El Estilo Indirecto

EL ESTILO INDIRECTO
1. REPORTING STATEMENTS
A. Podemos repetir lo que alguien dijo de dos maneras:
1. Repitiendo las palabras textuales o, lo que es lo mismo, empleando el estilo
directo: I have to go now,he said/We lived in Celanova for four
years,Mary said.
2. Repitiendo la idea, pero no las palabras exactas; decir con nuestras palabras
o las de otra/s persona/s lo que otra/s persona/s dijo o dijeron (Estilo
indirecto) : She said (that) she had to go then/Mary told us that they had
lived in Celanova for three years.
B. En el estilo directo la puntuacin que se utiliza es comillas () y letra mayscula
al empezar la cita.
C. En el estilo indirecto:
1. No hay comillas.
2. La frase suele empezar con un verbo como say, tell, admit, answer, believe,
comment, confirm, imagine, mention, think, explain, complain, warn,
point out, remark, declare, state, announce, protest, claim, ask, inquire,
etc. llamados reporting verbs. Con el verbo tell es preciso emplear el objeto
indirecto (de persona). El verbo say se usa cuando no hay complemento
indirecto de persona y ,si lo hay (nombre o pronombre) sigue la construccin
CD + to + CI (She will say it to me); si el CD es una clausula: CI + to + CD (He
said to me that they didnt do anything)
3. El tiempo de narracin d una especie de salto hacia atrs (backshift) si el
verbo introductor est en pasado.
4. Las preguntas dejan de serlo. El verbo auxiliar ya no va en posicin inicial al
transformarse en pregunta indirecta, sin ?.
5. Las palabras que indican lugar, tiempo, los pronombres, etc. cambian
tambin.
6. Despus de verbos como say, tell y think se puede omitir el that. Pero con
verbos como explain, complain, point out, etc. thatk no se puede omitir.

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CHANGES IN TENSE
A. Si el verbo introductor en el estilo indirecto est en pasado, el tiempo que
tenamos en el estilo directo sufre un cambio hacia atrs en el tiempo o
tambin llamado backshift. De igual manera, esto ocurre con los verbos
auxiliares: I have read the note,she said
She said that she had read the
note.
B. Si el verbo est compuesto de ms de un auxiliar, slo cambia el primero: My
house is being painted,
She said that her house was being painted.
C. Estos cambios no ocurren:
1. Cuando el verbo introductor del estilo indirecto est en present,
present perfect o future: I love oranges, says Tom Tom says he
loves oranges.
2. Cuando se narra una verdad universal o una accin habitual:
Villasana is the capital of Mena Valley,, she pointed out
She
pointed out that Villasana is the capital of Mena Valley. Peter lives
in High Street, I told her I told her that Peter lives in High Street.
D. Hay una serie de cambios que debemos hacer al transformar una frase de
estilo directo a indirecto:

El Estilo Indirecto

1. Expresiones de tiempo:
now
Then
today
That day
tonight
That night
tomorrow
The next/following day, the day after
yesterday
The day before, the previous day
next week/month
The following week/month
last week/month
The previous week/month, the week/month before
a week/month ago
The week/month before
2. Otros cambios:
this
That
these
Those
here
There
I
he, she
you
they
we
they
me
him, her
us
them
my
his, her
your
their
our
their
mine
his, hers
ours
theirs
come
go
bring
take

3. Changes in tense:

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ESTILO DIRECTO:
He said:
Simple present
She studies Chinese
present continuous
She is studying Chinese
Present perfect
She has studied Chinese
present perfect continuous
She has been studying Chinese
Simple past
She studied Chinese
past continuous
She was studying Chinese
past perfect
She had studied Chinese
past perfect continuous
She had been studying Chinese
simple future
She will study Chinese
future continuous
She will be studying Chinese
Can
She can study Chinese
May
She may study Chinese

ESTILO INDIRECTO:
He said that

simple past
she studied Chinese
past continuous
she was studying Chinese
past perfect
she had studied Chinese
past perfect continuous
she had been studying Chinese
past perfect
she had studied Chinese
past perfect continuous
she had been studying Chinese
past perfect
she had studied Chinese
past perfect continuous
she had been studying Chinese
simple conditional
she would study Chinese
conditional continuous
she would be studying Chinese
could
she could study Chinese
might
she might study Chinese

