Reported speech: questions, commands & tense sequence

Me preguntó si quería café y me pidió que me sentara.He asked me if I wanted coffee and asked me to sit down.

In reported speech with decir que you reported plain statements. At B2 you add the two other things people pass on: questions and commands or requests. Each one has its own pattern, and the tense of the reporting verb (preguntó, pidió) guides the tense of what follows.

Quick shortcut: a yes/no question is reported with si (Preguntó si venía), an open question keeps its question word with a written accent (Preguntó dónde vivía), and a command or request goes into the subjunctive after que (Pidió que viniera). A past reporting verb usually pulls the next verb into the past too.

Reporting questions

Spanish reports a question with preguntar (or querer saber), and the way you join the question depends on its type.

Yes/no questions use si (no accent) and a verb in the indicative:

• "¿Vienes a la fiesta?" → Me preguntó si venía a la fiesta. (He asked me if I was coming to the party.)
• "¿Has terminado?" → Quiso saber si había terminado. (He wanted to know if I had finished.)

Open questions keep their question word, with the written accent, because it is still a question word inside the sentence:

• "¿Dónde vives?" → Me preguntó dónde vivía. (She asked me where I lived.)
• "¿Qué quieres?" → Preguntó qué queríamos. (He asked what we wanted.)
• "¿Cuándo llegas?" → Quiso saber cuándo llegaba. (He wanted to know when I was arriving.)

The question marks disappear, and the clause is written as a normal sentence. In spoken Spanish you will hear an extra que before the question word (Me preguntó que dónde vivía), but standard and written Spanish leave it out.

Reporting commands and requests

When someone gives an order, makes a request or offers advice, Spanish uses the same pattern as other verbs of influence: a verb of asking or telling + que + subjunctive.

• "Ven mañana." → Me dijo que viniera mañana. (He told me to come tomorrow.)
• "Siéntate, por favor." → Me pidió que me sentara. (He asked me to sit down.)
• "No toques nada." → Nos ordenó que no tocáramos nada. (He ordered us not to touch anything.)
• "Descansa más." → Mi médico me aconsejó que descansara más. (My doctor advised me to rest more.)

The command (the imperative) turns into a subjunctive. It is the same subjunctive you already know after verbs of influence.

With decir, the mood tells you which meaning you get: Me dijo que venía is a statement ("he said he was coming"), while Me dijo que viniera is a command ("he told me to come").

Some of these verbs also allow a shorter pattern: the person who must act becomes an indirect object, and the action is an infinitive. This is common with mandar, ordenar, prohibir, permitir, aconsejar:

• Me ordenó salir. = Me ordenó que saliera. (He ordered me to leave.)
• Les prohibió entrar. = Les prohibió que entraran. (He forbade them to go in.)

Prometer is different: when the person who promises is also the one who acts, an infinitive is the usual choice (Prometió venir), and prometer que + indicative is the longer alternative (Prometió que vendría).

How the tenses line up

The tense of the reporting verb sets the scene for the verb that follows. The most common correspondences, when the reporting verb is in the past, are these:

With a reporting verb in the present or the present perfect, the reported verb simply keeps its tense, and a command stays in the present subjunctive: Me pide que venga, Me ha preguntado si vengo.

None of these shifts are mechanical. Like statements, reported questions and commands can keep the original tense when the content is still current at the moment you speak: Me preguntó si quiero ir con él (if he is still waiting for the answer), or Me pidió que venga mañana (if tomorrow has not come yet). The past subjunctive is the usual, "textbook" choice, and the present subjunctive is a natural option when the request is still alive. For the full picture of mood and tense, see Sequence of tenses with the subjunctive.

Pronouns and time words shift in the same way as with statements: "Mañana te llamo." → Dijo que me llamaría al día siguiente.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Me preguntó ¿dónde vives? → ✅ Me preguntó dónde vivía. (a reported question has no question marks, and the verb moves to match the new point of view.)
• ❌ Me preguntó donde vivía. → ✅ Me preguntó dónde vivía. (the question word keeps its accent inside a reported question.)
• ❌ Me pidió que vengo. → ✅ Me pidió que viniera. (a request after pedir que needs the subjunctive.)
• ❌ Me preguntó que si venía. → ✅ Me preguntó si venía. (si alone introduces a reported yes/no question.)

Quick check

1. Report: "¿Tienes hambre?" (ella me preguntó...)
2. Report: "¿Cuándo sales?" (él quiso saber...)
3. Report: "Cierra la puerta." (mi madre me dijo...)
4. What is the difference between Me dijo que venía and Me dijo que viniera?
5. Complete: "No hables tan alto." → Nos pidió que no ___ (hablar) tan alto.

Key takeaways

• A reported yes/no question takes si (without accent) and the indicative: Preguntó si venía.
• A reported open question keeps its question word with the written accent: Preguntó dónde vivía. Standard Spanish does not add que before it.
• A reported command or request takes que + subjunctive: Pidió que viniera. With a few verbs (mandar, ordenar, prohibir) an infinitive works too: Me ordenó salir.
• Decir que + indicative reports a statement, and decir que + subjunctive reports a command.
• A past reporting verb usually brings the next verb into the past (present → imperfect, imperative → imperfect subjunctive), but the original tense can stay when the content is still current.