News and passing on messages in French: selon, d'après, il a dit que

Level B1

News and passing on messages in French: selon, d'après, il a dit que

A friend calls in the morning, and by the afternoon you have to pass on what he said. Or you read a piece of news and aren't sure it's true. Here you learn to keep the information apart from the person who gave it: selon and d'après name the source without touching the verb, and after il a dit que the speaker's present becomes the imparfait and the future becomes the conditional.

What you already have

You can already pass on a message in the present: in Marc dit qu'il est à la gare the verb stays in the present, and Marc's “I” becomes il. You also know the imparfait for setting a scene (je travaillais, il était), the conditional for imagining (j'étudierais), and how to say what happened before something else (était déjà parti). And you have the future for what's coming (j'arriverai, je serai).

In this lesson the imparfait and the conditional take on a new job.

Words for this lesson

Selon is “according to”, and d'après is close to “going by”. In this lesson's examples you can swap them. The d' belongs to d'après and never drops. Dire is “to say”, so il a dit is “he said”. Une grève is “a strike”, le journal is “the newspaper”, à l'heure is “on time”, and vérifier is “to check”.

Listen first: have you heard from Marc?

There are two sources in this conversation: Marc on his train, and le journal on the strike. Nobody knows yet who's right, so the talk ends with checking. Des nouvelles means news of someone, so Tu as des nouvelles de Marc ? asks whether you've heard from him. Ah bon ? is “Really?”. In je lui envoie un message, lui is “to him”; French uses the present here where English says “I'll send”.

Fact or source

La gare est fermée states the fact, and the speaker stands behind it. Selon le journal, la gare est fermée hands that responsibility to the paper: you say where the information comes from, not that it's right. That's why selon and d'après sit well with mais je ne sais pas si c'est vrai, “but I don't know if that's true”.

In this lesson selon and d'après point to someone else or to a text. For your own view, use à mon avis, “in my opinion”.

Selon or d'après + source

After selon or d'après comes the source: a person, le journal, la météo (the forecast). Then a comma and the information as a full sentence. The verb stays as the source put it: ouvre in the present, sera in the future. Nothing changes, because no verb of saying sits in the past. Une voisine is “a neighbor”, il va pleuvoir is “it's going to rain”, and la grève sera finie is “the strike will be over”.

Selon / D'après la source, l'information.

Il a dit que: present becomes imparfait

In the morning Marc said Je suis à la gare; in the afternoon you report: Marc a dit qu'il était à la gare. The words now lie in the past, so their present becomes the imparfait: suis → était, ai → avait, travaille → travaillait.

English does the same in “he said he was”, and French has one form for “I work” and “I'm working”, so travaillait covers “was working”. The person shifts too: je becomes il or elle, and mon becomes son. The real trap is que: English can drop “that”, but French can't. It's a dit qu'il était, with qu' before a vowel, as in il and elle, never a dit il était.

Il a dit que: future becomes conditional

The speaker's future becomes the conditional. The conditional keeps the future's stem, and the person in your message takes the imparfait's -ait ending: j'arriverai → il arriverait, je serai → elle serait, j'aurai → il aurait.

This matches English “will” becoming “would”: “I'll arrive” gives “he said he'd arrive”. French has no separate word for it, so the whole change sits in the ending.

Just to recognize: when the fact still holds

This part is only for recognizing. Sometimes a speaker keeps the present because the fact is still true now: Léo still lives near the station (habite), and the library closes every Monday (est fermée le lundi). English does this too: “she said the library is closed on Mondays”.

So the change of tense isn't automatic. If you hear il a dit que with a present, that's no mistake. In your own messages, stick with this lesson's change.

The same message with vous

Now the conversation is at work, with vous: vous avez, vous pouvez. The message itself doesn't change: elle a dit qu'elle arriverait. Again there are two sources, the phone call and son mail, “her email”. Son is “her” here: it agrees with mail, which is masculine, not with the woman.

Your turn

This morning Nadia wrote: Je suis à la gare. J'arriverai à midi. Now it's the afternoon. Say it aloud in two sentences with Nadia a dit que… and Elle a dit que…, and only then check: Nadia a dit qu'elle était à la gare. Elle a dit qu'elle arriverait à midi.

Next, you read in the paper that the library is closed, but you aren't sure. Say so with selon and mais. Check: Selon le journal, la bibliothèque est fermée, mais je ne sais pas si c'est vrai.

In short

Selon or d'après + source: the information is someone else's, and the verb doesn't change. Il a dit que + imparfait for what the person said in the present; il a dit que + conditional for what they said in the future. The person shifts with it: je becomes il or elle. If the fact still holds you may hear the present: recognize it as correct; in your own messages, keep this lesson's change.

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