Ch 9 · Lesson 16Esperanto · Chapter 9 · Lesson 16 · Grammar primer
Reported speech: the tense stays put
, : Esperanto keeps the tense of the words actually said, where English shifts them back. And would is not -us.
The short version
Esperanto never backshifts
, .
Why?Hide
Somebody said , so you report , . English drags a reported present into the past and a reported past further back still; Esperanto quotes the tense the speaker actually used. The rule is simpler than the English one and the habit is harder, because would tempts you straight into -us. But , means he said he would come if something else happened, which is a different claim entirely.
To report what someone said, keep the tense of their own words. He said , so you report , , where English shifts to he said he would come.
| They said | Reported | English |
|---|---|---|
. | , . | He said he would come. |
? | , . | He asked whether I would come. |
? | , . | She asked where I lived. |
! | , . | She told him to sleep. |
The ke clause
A reported statement hangs off , and three small points come with it:
| Point | Esperanto | English |
|---|---|---|
| , . | He said he would come. |
a comma before | , . | I know you are working. |
| , . | He told me he was coming. |
English can drop that; Esperanto keeps . The comma is a convention, not a rule of the , and most edited Esperanto follows it.
The tense stays put
Reuse the ending the speaker used:
| They said | Reported | English |
|---|---|---|
. | , . | He said he would come. |
. | , . | He said he was ill. |
. | , . | He said he had seen him. |
. | , . | He said he was working. |
The tense in the clause is measured from the moment he spoke, not from now:
li vidis lin (-is: before he spoke)
li diris... (the moment he spoke)
li estas malsana (-as: as he spoke)
li venos (-os: after he spoke)
Timeline from past to now, with now marked.
So -is in the clause gives English had: , . is he said he had been ill, over before he spoke.
The -us trap
English reports will as would, and would pulls learners towards -us. But -us is the conditional: it makes the event hypothetical.
| He said | Esperanto | English |
|---|---|---|
. | , . | He said he would come. |
, ... | , . | He said he would come (if...). |
Two different men, one English sentence. Ask what the speaker actually said: is reported with .
Going further: Reported questions: ĉu and the ki- words and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
Practise this lesson
8-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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