Italian indirect speech (discorso indiretto) is the system for reporting what someone else said or thought without quoting them word for word. In English the tense backshift is light (He said he was tired). In Italian the shift is deeper: verbs, demonstratives, time words, place words, and sometimes even the mood all move together. This post gives you a full tense-shift table, a real dialog where you can watch the transformations happen step by step, and the two secondary constructions that most guides skip: the implicit di + infinito report and discorso indiretto libero.
Level B2. This post assumes you already handle the Italian subjunctive. Reported speech is where subjunctive, conditional, and consecutio temporum converge.
What changes when you switch from direct to indirect speech?
Direct speech quotes the speaker verbatim. Italian indirect speech re-anchors the same words to a new point of view in a different time and place.
- Direct: Mario ha detto: “Voglio andare a Roma”.
- Indirect: Mario ha detto che voleva andare a Roma.
The verb of reporting (ha detto) sits in the past, and everything downstream has to align with it. That is six separate shifts, not one. Tense shift, subject shift (IO becomes LUI or LEI), time shift (oggi becomes quel giorno), place shift (qui becomes lì), demonstrative shift (questo becomes quello), and sometimes mood shift (indicativo becomes congiuntivo or the other way around).
🔍 One principle that drives everything. The reported clause is anchored to the moment and the viewpoint of the reporting verb, not the original speaker. Once that clicks, the six shifts collapse into one rule: re-anchor everything.
Do tenses change when the reporting verb is in the present?
Within Italian indirect speech, when the reporting verb is in the presente (dice, chiede, vuole sapere), or in a future, or in a passato prossimo with a present value, the embedded clause keeps its original tenses. The re-anchoring is minimal because the reporting moment coincides with the present.
- Direct: Mario dice: “Voglio andare a Roma”. → Mario dice che vuole andare a Roma.
- Direct: Mario dirà: “Vengo domani”. → Mario dirà che verrà domani.
- Direct: Mario dice: “Sono andato al mercato ieri”. → Mario dice che è andato al mercato ieri.
Subject and demonstrative shifts still apply (IO → LUI, questo → quel if distance is marked), but the tenses stay put. This is the case Italian learners usually meet first and then mistakenly generalise as “the rule”.
How do tenses shift when the reporting verb is in the past?
This is the core of Italian indirect speech. The table below assumes the reporting verb is in a past tense (ha detto, disse, aveva detto, diceva). Every indicative, conditional, subjunctive and imperative in the original sentence gets remapped.
| Original tense | Shifts to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Presente indicativo | Imperfetto indicativo | “vado” → che andava |
| Passato prossimo / remoto | Trapassato prossimo | “sono andato” → che era andato |
| Futuro semplice | Condizionale passato | “andrò” → che sarebbe andato |
| Futuro anteriore | Condizionale passato | “sarò andato” → che sarebbe andato |
| Imperfetto | Imperfetto (no shift) | “andavo” → che andava |
| Trapassato | Trapassato (no shift) | “ero andato” → che era andato |
| Condizionale presente | Condizionale passato | “andrei” → che sarebbe andato |
| Congiuntivo presente | Congiuntivo imperfetto | “che vada” → che andasse |
| Congiuntivo passato | Congiuntivo trapassato | “che sia andato” → che fosse andato |
| Imperativo | di + infinito OR congiuntivo imperfetto | “vai!” → di andare / che andasse |
🔍 Where English speakers slip up most often. The future tense does not shift to a conditional present, it shifts to a condizionale passato. “Mario said he will come” becomes Mario ha detto che sarebbe venuto, not Mario ha detto che verrebbe. The present conditional (verrebbe) means “he would come if…”, which is a different thing entirely. The condizionale passato is the grammatical slot Italian reserves for future-in-the-past.
Can you also report statements with di + infinito?
Yes, and this is one of the most underused constructions in Italian indirect speech among B1-B2 learners. When the subject of the reported clause is the same as the subject of the reporting verb, the che + tensed verb clause can collapse to di + infinito. The infinito presente reports a contemporaneous action; the infinito passato reports an anterior one.
