For centuries, Palestinian grandmothers have passed down hikaye — traditional folk tales — by sitting with younger women and children and saying, “My grandmother told me that once, in a village near Jericho…” That act of passing on what someone said is exactly what reported speech is. And once you understand it, your English becomes far more natural and fluent.
What is Reported Speech?
Reported speech (also called indirect speech) lets you tell someone what another person said, asked, or thought — without quoting their exact words. It is the difference between:
- Direct speech (exact words, in quotation marks): “I love Palestinian olive oil.”
- Reported speech (what you tell someone later): She said she loved Palestinian olive oil.
At B1, you need to master three key changes: tense backshift, pronoun changes, and the difference between say and tell.
SAY vs TELL: The Most Common Confusion
→ She said it was beautiful. | She said to me that it was beautiful.
TELL — always followed directly by a person (never use to!)
→ She told me it was beautiful. | He told the class about Jericho.
Think of it this way: tell always needs a receiver — someone has to receive the information. Say can float without one.
Tense Backshift
When the reporting verb is in the past (said, told, asked), the tenses in the reported clause usually shift back one step into the past:
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| “I am tired.” | She said she was tired. |
| “We grow olives here.” | He said they grew olives there. |
| “I visited Jericho.” | She said she had visited Jericho. |
| “The harvest has started.” | He said the harvest had started. |
| “I will help you.” | She said she would help me. |
| “We can dance dabke.” | They said they could dance dabke. |
No backshift needed? If the situation is still true now, you may keep the original tense: She told me that Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. (still true — so present is fine.)
Time Expressions Change Too
| In Direct Speech | In Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| today | that day |
| yesterday | the day before / the previous day |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| now | then / at that moment |
| last week | the week before / the previous week |
| here | there |
| this | that |
| these | those |
Reported Questions
When we report a question, we use normal word order — no inversion — and we never use a question mark.
Direct: “Do you know the dabke dance?”
Reported: She asked if I knew the dabke dance.
Wh- questions → keep the question word, use normal word order
Direct: “Where is Bethlehem?”
Reported: He asked where Bethlehem was. (NOT: where was Bethlehem ✗)
Palestine: Carrying Stories Across Generations
If you have ever watched someone pass on a family story — “My aunt told me that her mother used to say…” — you have witnessed reported speech in action. For Palestinians, this act of passing on stories has always been central to daily life, community, and identity.
The Palestinian hikaye is a form of oral folk literature performed traditionally by women — particularly older women — for younger women and children, usually at home during winter evenings. These stories carry cultural wisdom, family histories, and the memory of places. In 2008, UNESCO inscribed hikaye on its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognising it as a living tradition of global significance. Every hikaye is, at its core, an act of reported speech: she told us that there was once a woman who lived by an olive grove…
Palestine is also home to some of the world’s most ancient places. Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, is considered the oldest fortified city on Earth — its settlements date back to the Stone Age — and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023. It is also the lowest city on Earth in terms of altitude. Imagine asking a guide, “How old is this city?” — and then telling a friend: The guide told me that the city was thousands of years old.
Then there are the olive trees. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, around 45 percent of agricultural land in the West Bank and Gaza is planted with olive trees, supporting the livelihoods of approximately 100,000 Palestinian families. The annual olive harvest is a communal celebration — children leave school to join their families in the fields. When families gather for the harvest, you hear sentences like: “My grandfather said that a healthy tree can live for a thousand years.” That is reported speech — carrying wisdom forward, one generation at a time.
The art of dabke — the traditional Palestinian line dance performed at weddings, celebrations, and cultural events — is another thread of this living culture. A teacher might tell students: “She said that learning dabke was how her whole neighbourhood came together.”
Palestinian hospitality is legendary. Guests are always welcomed with food, especially dishes like maqluba (a layered rice, vegetable, and meat dish turned upside down when served) and knafeh (a rich, sweet cheese dessert). A visitor might report: She told me that they always ate their main meal together in the early afternoon.
Common Mistakes for Spanish Speakers
⚠️ Watch out for these errors
❌ She said me that she was from Ramallah.
✅ She told me that she was from Ramallah.
In Spanish, “me dijo que…” = she told me. The verb say cannot take a person directly — use tell + person instead.
