Reported Speech in Mandarin: 听说 and 说

Reporting what someone said, without a machine to build it

English builds reported speech with a small engine of its own: it adds "that" (which can be dropped), it shifts the verb tense back a step, and it swaps pronouns to fit the new speaker. Mandarin reports speech far more directly, because it has no verb tenses to shift and it keeps the original wording almost untouched. This structure is Higher tier on the AQA GCSE specification, and once you see how little machinery it needs, it stops feeling like a "structure" at all.

X + 说 (shuō): naming who said it

The basic pattern is subject + 说 (shuō, to say) + the entire statement, dropped straight in with nothing standing in for English "that":

• 妈mā妈ma说shuō她tā很hěn忙máng。 (Māma shuō tā hěn máng.) - Mum says she's busy.
• 老lǎo师shī说shuō明míng天tiān有yǒu考kǎo试shì。 (Lǎoshī shuō míngtiān yǒu kǎoshì.) - The teacher says there's an exam tomorrow.
• 他tā说shuō他tā很hěn累lèi。 (Tā shuō tā hěn lèi.) - He says he's tired.
• 朋péng友you说shuō他tā不bù能néng来lái。 (Péngyou shuō tā bù néng lái.) - A friend says he can't come.

English can drop "that" too ("the teacher says there's an exam tomorrow"), so this is not a huge leap - the difference is that Mandarin never has the option of inserting anything there in the first place. Whatever was said slots straight in after 说 (shuō), unchanged.

听说 (tīngshuō): I heard that..., apparently

听说 (tīngshuō) is built from 听 (tīng, to hear) and 说 (shuō, to say) - literally "hear-say" - and it opens a sentence reporting something you picked up from an unspecified, general or second-hand source, rather than a named person you are directly quoting:

• 听tīng说shuō明míng天tiān会huì下xià雨yǔ。 (Tīngshuō míngtiān huì xià yǔ.) - I heard it's going to rain tomorrow.
• 听tīng说shuō他tā要yào结jié婚hūn了le。 (Tīngshuō tā yào jiéhūn le.) - I heard he's getting married.
• 听tīng说shuō北běi京jīng的de冬dōng天tiān很hěn冷lěng。 (Tīngshuō Běijīng de dōngtiān hěn lěng.) - I heard Beijing's winters are very cold.
• 听tīng说shuō这zhè家jiā餐cān厅tīng很hěn有yǒu名míng。 (Tīngshuō zhè jiā cāntīng hěn yǒumíng.) - I heard this restaurant is very famous.

听说 (tīng shuō) usually sits at the very front of the sentence, before the whole reported statement, with no subject: the "hearing" is understood to be the speaker's. You can also give it a subject (我听说..., I heard that...; 你听说了吗？, have you heard?), and if you do want to name where you heard it, split it around the source: 我wǒ听tīng妈mā妈ma说shuō他tā要yào结jié婚hūn了le。 (Wǒ tīng māma shuō tā yào jiéhūn le.) - I heard from Mum that he's getting married.

听说 (tīng shuō) vs X说 (shuō): how specific is the source?

The choice between these two patterns comes down to one question: can you name who actually said it?

别人说 (biérén shuō, other people say) and phrases like 网上说 (wǎng shàng shuō, it says online) or 新闻上说 (xīnwén shàng shuō, the news says) sit between the two: they name a source, but a vague or collective one rather than one specific person.

No tense shift, ever

This is the single biggest relief in the whole topic. English shifts the reported verb one step into the past: "I am busy" becomes "she said she WAS busy". Mandarin verbs do not conjugate for tense at all, so the reported clause is worded identically whether you are reporting something said a moment ago or long in the past:

• 她tā说shuō她tā很hěn忙máng。 (Tā shuō tā hěn máng.) - She says she's busy. / She said she was busy.

Only the surrounding context - a time word, the conversation so far - tells you whether the reporting itself is happening now or is being recalled later. Nothing inside the reported clause changes to signal that shift, which means you never need to learn a Mandarin equivalent of the English backshift rule at all.

Pronouns still switch, exactly as in English

The one thing that DOES change, exactly the way it does in English, is which pronoun refers to which person, because "I" in someone else's direct speech becomes "she/he" once you report it:

• Direct: 我wǒ很hěn忙máng。 (Wǒ hěn máng.) - "I'm busy."
• Reported: 她tā说shuō她tā很hěn忙máng。 (Tā shuō tā hěn máng.) - She says she's busy.

This is not a special reported-speech rule so much as ordinary pronoun sense - it is worth flagging only because everything else about English reported speech (the tense shift, the optional "that") has just been shown NOT to apply, and pronoun-swapping is the one piece that survives unchanged between the two languages.

Worked examples

1. 妈mā妈ma说shuō晚wǎn饭fàn已yǐ经jīng做zuò好hǎo了le。 (Māma shuō wǎnfàn yǐjīng zuò hǎo le.) - Mum says dinner is already made. Named subject + 说, statement dropped straight in.
2. 听tīng说shuō他tā下xià个gè月yuè要yào结jié婚hūn了le。 (Tīngshuō tā xià ge yuè yào jiéhūn le.) - I heard he's getting married next month. 听说 opens the sentence; no named source.
3. 老lǎo师shī说shuō这zhè次cì考kǎo试shì很hěn难nán。 (Lǎoshī shuō zhè cì kǎoshì hěn nán.) - The teacher says this exam is hard. Named subject + 说.
4. 据jù说shuō这zhè家jiā餐cān厅tīng很hěn有yǒu名míng。 (Jùshuō zhè jiā cāntīng hěn yǒumíng.) - It's said this restaurant is very famous. 据说, a slightly more formal cousin of 听说.
5. 他tā说shuō他tā不bù喜xǐ欢huan咖kā啡fēi。 (Tā shuō tā bù xǐhuan kāfēi.) - He says he doesn't like coffee. Named subject + 说 + a negative clause, unchanged in form.

Common mistakes

1. Reaching for a word for "that" after 说shuō (shuō). There is none to insert; 他说他很累 (tā shuō tā hěn lèi) is complete as it stands.
2. Trying to shift the verb's "tense" when reporting the past. Mandarin has nothing to shift; 她说她很忙 (tā shuō tā hěn máng) covers both "she says" and "she said" with an identical reported clause.
3. Using bare 听tīng说shuō (tīng shuō) when a specific person is actually named. If you are naming who said it, use X + 说 (shuō), or 听 X 说 for "heard from X"; save bare 听说 (tīng shuō) for when the source is vague or general.
4. Forgetting to swap the pronoun. 她说我很忙 (tā shuō wǒ hěn máng) when you mean she is the busy one is wrong; the reported "I" becomes "she": 她说她很忙 (tā shuō tā hěn máng)。

See also

• 为了 (wèi le) and purpose clauses - another Higher-tier sentence-opening pattern, this one stating a goal rather than a source.
• Le: completion vs change - how Mandarin marks time and change without conjugating verbs, the same feature that removes tense-shifting from reported speech.
• Question words - 问 (wèn, to ask) for reporting a question rather than a statement.
• Mandarin grammar cheatsheet - the full grammar inventory in one place.