- Direct: Paolo disse: “Sono stanco”. → Explicit: Paolo disse che era stanco. → Implicit: Paolo disse di essere stanco.
- Direct: Paolo disse: “Ho sbagliato”. → Explicit: Paolo disse che aveva sbagliato. → Implicit: Paolo disse di aver sbagliato.
- Direct: Lea dice: “Sono molto affezionata al mio cane”. → Implicit: Lea dice di essere molto affezionata al suo cane.
Italian writers and careful speakers use the implicit form constantly because it is shorter and cleaner. The explicit che form is always available as a fallback, but if the subjects coincide, the implicit version reads as more polished.
🔍 When di + infinito is not available. If the subject of the reported clause differs from the subject of the reporting verb, the implicit construction is blocked. “Paolo disse che Luca era stanco” cannot collapse to an infinitive: the subjects diverge, so che + imperfetto is the only option.
When does di + infinito cause subject ambiguity, and how do you fix it?
Even when the grammar allows di + infinito, the construction can become ambiguous the moment a second person enters the sentence. The infinitive carries no subject marker, so the reader has to guess who is doing what.
- Direct: Maria dice a Luigi: “Me ne vado”.
- Ambiguous indirect: Maria dice a Luigi di andarsene. (Who is leaving? Maria is telling Luigi to leave? Or Maria is announcing that she is leaving?)
There are two clean ways to resolve the ambiguity. Both swap the infinitive for an explicit che + tensed verb so the subject is pinned down.
- Maria is the one leaving. → Maria dice a Luigi che se ne va (present reporting) / che se ne andava (past reporting).
- Luigi is the one being told to leave. → Maria dice a Luigi che se ne vada (congiuntivo, command reading) or simply Maria dice a Luigi di uscire if the verb itself resolves the scene.
Rule of thumb: when a reporting sentence names two people and the action could belong to either, drop di + infinito and use che + indicativo or che + congiuntivo depending on the reading you want. Ambiguity is not a feature of Italian indirect speech; it is a signal to reach for the explicit construction.
What moves together when you report in the past?
In Italian indirect speech with a past reporting verb (ha detto, disse, aveva detto, or diceva), six elements move at once.
- Direct: Mario mi ha detto: “Oggi vengo lì a casa tua, ho finito di lavorare e domani partirò”.
- Indirect: Mario mi ha detto che quel giorno sarebbe venuto qui a casa mia, aveva finito di lavorare e il giorno dopo sarebbe partito.
Count the shifts: oggi → quel giorno (time deixis), vengo → sarebbe venuto (presente becomes condizionale passato because it refers to a future-in-the-past action), lì → qui (place deixis, reversed because the perspective now belongs to the reporter, not Mario), casa tua → casa mia (possessive shift), ho finito → aveva finito (passato prossimo becomes trapassato), partirò → sarebbe partito (futuro becomes condizionale passato).
🔍 Perspective anchor. The place-deixis shift (lì → qui) is counterintuitive for English speakers. In the original sentence Mario was far from the house; in the reported sentence the reporter is at the house, so Mario was coming here from the new point of view. Always ask: where is the reporter standing?
How do time and place words shift in reported speech?
A compact reference for the deictic shifts that come up most often in Italian indirect speech.
| Original | Shifts to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| oggi | quel giorno | the specific day of the reported event |
| ieri | il giorno prima | or la vigilia |
| domani | il giorno dopo | or l’indomani |
| adesso / ora | allora | “at that moment” |
| fra tre giorni | tre giorni dopo | any “fra + period” → “period + dopo” |
| tre giorni fa | tre giorni prima | “fa” → “prima” |
| qui / qua | lì / là | unless the reporter is at the original place |
| questo / questa | quel / quella | distance shift |
| casa mia (speaker was Mario) | casa sua | possessive re-anchoring |
| il mio libro | il suo libro | first person becomes third |
The shifts are obligatory when the reporting moment is clearly separated from the reported event. They become optional, or are skipped, when the two moments overlap. “Mario ha detto oggi che oggi non sta bene” is acceptable because “oggi” is the same day for everyone. Same goes for “qui” when reporter and original speaker are in the same room.
