has left behind widespread devastation in the area. The Israeli military swept through Jabaliya late last year and then returned in force this month to crack down on a renewed Hamas insurgency in the area. Fatma Edaama, a 36-year-old resident of Jabaliya, said that large swaths of a neighborhood near her home were destroyed in the recent incursion. “As soon as we get the opportunity to leave, we will,” she said. “We now see there’s no life for us in Gaza.”

A Houthi military spokesman said American and British strikes on targets in Yemen killed at least 16 people and wounded 41 others on Thursday. The spokesman, Yahya Saree, said the Houthis had launched ballistic missiles at an American aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Eisenhower, in response. The strikes followed an uptick in Houthi attacks on shipping, destroying eight drones and hitting 13 sites that “presented a threat to U.S. and coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region,” the U.S. Central Command said.

The World Food Program country director in Palestine, Matthew Hollingworth, said in a news conference on Friday that hunger and public health concerns in Gaza were “beyond crisis levels.” Shortages of food and other aid have been worsened by recent fighting in the southern city of Rafah, he said, adding that 12,000 tons of food aid reached the devastated enclave in May, a number well below the 45,000 tons of food that his agency estimates is needed each month in Gaza.

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