Estilo Indirecto
“My name is Jonathan and I’m from Kent.” = DIRECT SPEECH
I told him that my name was Jonathan and I was from Kent. = REPORTED SPEECH
“Where did you go last Saturday?” = DIRECT SPEECH
Dave asked me where I had gone last Saturday/the Saturday before. = REPORTED SPEECH
“Sit down and don’t make any noise!” = DIRECT SPEECH
His mother told him to sit down and not to make any noise. = REPORTED SPEECH
Reported Speech o Estilo Indirecto es cuando hablas con una tercer persona y les cuentas lo que se ha dicho en otra conversación. Vamos a ver como funciona.
1. AFFIRMATIVE / NEGATIVE SENTENCES
La idea básica es bastante simple. Cuando se informa de lo que alguien ha dicho, se está hablando de una declaración que se ha hecho en el pasado. Para que esto quede claro, debes dar un paso atrás en el tiempo, del Presente al Pasado, del Pasado al Pretérito Perfecto, del Futuro al Condicional, etc.
JANE: I saw Samantha yesterday. She said that she had just come back from holiday in Riviera Maya.
MARK: Oh? She told me that she was going to Mexico, and that she would be there for two weeks…
JANE: Riviera Maya is in Mexico, stupid- and she was there for two weeks- she left on the 7th!!
The conversations with Samantha happened in the past: Jane saw Samantha, Samantha was in Mexico two weeks, and she left on the 7th, but what Samantha said changes tense:
- She said that she had just come back from holiday in Riviera Maya the day before = Samantha: “I’ve just come back from Riviera Maya.”
- She told me that she was going to Mexico, and that she would be there for two weeks = Samantha: “I’m going to Mexico. I’ll be there for two weeks.”
PRESENTE – PASADO
- “I live in Spain but I am going back to England this weekend.”
- He said that he lived in Spain, and that he was going back to England next / the following weekend.
PASADO – PASADO PERFECT
- “It was raining yesterday, so I didn’t do anything.”
- He told me that it had been raining yesterday / the day before, so he hadn’t done anything.
PRESENTE PERFECT – PASADO PERFECTO
- “I haven’t been to South America.”
- I told them that I hadn’t been to South America.
WILL/WON’T – WOULD(n’t)
- “I’ll finish it tomorrow.” – She said that she would finish it tomorrow / the next day.
CAN – COULD
- “I can cook but I can’t clean.”
- I told her I could cook but I couldn’t clean.
MUST – HAD TO (sólo en afirmativo)
- “You must tell me.”
- We told them that they had to tell me.
No cambian:
WOULD / SHOULD / COULD
PASADO PERFECT
MIGHT / MAY / MUSTN’T (negative only)
Apunte 1:
Nada de esto está escrito en piedra, y depende de la lógica de la sentencia. Imagina que tu amigo te dice esto en octubre:
“Voy a pasar esta Navidad con mis suegros”
En noviembre le explicas la situación a tu esposa:
“Me dijo que va a pasar la Navidad con sus suegros”.
No es la misma situación que las vacaciones de Samantha en México, porque los arreglos futuros siguen siendo válidos. No hace falta que digas ‘… la Navidad siguiente.
¡No dejes que las reglas gramaticales se interpongan en el camino de la lógica! Como regla general, puedes usar tu lengua materna como guía.
Apunte 2:
Lo mismo se aplica a otras partes de la oración que se refieren al tiempo y al lugar. Si alguien te dice un martes……
“We went to the cinema yesterday”.
…… Y se lo mencionas a otra persona es mismo martes, se aplica el “ayer” y sigue siendo válido. Si han pasado uno o dos días, no sería correcto decir “ayer” y habría que decir “anteayer”. Hay que seguir un poco la lógica.
Esto se aplica a todas estas expresiones:
- Today – That dayLast week/month/year
- The week/month/year before
- Next week/month/year – The following week/month/year
- 3 weeks ago – 3 weeks before
- The day after tomorrow – 2 days later
- This week / these days– That week / those days
- Here – There
Usa la lógica! Traduciendo la frase te puede ayudar, porque en español suele suceder lo mismo. Eso dicho, para ejercicios de gramatica en el instituto o la academia, seguramente querrán que cambies los tiempos siempre.
Apunte 3:
En los ejemplos anteriores, he usado ‘said’ y ‘told’. Recordemos que a ‘told’ hay que ir seguido de un objeto (him, them, me, David, your boss, the cat…) y ‘said’ no va seguido de un objeto.
Apunte 4:
‘… that…» ya que una cláusula en la oración (I said that….) puede ser suprimida cuando va seguida de un objeto. De hecho, la mayoría de los hablantes nativos de inglés lo omiten, pero es perfectamente correcto usarlo:
- “I´ll phone you in the next three or four days.”