How do you report a question in Italian?
In Italian indirect speech, a direct question has inverted or marked word order (“Dove sei?”, “Hai fame?”). The indirect version uses a subordinator and straight word order, with the same tense-shift logic as statements.
- Yes/no questions with se. Direct: “Hai fame?” → Indirect: Mi ha chiesto se avessi fame.
- Wh-questions with dove, come, perché, quando, chi, cosa. Direct: “Dove sei?” → Indirect: Mi ha chiesto dove fossi.
- Identifying questions. Direct: “Chi è quella persona?” → Indirect: Mi ha chiesto chi fosse quella persona.
Italian is flexible here, and the choice between subjunctive and indicative depends on register rather than grammar. The same reported question can appear in two forms, and both are accepted.
- Mi ha chiesto dove fossi. (careful, educated, standard in writing and formal speech)
- Mi ha chiesto dove ero. (natural, conversational, common in everyday speech)
Same contrast with yes/no questions: Mi ha chiesto se avessi fame sounds careful; Mi ha chiesto se avevo fame sounds natural. Pick the register to match the context. In academic writing or careful journalism the subjunctive is expected; in dialogue, text messages, and reported conversation among friends the indicative is perfectly idiomatic.
How do you report a command in Italian?
In Italian indirect speech, a direct command uses the imperativo (“Vai!”, “Non parlare!”). Italian has two ways to report it.
- di + infinito. Mi ha detto: “Vai a casa” → Mi ha detto di andare a casa. This is the default and the most common in everyday speech.
- che + congiuntivo. Mi ha detto: “Vai a casa” → Mi ha detto che andassi a casa. More formal, and required when the subject of the command is different from the person being addressed.
- Negation. Mi ha detto: “Non parlare!” → Mi ha detto di non parlare (or che non parlassi).
Different subjects force the che + congiuntivo option, because di + infinito can only report a command whose subject is the same as the person being addressed.
- Direct: Mi ha detto: “Di’ a Luca di venire”.
- Indirect with che + congiuntivo (clearer): Mi ha detto che dicessi a Luca di venire.
What happens to the subjunctive inside a reported clause?
In Italian indirect speech, if the direct speech already contained a subjunctive (Penso che Mario sia tornato), the backshift compounds: the reporting verb goes past, and the embedded subjunctive shifts one step earlier.
- Direct: Marta ha detto: “Penso che Mario sia tornato”. → Indirect: Marta ha detto che pensava che Mario fosse tornato.
- Direct: Marta dice: “Vorrei che tu venissi”. → Indirect (present reporting): Marta dice che vorrebbe che tu venissi. (no shift, present reporting)
- Direct: Marta ha detto: “Voglio che tu venga”. → Indirect: Marta ha detto che voleva che io andassi. (present subjunctive venga → imperfetto subjunctive andassi; also subject shift tu → io)
This is where our companion post on the Italian subjunctive tenses becomes essential. The double shift makes sense only once the four-tense subjunctive system is solid.
What is discorso indiretto libero?
Italian narrative prose uses a third option alongside direct and indirect speech: the discorso indiretto libero (free indirect speech). It reports a character’s words or thoughts without a reporting verb or subordinator, while keeping the third-person grammar and past tenses of indirect speech.
- Direct: Luca pensò: “Che cosa devo fare adesso?”
- Indirect: Luca si chiese cosa dovesse fare allora.
- Free indirect: Che cosa doveva fare adesso?
Free indirect style preserves the immediacy of the original voice while staying inside the third-person narration. Italian literature uses it heavily: Giovanni Verga pioneered it in the late nineteenth century, Italo Svevo and Luigi Pirandello refined it in the modernist period, and contemporary novelists still rely on it to blur the line between narrator and character. You will see discorso indiretto libero almost exclusively in literary prose and advanced journalism, but recognising it is essential when reading Italian fiction.
