Understanding Reported Speech in Dutch: How to Say What Others Said

What is Reported Speech?

Reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is used to tell someone else what another person said, while typically not repeating the exact words. In Dutch, just as in English, this involves changes in sentence structure and verb forms.

Direct vs Indirect Speech in Dutch

In direct speech, you would quote exactly what was said. For example: "Ik ben blij," zei hij. ("I am happy," he said.)

In indirect speech, you do not quote the person verbatim: Hij zei dat hij blij was. (He said that he was happy.)

Transitioning to Indirect Speech

When changing from direct to indirect speech in Dutch, the verb tense sometimes shifts, sentences are introduced by 'dat', and the word order may change.

Tense Changes in Reported Speech

One key aspect of using reported speech is understanding how tenses shift from direct to indirect speech. Here are some of the common changes:

• Present (
  clin class="ipa">prɪˌzɛnt) to Imperfect or Perfect (1clin class="ipa">ɪmˈpɜːrfɪkt, ˈpɜːrfɪkt)
• Past (1clin class="ipa">pæst) to Pluperfect (1clin class="ipa">ˈpluːˌpɜːrˌfɛkt)
• Future (1clin class="ipa">ˈfjuːtʃə) to Conditional (1clin class="ipa">kənˈdɪʃənl)

Sentence Structure Changes

The word order in Dutch indirect speech generally follows the subject-verb-object order, but there is often an inversion after the conjunction 'dat'. For example:

Common Reporting Verbs

Several verbs are frequently used to introduce reported speech in Dutch. Knowing these can aid in recognizing and forming indirect speech:

• zeggen (to say)
• vertellen (to tell)
• vragen (to ask)
• antwoorden (to answer)