Pattern
Romanian reported speech keeps the original tense when reporting (unlike English backshift): El a spus că vine (He said he was coming — Romanian uses present vine).
Explanation
Romanian has a simpler reported-speech system than English. When you report what someone said, you generally keep the tense the original speaker used. If they said "Vin mâine" (I'm coming tomorrow), you report it as: A spus că vine mâine — keeping the present indicative vine.
English requires backshift: "I'm coming tomorrow" → "He said he WAS coming tomorrow." Romanian does not. A spus că vine literally translates as "He said that he comes" — which sounds wrong in English but is correct in Romanian.
The same logic applies across tenses:
- Original: Voi merge (I will go) → Reported: A spus că va merge / o să meargă
- Original: Am mers (I went) → Reported: A spus că a mers
- Original: Mergeam (I was going) → Reported: A spus că mergea
For yes/no questions in reported speech, use dacă (whether): M-a întrebat dacă vin (He asked me whether I'm coming). For wh-questions, keep the question word: M-a întrebat când vin (He asked me when I'm coming).
When the reporting verb is in the past, you may sometimes use imperfect for ongoing actions in the original: A zis că mergea (He said he was going — imperfect to emphasize ongoing nature). But this is stylistic, not required.
Examples
| Romanian | English |
|---|---|
| El a spus că vine mâine. | He said he was coming tomorrow. |
| Maria a zis că e ocupată. | Maria said she was busy. |
| M-a întrebat dacă vreau o cafea. | He asked me whether I wanted a coffee. |
| Mi-a spus că a citit cartea. | He told me he had read the book. |
| Au promis că vor veni la timp. | They promised they would come on time. |
Common mistakes
- Applying English backshift: El a spus că venea sounds odd as a default; use că vine.
- Using "if" for indirect yes/no questions: It's dacă, not the conditional dacă clause structure.
- Forgetting "că": Reported speech always needs the conjunction că.