Anglais
On emploie le discours indirect (reported speech) pour dire ce que quelqu'un a dit. Il y a deux façons de faire cela: 1. Vous pouvez répéter les mots (discours direct): He said: "I'm watching TV" (Il a dit: "Je regarde la télé"). 2. Ou vous pouvez employer le discours indirect: He said (that) he was watching TV (Il a dit qu'il regardait la télé).
Le mot that est entre parenthèses parce qu'il n'est pas obligatoire.
En général, lorsque nous employons le discours indirect, nous parlons du passé. D'ordinaire donc nous mettons le verbe (ou auxiliaire) au prétérit.
Exemples:
|Discours direct |Discours indirect |
|"Mary is happy." |He said (that) Mary was happy. |
|"I want to buy a new computer, but I don't |He said (that) he wanted to buy a new computer but |
|know which one to buy." |didn't know which one to buy. |
|"I am going to buy a car." |He said (that) he was going to buy a car. |
|"It is cold in here; I will close the window."|He said (that) it was cold; he would close the window.|
| |Note: would est le prétérit de will. |
|"I have lost my watch." |He said (that) he had lost his watch. |
La plupart des modaux (could, might, must, ought, should, would) restent inchangés dans le discours indirect. En revanche, can devient could ET may devient might.
En général, le prétérit simple (I did) reste inchangé dans le discours indirect, mais vous pouvez le changer au past perfect (I had done):
|Discours direct |Discours indirect |
|I didn't go to school on Thursday |He said he hadn't gone (ou didn't go) to school on Thursday |
|because there was a