Câu nói trực tiếp và câu nói gián tiếp
(direct and indirect/reported speech)

I. trường hợp câu phát biểu (statements).
Muốn đổi một câu phát biểu từ hình thức câu nói trực tiếp sang hình thức câu nói gián tiếp, ta phải tuân theo những quy định sau đây :
Về sự hoà hợp các thì (sequence of tenses).
Khi động từ giới thiệu (introductory verb) ở thì hiên tại, thì không có vấn đề hoà hợp các thì, nghĩa là không có sự thay đổi các thì, trạng từ chỉ thời gian, không gian trong câu nói gián tiếp.
Ex: - He says: “The train will be late today”. (direct)
has said:
is saying:
(He says that the train will be late today. (indirect)
has said
is saying
Vì động từ giới thiệu (là “says, has said, is saying” ở thì hiên tại nên khi đổi từ câu nói trực tiếp sang câu nói gián tiếp, động từ vẫn ở simple future (= will be)
Vậy chỉ có vấn đề hoà hợp các thì khi động từ giới thiệu ở thì quá khứ. Quy luật đó như sau:
Câu nói trực tiếp Câu nói gián tiếp
( Simple present ( Simple past (S+ V-ed/ II)
( Present continuous ( Past continuous (S+ was/ were + V-ing)
( Simple past ( Simple past / Past perfect (S + had + pp)
( Present perfect ( Past perfect (S + had + pp)
( Past continuous ( Past perfect continuous (S+ had + been+ V-ing)
( Simple future ( Simple conditional (S + would/could + bare-inf)
( Future perfect ( Conditional perfect (S +would/could+ have + pp)
( Simple conditional ( Simple conditional (S + would/could + bare-inf)
Conditional perfect (S +would/could+ have + pp)
Ex: a. He said: “I am American”
( He said that he was American.
b. He said: “She is working in the garden”
( He said that she was working in the garden.
c. He said: “Nam took it”
( He said that Nam took/ had taken it.
d. He said: “She has eaten it”
( He said that she had eaten it.
e. He said: “They were running when she saw them”
( He said that they had been running when she saw/ had seen them.
f. He said: “Mr. Nam will do it”.
( He said that Mr. Nam would do it.
g. She said: “I shall have finished it at 6 pm”.
( She said that she would have finished it at 6 pm
h. Tom said: “You should go to the librarian more often”.
( Tom said that I should go/ should have gone to the librarian more often”.
Chú ý:
- Khi câu nói trực tiếp diễn tả sự thực lúc nào cũng đúng, động từ không thay đổi.
Ex: The lecturer said: “The earth moves around the sun”.
( The lecturer said that the earth moves around the sun.
- Một số động từ thường sẽ không đổi: should, would, could, had better, ought to, used to, needn’t, must (had to), might.
Ex: He said: “I used to live here with my family”.
( He said that he used to live there with his family.

- Các cấu trúc: * Wish sentence in past không thay đổi.
Ex: She said: “I wish I had known the truth”.
( She said that she wished she had known the truth.
She wished
* S + would rather + subject + simple past (Động từ không thay đổi)
* It’s (high) time