Статті: Узгодження часів в непрямій мові in English
При переведенні з прямої мови в непряму у вас вийде складносурядне речення, де слова автора стануть головною частиною, а непряма мова (перетворена з прямої) — додатковою. Час в підрядному реченні залежить від часу в головному.
Якщо слова автора стоять в Present Indefinite, Present Perfect або Future Indefinite, то в непрямій мові час не міняється
She says (has said, will say), «This is not my business».
She says (has said, will say) this is not her business.
He says (has said, will say), «We shall come»
He says (has said, will say) they shall come.
Якщо слова автора стоять в Past Indefinite, Past Continuous або Past Perfect, то в непрямій мові час міняється залежно від того, який час був в прямій.
Present Indefinite, Present Continuous, Present Perfect і Present Perfect Continuous прямій мові замінюються відповідно на Past Indefinite, Past Continuous, Past Perfect і Past Perfect Continuous непрямою:
He said, «I live here»
He said he lived there.
He was saying, «I’m living here»
He was saying he was living there.
He had said, «I have been living here for ages»
He had said that he had been living there for ages.
Past Indefinite і Past Continuous в прямій мові замінюються відповідно на Past Perfect і Past Perfect Continuous непрямою:
We said, «We saw it».
We said we had seen it.
We said, «We were eating»
We said we had been eating.
Проте, якщо пряма мова стояла в Past Indefinite або Past Continuous, то непряма мова може зберегти ці ж часи, але лише якщо вказаний час дії:
She said, «We moved here in 2000»
She said they moved there in 2000.
He said, «I was sleeping at midnight»
He said he was sleeping at midnight.
Future Indefinite, Future Continuous і Future Perfect в прямій мові в непрямій мові замінюються на такі ж форми Future-in-the-past:
He said, «I will come»
He said he would come.
He said, «I will be watching birds»
He said he would be watching birds.
He said, «I will have finished this by noon»
He said he would have finished this by noon.
Past Perfect і Past Perfect Continuous в прямій мові залишаються такими ж і в непрямій:
He said, «We had been there».
He said they had been there.
He said, «We had been living there for a while»
He said they had been living there for a while.
