Indirect speech: Magda dice che l'hotel è pieno (Magda says that the hotel is full)
Reminder: indirect speech is when we report things that other people have said. We generally use the same tense as the original speech when the verb which introduces the indirect speech is in the present or the passato prossimo (perfect tense).
«Lavoro all'hotel» lavorare, presente → Anna dice che lavora lavorare, presente all'hotel.
“I work at the hotel” → Anna says that she works at the hotel.
When the verb we're using to report the other person's speech is in the past historic tense (disse, “said”, pensò, “thought”, etc.), the imperfect (diceva, “was saying”, pensava, “was thinking”, etc.) or the past perfect (aveva detto, “had said”, aveva pensato, “had thought”, etc.):
- an original verb in the present tense changes to the imperfect.
«Lavoro all'hotel» lavorare, presente → Anna disse/diceva/aveva detto che lavorava all'hotel lavorare, imperfetto.
“I work at the hotel” → Anna said/was saying/had said that she worked at the hotel.
- an original verb in the passato prossimo (perfect tense) or passato remoto (past historic) changes to the past perfect.
«Ho lavorato all'hotel» lavorare, passato prossimo → Anna disse/diceva/aveva detto che aveva lavorato all'hotel lavorare, trapassato prossimo.
“I worked at the hotel” → Anna said/was saying/had said that she had worked at the hotel.
- an original verb in the future tense changes to the past conditional. Note that in English, we would use the present conditional in such cases.
«Lavorerò all'hotel» lavorare, futuro → Anna disse/diceva/aveva detto che avrebbe lavorato all'hotel lavorare, condizionale passato.
“I will work at the hotel” → Anna said/was saying/had said that she would work at the hotel (literally “would have worked”).
- an original verb in the present conditional also changes to the past conditional. Note that we would retain the present conditional in English.
«Mi piacerebbe lavorare all'hotel» piacere, condizionale presente → Anna disse/diceva/aveva detto che le sarebbe piaciuto lavorare all'hotel piacere, condizionale passato.
“I would like to work at the hotel” → Anna said/was saying/had said that she would like to work at the hotel.
- an original verb in the imperfect or past perfect does not change.
«Lavoravo all'hotel» lavorare, imperfetto → Anna disse/diceva/aveva detto che lavorava all'hotel lavorare, imperfetto.
“I was working at the hotel” → Anna said/was saying/had said that she was working at the hotel.
«Non avevo mai lavorato all'hotel» lavorare, trapassato prossimo → Anna disse/diceva/aveva detto che non aveva mai lavorato all'hotel lavorare, trapassato prossimo.
“I had never worked at the hotel” → Anna said/was saying/had said that she had never worked at the hotel.
When the introductory phrase and the phrase we're quoting refer to the same subject, we use di + infinitive to form the indirect speech, regardless of which tense the introductory verb (such as dire in the example below) is in.
«Ho avere, presente fame.» → Anna dice/ha detto/disse/diceva/aveva detto di avere fame.
“I'm hungry” → Anna says/has said/said/was saying/had said that she is/was hungry.
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