El Estilo Indirecto

must/have to
She must/has to study Chinese

had to
she had to study Chinese

Los modales should, could, would y

might y los semimodales ought to y
used to no cambian.
2. REPORTING QUESTIONS
PREGUNTAS DEL TIPO YES/NO
Observa lo que aparece en los siguientes ejemplos:
Did you speak to John last week?, she asked
She asked if/whether I had
spoken to John the night before:
1. Ha cambiado el orden del sujeto y verbo (no inversin)
2. Hay backshift (tiempo hacia atrs)
3. Detrs del verbo aparece if / whether ( pueden aparecer
indistintamente aunque whether suele ir preferentemente en las
oraciones dubitativas, cuando no existen ms de dos alternativas o
delante de un infinitivo )
4. Cambio en los pronombres de acuerdo con la situacin.
5. La expresin temporal tambin ha sufrido cambio.
6. Desaparicin de las comillas y el signo de interrogacin.
PREGUNTAS CON PARTCULA INTERROGATIVA
Al poner en estilo indirecto una pregunta de este tipo ya no se pone
if/whether sino la partcula interrogativa que aparezca en el estilo directo.
Todos los dems cambios son similares a los que sufren las preguntas del
tipo Yes/No pero:
1. Si la partcula interrogativa es el sujeto de la oracin, no hay
alteracin en el orden de las palabras de la frase: Who told you the
story? he asked He asked who had told us the story.
2. Si no es el sujeto, entonces la pregunta indirecta no llevar el verbo
auxiliar delante del sujeto: Where did you go last week? they asked
me They asked me where I had gone the previous week.
Entre los verbos ms frecuentes para introducir el estilo indirecto en
preguntas
estn:
ask
enquire/inquire
wonder
would like to know
want to know
try to find out

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*Ask es el nico que puede llevar complemento de persona (He asked me) y
detrs de estos verbos no puede aparecer that (OJO!)
3. REPORTING REQUESTS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. PETICIONES EDUCADAS
Al poner en estilo indirecto una peticin educada:
1. La persona que recibi la peticin va despus del verbo que introduce
la peticin indirecta: ask, demand, beg y request.
2. Se omite la palabra please: John, dont open the door, please,I said
I asked/requested/begged John not to open the door.
3. Si en la peticin aparece el verbo let, este debe estar tambin en el
estilo indirecto pero omitiendo el modal que le preceda: Can you let
me use your bicycle,please?, I asked my sister I asked my sister to
let me use her bicycle.
4. Si no aparece let, mantenemos el modal: I asked my sister if I could
use her bicycle
B. SUGERENCIAS
Las sugerencias se pueden expresar de varias maneras:
1. lets lets go to the cinema!he said.
2. Why dont weWhy dont we go to the cinem?, he said.

El Estilo Indirecto

3. shall we? Shall we go to the cinema?he said

4. why notWhy not go to the cinema? He said
Para poner una sugerencia en estilo indirecto, lo introduciremos con el
verbo suggest (tambin con demand e insist) que tiene dos
construcciones:
a. Seguido de gerundio o adjetivo posesivo ms gerundio (muy frecuente):
He suggested (our = we) going to the cinema.
b. Con oracin subordinada introducida por that + should (menos
frecuente):He suggested that we (should) go to the cinema /Lets not
argue again, he said He suggested not arguing again/that they
(should) not argue again.
4. REPORTING COMMANDS (IMPERATIVE)
Las rdenes se suelen expresar en imperativo. Al ponerlas en estilo indirecto:
a. El imperativo pasa a infinitivo manteniendo la forma afirmativa o
negativa: He said, Stay here. He told us to stay there. / She
shouted: Dont move! She ordered us not to move.
b. El verbo que introduce el estilo indirecto debe indicar mandar,
ordenar (tell, order, persuade, request, force, urge, oblige,
recommend, command, ask, advise, beg, forbid, invite, remind,
teach, warn, etc.) y , por eso, nunca puede usarse say (decir) para
introducir una orden indirecta: He said, Be quiet!
He told us to be
quiet.
c. La estructura para el estilo indirecto es Sujeto1 + verbo que indique
orden, mandato.2 + persona a la que se dirige esa orden,
mandato, etc.3 + infinitivo con to (+)/not to (-)4 :
Write it in ink, he said
He1 told/ordered/asked2 me3 to
4
write it in ink
* En espaol, en estilo directo, usamos igual que en ingls el imperativo
pero al pasarlo al estilo indirecto, ponemos un subjuntivo:
He said:Dont disturb. (El dijo: No molestes.)
He told me not to disturb. (Me dijo que no molestara)
5. SPECIFYING VERBS IN REPORTED SPEECH

Purpose

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Verb

Construction

accusation
admission

accuse
admit

advice

advise

agreement

agree

someone of doing something

Something
that you have done something
(to) having done something
someone/something
someone on/about something
doing something
someone to do something
to an idea, suggestion etc.
with someone/something
to do something
that something is a good idea etc.
on a plan etc.
(to
someone)
for
having done
something
someone to do something
(to someone) about something
that something has (not) been done
something
that you have done something
having done something
that something has happened

apology

apologise

begging
complaint

beg
complain

denial
exclamation

deny
exclaim

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El Estilo Indirecto

explanation

explain

information

inform

invitation

invite

offer

offer

order
preference

order
would rather
prefer

promise

promise

refusal

refuse

reminder

remind

request

request

suggestion

suggest

threat

threaten

warning

warn

wonder

wonder

something to someone
that something has happened
how, why, what
someone of/about something
someonethat something has happened
someone to something
someone to do something
something to someone
someone something
to do something (for someone)
someone to do something
do one thing than another
(doing) one thing to another
to do one thing rather than to do
another
to do something
(someone) that you will do something
to do something
something
someone of someone/something
someone to do something
someone that something must be done
someone to do something
something
(doing) something (to someone)
that someone should do something
to do something (to someone)
someone with something
that you will do something (to
someone)
someone of/against/about something
someone (not) to do something
someone that something may happen
if/what/why