Spanish · Chapter 23 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
Reported speech: tense backshift
Turning dice que into dijo que: when the reporting verb is past, the present slides to the imperfect, the preterite to the pluperfect, the future to the conditional - plus the pronoun and time shifts, and the obligatory que.
The short version
A present reporting verb shifts nothing
The backshift is the past reporting verb's job alone. Dijo que estaba cansado slides back a step; dice que está cansado does not move at all. Learners who have just learned the rule over-apply it and produce dice que estaba. Check the tense of the reporting verb first, then decide whether anything shifts.
Dice que está cansado.
The que English drops is compulsory here
English throws the conjunction away without noticing: he said he was tired. Spanish never does. Dijo estaba cansado is an error, not a casual shortcut, and the same holds for comentó que, explicó que, contestó que and the rest. If there is a reporting verb, there is a que after it.
Dijo que estaba cansado.
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