❌ He said that the harvest is beautiful. (when reporting a past conversation)
✅ He said that the harvest was beautiful.
Tense backshift is obligatory when the situation described was in the past. Spanish speakers often carry the present tense directly from “dijo que es…” — remember to shift it back.
❌ She asked me where was the olive grove.
✅ She asked me where the olive grove was.
In reported questions, word order returns to normal (subject + verb), even for wh- questions. The Spanish “me preguntó dónde estaba” actually maps correctly — but learners sometimes import English direct-question word order into reported speech.
❌ He told that he would come to Jericho.
✅ He said that he would come to Jericho.
OR: He told me that he would come to Jericho.
Tell always needs a person after it. Without one, use say.
❌ She asked me did I enjoy the knafeh.
✅ She asked me if I enjoyed the knafeh.
Yes/no questions in reported speech need if or whether, not auxiliary-verb inversion. The question structure disappears.
Example Bank
Read these 15 examples aloud and notice how the tense, pronouns, and time words shift:
- Direct: “I work on an olive farm near Nablus.” → She said she worked on an olive farm near Nablus.
- Direct: “We will celebrate the harvest tomorrow.” → He said they would celebrate the harvest the next day.
- Direct: “I have never tasted maqluba.” → She said she had never tasted maqluba.
- Direct: “Can you teach me the dabke steps?” → He asked if I could teach him the dabke steps.
- Direct: “Where is the old city of Jericho?” → She asked where the old city of Jericho was.
- Direct: “My grandmother told me this hikaye.” → He said his grandmother had told him that hikaye.
- Direct: “Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem.” → The teacher told us that Bethlehem was south of Jerusalem.
- Direct: “I visited Ramallah last week.” → She said she had visited Ramallah the week before.
- Direct: “Do you know any Palestinian folk songs?” → He asked me if I knew any Palestinian folk songs.
- Direct: “The olive trees here are hundreds of years old.” → She told me the olive trees there were hundreds of years old.
- Direct: “I am learning Arabic today.” → He said he was learning Arabic that day.
- Direct: “Who taught you to make knafeh?” → She asked me who had taught me to make knafeh.
- Direct: “We can hear music from the wedding next door.” → They said they could hear music from the wedding next door.
- Direct: “I won’t forget this experience.” → She said she wouldn’t forget that experience.
- Direct: “How long have you been studying English?” → He asked how long I had been studying English.
Quick Practice Quiz
Choose the correct reported speech version. Answers are below.
- Direct: “I am a teacher in Ramallah.”
a) She said she is a teacher in Ramallah.
b) She said she was a teacher in Ramallah.
c) She told that she was a teacher in Ramallah. - Direct: “Do you want some knafeh?”
a) He asked me did I want some knafeh.
b) He asked me if I wanted some knafeh.
c) He asked me that I wanted some knafeh. - Direct: “I will visit Jericho tomorrow.”
a) She said she would visit Jericho the next day.
b) She said she will visit Jericho tomorrow.
c) She told she would visit Jericho the next day. - Direct: “Where did you learn the hikaye?”
a) She asked where had I learned the hikaye.
b) She asked where did I learn the hikaye.
c) She asked where I had learned the hikaye. - The teacher _______ us that olive trees could live for over a thousand years.
a) said
b) told
c) tell
Show answer key
1 → b: Tense backshift: am → was. Option c fails because told needs a person directly after it (“told her” or “told me”), not “told that”.
2 → b: Yes/no question → use if. No auxiliary inversion in reported questions.
3 → a: Will → would; tomorrow → the next day. Option c fails because told must be followed by a person (“told me”).
4 → c: Wh- question → keep question word, normal word order (I had learned), no inversion.
5 → b: Tell always needs a direct object (us) — ✅ told us. Option a (said) would need “said to us” or no person at all.
B1
Reported Speech
Palestine
Intermediate
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage — Palestinian hikaye (2008) ·
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_hikaye
UNESCO World Heritage — Tell es-Sultan / Jericho (2023) ·
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho
Olive tree statistics — ReliefWeb / OCHA Fact Sheet: Olive Trees in Palestine ·
reliefweb.int
Palestinian culture overview — ANERA ·
anera.org/blog/palestinian-culture
Cultural Atlas — Palestinian core concepts ·
culturalatlas.sbs.com.au