Reported speech in Japanese

Level B1

Reported speech in Japanese

Japanese places the reported message before the verb meaning “say”, “tell” or “ask”. 言う means “say”, 伝える means “tell” or “pass on”, 聞く means “ask” here, and 頼む means “request”. Several examples use a construction meaning “I was asked”, which is a natural way to report a question or request directed at you. Unlike English, Japanese does not automatically move the reported message into a past tense after a past reporting verb.

Words for saying, passing on information and asking

  • 言(い)うsay
  • 伝(つた)えるtell
  • 聞(き)くask
  • かどうかwhether
  • 頼(たの)むask

Report a statement with a plain form and と言っていました

話し手は、発言の内容（普通形）と言っていました。

Mark the recipient with に and use 伝える

話し手は、伝えた内容（普通形）と受け手に伝えてくれました。

Report a question with か聞かれた

質問した人に、疑問詞を含む質問の内容（普通形）か聞かれた。

Report a yes-or-no question with かどうか

質問した人に、確かめたい内容（普通形）かどうか聞かれました。

Report a request with the て-form and ほしい

頼んだ人に、してほしい行動（て形）ほしいと頼まれました。

Report “please don’t” with ないでほしい

頼んだ人に、控えてほしい行動（ない形）でほしいと頼まれた。

Keep the original time relationship and clarify who is involved

Japanese does not require English-style tense backshift: “マヤさんは、その日は家で仕事をしていると言っていました。” uses している for work ongoing at the time Maya spoke, although the reporting verb is past. The nonpast 電話する can describe a call that was future from Ben's viewpoint, while 送った marks an email already sent before Sara spoke, without a separate past-perfect form. When reporting later, adjust 今日 to その日, 明日 to 次の日, and 今週 to その週 if the original expressions would now point to the wrong time.

Japanese often omits “I”, “you”, “she” and “we” when the context identifies them, so do not insert a pronoun for every English pronoun. For a question containing a question word, place か after the question content, as in “アミールに、その週はどこに泊まってるのか聞かれた”; の adds an explanatory tone here and is not required in every reported question. For a yes-or-no question, use かどうか, meaning “whether or not”, as in “ノラさんに、椅子を運ぶのを手伝えるかどうか聞かれました”, rather than a conditional expression meaning “if”.

Choose polite or casual endings and report requests naturally

The examples marked formal use polite です／ます-style endings, suitable with people you do not know well or in professional situations, while plain endings suit familiar conversation; the reported content itself normally takes a plain form before と, even in “マヤさんは、その日は家で仕事をしていると言っていました。” Casual speech often replaces と with って and shortens 言っていた to 言ってた or 住んでいる to 住んでる; a noun statement retains だ before って, as in “先生が、授業は休みだって私たちに伝えてくれた。” In 伝えてくれました, に marks the recipient and くれる presents the telling as helpful to the speaker or their group, whereas in 聞かれました and 頼まれました, に marks the person who asked, with the recipient often left unstated.

“椅子を運ぶのを手伝ってもらえますか？” politely asks for help, and “少し外で待っていてください。” politely asks someone to wait; the casual ending ね in “待合室ではスマホを使わないでね。” makes the instruction conversational. To relay a positive request, use the action's て-form plus ほしいと頼まれました, as in “リタさんに、少し外で待っていてほしいと頼まれました”, meaning that Rita asked the speaker to wait. For a negative request, use the ない-form plus でほしい, as in “看護師さんに、待合室ではスマホを使わないでほしいと頼まれた”; this reports the requested action without preserving the original polite ending.

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