Reported Speech

Reported speech (dolaylı anlatım) is how we pass on what someone else said. Turkish has three main options: quoting with dedi / diye, turning the statement into a noun clause, or using the hearsay suffix -mIş.

1. Quoting: dedi and diye

The simplest way is to keep the original words and add dedi (said). To use a different verb such as sormak (ask), bağırmak (shout), söz vermek (promise) or düşünmek (think), put diye ("saying") after the quote.

• Ahmet "Yarın geleceğim" dedi. (Ahmet said, "I'll come tomorrow.")
• "Nasılsın?" diye sordu. (He/She asked, "How are you?")
• "Yardım edin!" diye bağırdı. (He/She shouted, "Help!")

"...diye söyledi" is also heard in everyday speech, but dedi is the more natural choice for a plain "said".

2. Indirect Speech with -DIK / -(y)AcAK

For true indirect speech, the reported statement becomes a noun clause, which is the object of söylemek (say), anlatmak (tell) etc. The structure is: verb + participle + possessive ending (who said it) + accusative -(n)I. Use -DIK for past and present statements and -(y)AcAK for future ones.

The possessive ending changes with the subject of the reported clause, and a different subject takes the genitive:

• Hasta olduğumu söyledim. (I said that I was sick.)
• Ali benim hasta olduğumu söyledi. (Ali said that I was sick.)
• Nereye gittiğimi sordu. (He/She asked where I went.)
• Bana beklememi söyledi. (He/She told me to wait.) — requests and orders use -mA + possessive + accusative.

3. Hearsay with -mIş

When you pass on information you heard rather than witnessed, you can simply add -mIş to the statement itself.

• Ahmet yarın gelecekmiş. (Apparently Ahmet is coming tomorrow. / I heard Ahmet will come tomorrow.)
• Ali hastaymış. (I hear Ali is sick.)

No Backshifting

Unlike English, Turkish does not shift tenses back. The original time reference is kept: a future statement stays -(y)AcAK (geleceğini = that he will/would come), and -DIK covers both "is" and "was" depending on context. Only the person endings change.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ "Geleceğim" diye dedi. → ✓ "Geleceğim" dedi. (diye already comes from demek)
• ✗ Ali geleceğim söyledi. → ✓ Ali geleceğini söyledi. (in indirect speech the ending shows Ali, the 3rd person)
• ✗ Ali hasta olduğu söyledi. → ✓ Ali hasta olduğunu söyledi. (the clause is the object, so it needs the accusative)