Dialog: Giulia and Matteo at Napoli Centrale, reporting the boss’s phone call
- 👩🏼 Giulia: Allora, Carla mi ha appena chiamato. Ha detto che il cliente non aveva firmato il contratto ieri.
So, Carla just called me. She said the client had not signed the contract yesterday. - 👨🏻 Matteo: Capito. E ha detto qualcosa sul prossimo incontro?
Got it. And did she say anything about the next meeting? - 👩🏼 Giulia: Sì. Mi ha detto che avrebbe riprogrammato tutto per giovedì e che sarebbe venuta lei stessa all’appuntamento.
Yes. She told me she would reschedule everything for Thursday and that she herself would come to the meeting. - 👨🏻 Matteo: Ottimo. Mi ha anche chiesto se avessi preparato i documenti.
Great. She also asked me if I had prepared the documents. - 👩🏼 Giulia: Mi ha detto di mandarti una copia per email quel giorno stesso, quindi guarda la casella.
She told me to send you a copy by email that same day, so check your inbox. - 👨🏻 Matteo: Perfetto. E del budget? Carla non ha detto se fosse stato approvato?
Perfect. And about the budget? Did Carla not say whether it had been approved? - 👩🏼 Giulia: Ha detto che probabilmente non lo sarebbe stato prima della fine del mese.
She said it probably would not have been before the end of the month. - 👨🏻 Matteo: Ha aggiunto altro?
Did she add anything else? - 👩🏼 Giulia: Solo che non mi preoccupassi e che ne avremmo parlato al rientro.
Only that I should not worry and that we would talk about it when we got back.
Count the shifts: condizionale passato (avrebbe riprogrammato, sarebbe venuta, sarebbe stato, avremmo parlato) every time a future is reported in the past. Trapassato (aveva firmato, fosse stato approvato) for what happened before the reporting. Congiuntivo trapassato (avessi preparato, fosse stato) inside reported questions. Imperfetto subjunctive for a reported command (non mi preoccupassi). Infinito for a reported command to a third party (di mandarti).
📌 Cheat sheet: Italian indirect speech in eight moves
- Reporting verb in present → no tense shift, only subject and deixis shifts.
- Reporting verb in past → tense shift table applies to the embedded clause.
- Futuro and condizionale presente both shift to condizionale passato (future-in-the-past).
- Imperativo shifts to di + infinito (default) or che + congiuntivo (formal or different subjects).
- Yes/no questions use se; wh-questions keep the wh-word with straight word order. Subjunctive for careful register, indicative for conversational.
- Deixis re-anchors to the reporter: oggi → quel giorno, qui → lì, questo → quello, casa mia → casa sua.
- When subjects match, prefer the implicit di + infinito over the explicit che + tensed verb.
- When two people are in play and the action could belong to either, drop di + infinito and use che + tensed verb to pin down who does what.
🎯 Mini challenge: Italian indirect speech
🎯 Mini-challenge: rewrite each direct sentence in indirect speech.
Riscrivi ogni frase in discorso indiretto.
Assume the reporting verb is “Mario ha detto” (or “Mario ha chiesto” for questions):
- “Domani verrò a Bologna”.
- “Oggi sto male, non posso uscire”.
- “Hai visto il mio libro?” (Mario asked his sister)
- “Chiamami quando arrivi!”
- “Voglio che tu mi aspetti qui”.
- “Penso che Luca sia già partito”.
- “Dove sei stato ieri?” (Mario asked his brother, careful register)
- Disambiguate: Maria dice a Luigi di andarsene. Rewrite twice: once so that Maria is the one leaving, once so that Luigi is being told to leave.
Show answers
- Mario ha detto che il giorno dopo sarebbe venuto a Bologna.
- Mario ha detto che quel giorno stava male e non poteva uscire.