- He said (that) he would phone me in the following three or four days.
2. QUESTIONS
Ahora vamos a las preguntas. Lo más importante es recordar que una pregunta en estilo indirecta no es una pregunta.
“Where do you live?” DIRECT QUESTION
She asked me where I lived. REPORTED QUESTION
“Where’s Stephen?” DIRECT SPEECH
I asked them where Stephen was. REPORTED SPEECH
Cuando haces una pregunta en estilo indirecto, simplemente le informas a alguien cuál era la pregunta en una conversación anterior. Así que, no debes utilizar la estructura de una pregunta:
Cual es correcto?
- I asked them where Stephen was.
- I asked them where was Stephen.
La primera, porque el subjeto va antes del verbo – no es una pregunta. Prueba este:
- She asked me where did I live
- She asked me where I lived.
La segunda. No se usa ‘do’ o ‘does’ (por ejemplo) para hacer una pregunta, porque no es una pregunta
Con eso, sigue los pasos de las frases afirmativas que ya hemos visto. Es decir, darle un paso atrás en los tiempos verbales, y usa la lógica para cambiar los tiempos:
- “Where have you been this week?”
- My teacher asked me where I had been this/that week.
Como en Español, si no hay un ‘dónde’ o ‘cuando’ o lo que sea, usa ‘if’
- “Did you see Georgina yesterday?”
- Georgina’s parents asked us if we had seen her yesterday/the day before.
Prueba estas 10 preguntas:
Cambia Estilo Directo a Estilo Indirecto
Pincha para ver la respuesta
She asked me if it would rain tomorrow OR
She asked me if it would rain the following/next day
I asked her if she had seen Mark
The teacher said (that) the kids didn’t understand anything
The kids asked us where we* were going this/that/the following weekend
Según la situación, podria ser ‘they’ – es decir, van los niños pero no ‘nosotros’ los padres
I asked them if I should help (them)
We asked her what time she starts school
We said that we mustn’t be late (MUSTN’T no cambia)
The adults said (that) the kids had to tidy their rooms (MUST cambia a ‘HAD TO’)
He asked me if I could play the piano
I asked if Sarah spoke Spanish
3. REPORTED IMPERATIVES
“Be quiet!”
“Please come in…”
“Don’t smoke here!”
Olvida todo lo que has leído hasta ahora en este artículo. Las instrucciones y los ordenes ('imperatives') utilizan una estructura diferente. La buena noticia es que es muy sencillo, una vez que te acostumbras a usarlo.
Mira la diferencia:
- “It’s raining” (Afirmativo)
- I told him (that) it was raining. (Estas informando)
- “Take an umbrella” (Imperative)
- I told him to take an umbrella. (Estas dando un orden/instrucción))
Subjeto + Verbo + Objeto + (not) to + Infinitivo.
Otra cosa:
- Take an umbrella = I told him to take an umbrella
- Please take an umbrella = I asked him to take an umbrella
Prueba con estas frases. Presta especial atención al principio hasta que pilles el truco.
I told the students to be quiet.
They asked me to come in
They told me not to smoke here/there.
I asked them not to shout
Y ya esta! ¿Ves que no era muy difícil? Simplemente ten en cuenta que no es lo mismo un afirmativo/negativo que una pregunta o un imperativo.
Recuerda que no vale aprender la gramatica si no lo sabes usr en conversación. Mandame un whatsapp a +34 645 405 919 o visita mi página Profesor Nativo Live
Si quiere subir a otro nivel hay más opciones. En estos casos se usa el mismo método de las preguntas indirectas que vimos antes:
They invited us to join them. (“Why don’t you join us?”)
We warned them not to climb that wall. (“It’s not a good idea to climb this wall.”)
She advised me to ask an expert. (“You should ask an expert.”)
I refused to take him. (“I’m not going to take you!”)
Mark agreed to help me. (“OK- I’ll help you”)
I begged her to stay. (“Please please stay!!!”)
My friends persuaded me to go out the next day. (“Come out with us tomorrow!”)
My mother encouraged me to play the piano. (“It would be wonderful if you could play the piano.”)
Tambien se puede usar el español como guia muchas veces. Traduce estas frases. Todas son posibles opciones, y se pueden decir (mas o menos) en Español:
“Shall we eat out next Friday?” said James
1. James suggested eating out next Friday.
2. James suggested eating out the following Friday.
3. James asked (us) if we should eat out next Friday.
4. James asked (us) if we should eat the following Friday.
5. James said (that) we should eat out next Friday.
6. James said (that) we should eat out the following Friday.
Para examenes - no. 4. Lo más comun y natural para un nativo sería 1 or 2 (dependiendo si el viernes es pasado o no) o 5 o 6.
[widgets_on_pages id="Advert"]
Leave a Reply