Ma becomes sa, demain becomes le lendemain

Pronouns and possessives shift

The reporter is not the speaker, so the people move, exactly as they do in English.

The last one was said to you: his tu becomes your je, and his me becomes le.

Time and place words

Reported on a later day, the words that point at the speaker's moment point somewhere else.

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1. 1la veille
2. 2ce jour-là
3. 3le lendemain

Seen from a later day: hier becomes la veille (the day before: football), aujourd'hui becomes ce jour-là (that day: reading), demain becomes le lendemain (the next day: a bike ride).

• « Je pars demain. » -> Il a dit qu'il partait le lendemain. - He said he was leaving the next day.

If he said it this morning, tomorrow is still tomorrow: Il a dit qu'il partait demain. is exactly right then.

Mistakes English speakers make

One mistake no table catches: backshifting after a present verb. For he says he is tired, il dit qu'il était fatigué says something else (he says he was tired). Only a past reporting verb moves the tense.