Reported Speech

Compare

direct:       John: I’m feeling ill.

reported:  John said that he was feeling ill.

You can leave out that. So you can say:

John said that he was feeling ill. or John said he was feeling ill.

In general, the present form in direct speech changes to the past form in reported speech:

am/is -à was             do/does -à did              will -à would

are -à were               have/has -à had           can -à could

Tense	Direct Speech	Reported Speech
present simple	I like ice cream.	She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present continuous	I am cooking dinner.	He said (that) he was cooking dinner.
past simple	I bought a car.	She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she bought a car.
past continuous	I was swimming.	He said (that) he had been swimming.
present perfect	I have visited London twice.	He said (that) he had visited London twice.
past perfect	I had taken English lessons before.	She said (that) she had taken English lessons before.
will	I'll see you later.	She said (that) she would see me later.
be going to	I'm going to learn to drive.	She said (that) she was going to learn to drive.
may	I may go to Berlin again.	Tom said (that) he might go to Berlin again.
can	I can speak perfect English.	She said (that) she could speak perfect English.

The past simple can usually stay the same in reported speech, or you can change it to the past perfect:

direct:  John said 'I woke up feeling ill, so I didn't go to work.'

reported: John said (that) he woke up feeling ill, so he didn't go to work. Or

John said (that) he had woken up feeling ill, so he hadn't gone to work.

direct: Sarah said ‘I lived in China for 5 years’.

reported: Sarah said (that) she lived in China for 5 years. Or

Sarah said (that) she had lived in China for 5 years.