- Mario ha chiesto a sua sorella se avesse visto il suo libro.
- Mario mi ha detto di chiamarlo quando sarei arrivato.
- Mario ha detto che voleva che io lo aspettassi lì.
- Mario ha detto che pensava che Luca fosse già partito.
- Mario ha chiesto a suo fratello dove fosse stato il giorno prima.
- Maria is leaving → Maria dice a Luigi che se ne va. Luigi is told to leave → Maria dice a Luigi che se ne vada (or Maria dice a Luigi di uscire).
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FAQ: Italian indirect speech
What is the difference between discorso diretto and discorso indiretto in Italian?
Discorso diretto quotes the speaker verbatim in quotation marks (Mario ha detto: voglio andare a Roma). Discorso indiretto reports the same content from the perspective of the reporter, shifting tenses, subjects, time words, place words and sometimes mood (Mario ha detto che voleva andare a Roma).
How do Italian tenses shift when I report in the past?
Presente becomes imperfetto, passato prossimo becomes trapassato, futuro becomes condizionale passato, congiuntivo presente becomes congiuntivo imperfetto, congiuntivo passato becomes congiuntivo trapassato. Imperfetto and trapassato do not shift further. The imperativo becomes either di + infinito or che + congiuntivo imperfetto.
What happens to domani and ieri in reported speech?
Domani shifts to il giorno dopo, ieri to il giorno prima, oggi to quel giorno, adesso to allora, fra tre giorni to tre giorni dopo, tre giorni fa to tre giorni prima. The shift is obligatory when the reporting moment is clearly separated from the reported event.
How do I report a question in Italian?
Yes/no questions become se + subjunctive or indicative (Mi ha chiesto se avessi fame). Wh-questions keep the wh-word (dove, come, perche, quando) with straight word order and usually the subjunctive in careful writing (Mi ha chiesto dove fossi). In conversational Italian the indicative is equally acceptable: Mi ha chiesto dove ero is natural everyday speech.
How do I report a command in Italian?
Two options: di + infinito (Mi ha detto di andare) which is the default, or che + congiuntivo imperfetto (Mi ha detto che andassi) which is more formal and required when subjects differ. Negation: Mi ha detto di non parlare or Mi ha detto che non parlassi.
Can I report a statement with di + infinito instead of che?
Yes, when the subject of the reported clause is the same as the subject of the reporting verb. Paolo disse che era stanco becomes Paolo disse di essere stanco. For an anterior action use the infinito passato: Paolo disse di aver sbagliato. If the subjects differ, the che construction is mandatory.
What is discorso indiretto libero?
Free indirect speech reports a character’s words or thoughts without a reporting verb or subordinator, keeping the third-person grammar and past tenses of indirect speech. Italian writers from Verga to Pirandello and contemporary novelists use it to blend narrator and character voice. It is a literary device, not used in everyday speech.
Does Italian follow the same no-backshift rule as English when the content is still true?
No. English often keeps tenses unchanged in reported speech when what was said is still true (He said the earth is round). Italian applies the backshift more rigidly: after a past reporting verb, the embedded presente becomes imperfetto even for stable truths. Disse che la Terra era rotonda is standard, while Disse che la Terra e rotonda sounds off in careful Italian. This is one of the biggest English-Italian interference traps in reported speech.
When I use di + infinito, how do I avoid subject confusion?
Check whether more than one person is named in the reporting sentence. Maria dice a Luigi di andarsene is ambiguous: either Maria announces that she is leaving or she tells Luigi to leave. When in doubt, swap the infinitive for che + tensed verb. Maria dice a Luigi che se ne va pins the action on Maria; Maria dice a Luigi che se ne vada or Maria dice a Luigi di uscire pins it on Luigi. Ambiguity is a signal to reach for the explicit construction.
This guide pairs naturally with the Italian subjunctive tenses reference, the subordinating conjunctions hub, and the deep dive on concessive clauses. For further reading, the Treccani encyclopaedia covers discorso indiretto and consecutio temporum in detail.
