Explanation
When you report speech after a past verb like "said" or "told," English often changes the tense in the reported clause.
For example, "She said she was tired." Here, "said" shows that the words are reported, and "was" is the changed form of "is." The original sentence may have been "I am tired," but in reported speech the tense moves back one step. This is a common pattern, not a fixed rule in every case. Japanese often keeps the same tense inside the quote, so you need to make this change in English.
「said」や「told」のような過去の伝達動詞で話を伝えるとき、英語では後ろの節の時制をひとつ戻すことがよくあります。
例えば「She said she was tired.」では、"said" が「言った」という意味で、"was" は "is" の過去形です。元の文が「I am tired」なら、報告するときは「I was tired」になります。これは一般的なパターンであり、あらゆる場合に当てはまる不変のルールではありません。日本語は引用の中で時制をそのままにしやすいので、英語ではこの変化を意識する必要があります。
Examples
- He said he was hungry. 彼はお腹がすいていると言った。
- She told me she had a new job. 彼女は新しい仕事があると私に言った。
- I said I would call you later. 私はあとで電話すると言った。
- They asked if we were ready. 彼らは私たちが準備できているか聞いた。
- My boss said he did not want to hire her. 上司は彼女を雇いたくないと言った。
- She said she did not know the answer. 彼女は答えを知らないと言った。
Common Mistakes
Japanese learners often keep the present tense after a past reporting verb: "He said he is busy." When the reporting verb is past, change it back: "He said he was busy."
日本語話者は、過去の伝達動詞のあとでも時制をそのままにしやすいです。「He said he is busy.」ではなく「He said he was busy.」にします。