My First Time Reporting Sarah’s Words: German Indirect Speech

Okay, so this is going to sound really basic, but honestly, learning German feels like constantly being thrown into the deep end. I’m living in Berlin now, working as an English teacher – a bit ironic, right? – and I’m surrounded by amazing people, but trying to understand them is a whole other challenge. Especially when it comes to the way they talk about things that other people said. It’s completely different than how I’m used to phrasing things. I’m starting to get my head around this “indirect speech” thing, and I wanted to write about it because, well, I’ve made a lot of mistakes.

The Awkward Conversation with Markus

It happened last week in the Mensa (student cafeteria). I was chatting with Markus, a second-year student studying engineering, and he was telling me about what his friend, Steven, had said. He said: “Steven hat gesagt, er ist müde!” (Steven said he was tired!). Simple enough, right? Except… I immediately blurted out, “So, Steven ist müde?” (So, Steven is tired?).

Markus looked at me like I’d sprouted a second head. “Nein, nein,” he said, laughing gently. “It’s not ‘Steven ist müde.’ It’s ‘Steven hat gesagt, er ist müde.’ You need the ‘hat gesagt’ part to show it’s what he said.”

That’s when it hit me – the core of the problem. It wasn’t just about translating the words; it was about conveying the source of the information.

The Basics: ‘hat gesagt’ and the Tense Shift

Basically, when you’re reporting something someone else said, you don’t use the exact same tense as the original statement. You use ‘hat gesagt’ (has said) – or ‘gesagt’ (said) – and then shift the verb to the past tense.

Let’s break it down with some more examples. I overheard a conversation between two students, Lisa and Thomas:

Lisa said: “Ich gehe ins Kino!” (I’m going to the cinema!).

To report this, I (trying to be clever) said: “Lisa sagt, sie geht ins Kino!” (Lisa says she’s going to the cinema!).

Thomas corrected me. “Nein, Lisa sagt, sie sagte, sie würde ins Kino gehen!” (No, Lisa says she said she would go to the cinema!).

See? The original statement was in the present subjunctive (‘würde’). I had to change it to the past perfect (‘sagte’). It felt so…wrong at first!

Time Shifts – A Big Headache!

This is where it gets really tricky. The time reference changes too!

• Original: “Ich bin gestern hier gewesen.” (I was here yesterday.)
• Reported: “Er sagte, er war gestern hier gewesen.” (He said he was here yesterday.)

Notice how ‘yesterday’ becomes ‘war’ (the past tense of ‘sein’ – to be). It’s not just about changing the verb; it’s about adapting the entire time reference. I almost tripped over myself trying to get this right when talking to my colleague, Herr Schmidt. I accidentally said “Er sagte, er war letztes Jahr hier gewesen,” which meant ‘He said he was here last year’. He politely corrected me, saying “No, no, it should be ‘er sagte, er war gestern hier gewesen.’”

Common Phrases and Quick Tips

Here are a few phrases I’m trying to remember:

• “Er/Sie/Es sagte…” (He/She/It said…)
• “Er/Sie/Es sagte, dass…” (He/She/It said that…) – The ‘dass’ is crucial!
• “Er/Sie/Es sagte, dass er/sie/es…” (He/She/It said that he/she/it…) – This is where you bring back the original subject.

• My biggest mistake? Not realizing that I was overthinking it. I was focusing so much on the grammar rules that I wasn’t actually trying to communicate. Markus was right – the key is to focus on conveying the information, not creating a perfect grammatical sentence.

Practice Makes… Less Awkward?

I’m going to start actively listening for examples of indirect speech and trying to repeat them (badly, probably at first!). I’m also going to ask people to correct me when I mess up – like I did with Markus. It feels a little embarrassing, but honestly, it’s the only way I’m going to learn.

Right now, even simple conversations make my brain hurt a little. But slowly, I’m starting to get a feel for how these sentences should sound. I’m still making mistakes, but at least I’m aware of them now. And that, I think, is a pretty good start. Ich muss dranbleiben (I need to keep practicing!).