Reported speech I: disse que, perguntou se

What it is

Reported speech (discurso indireto) is how you pass on what someone said or asked without quoting them word for word: “Estou cansada.” → Ela disse que estava cansada. Portuguese does it much like English: a reporting verb, the word que (or se for yes/no questions), and a shift of tense, pronouns and time words to fit the new point of view.

How to form it

Statements: dizer, falar, contar + que

The usual reporting verbs are dizer que, falar que (very common in Brazilian speech), contar que (tell, for news or stories), avisar que (let someone know), explicar que, prometer que and responder que. The person you tell goes before the verb as a pronoun: Ele me disse que…, A Iara te contou que…?

Que is never dropped. English says "She said she was tired"; Portuguese needs Ela disse que estava cansada.

The tense shift

When the reporting verb is in the past (disse, falou, perguntou, pediu), the verbs inside move one step back:

The logic is the one you know from the perfeito/imperfeito contrast: what was going on when the person spoke is imperfeito (estava, morava, tinha); what had already happened before it is the pluperfect (tinha almoçado, pt-g-047); what was still to come is ia + infinitive or the conditional (ia ligar, ligaria, pt-g-059).

Questions: perguntar se / onde / quando…

Yes/no questions take se (if): “Você já foi a Belém?” → Ela perguntou se eu já tinha ido a Belém. Questions with a question word keep it, with no se: “Onde você mora?” → Ele perguntou onde eu morava. “Que horas são?” → perguntou que horas eram. The word order is that of a statement.

Commands and requests

An imperative becomes pedir / dizer / mandar que + imperfect subjunctive (pt-g-057): “Espere aqui.” → O segurança pediu que eu esperasse lá. In everyday speech Brazilians prefer the infinitive: pediu pra eu esperar, mandou eu esperar.

Pronouns, possessives and time words

The point of view changes, so eu becomes ele / ela, meu becomes dele / dela, and você may become eu. Time and place words move too:

Try a few before reading on:

When to use it

• Past reporting verb → shift. This is the default in writing and careful speech: A professora disse que a prova seria na sexta.
• Present reporting verb → no shift. For something being said now, or always: O Otávio diz que vai chegar tarde. A previsão diz que vai chover.
• Still true? Speech often keeps the tense. Ele disse que vem amanhã is normal Brazilian speech if "tomorrow" is still ahead, and Ela disse que já almoçou is common for tinha almoçado. Both are fine in conversation; in writing, shift.
• Spoken forms. You'll hear Ela falou que tava cansada (tava = estava), and ia + infinitive almost everywhere the conditional would be written: disse que ia ligar rather than ligaria.

Contrasts and traps

• perguntar vs pedir. Perguntar is for questions (perguntou se…); pedir is for things and favours (pediu que eu ajudasse). Never pediu se….
• se vs que. Perguntou se eu queria café (a yes/no question) but disse que queria café (a statement).
• A finished situation must shift. Ontem ela disse que está doente, mas hoje está ótima contradicts itself: use estava.
• imperfeito, not perfeito, for states. Disse que estava cansada, not esteve; disse que morava em Natal, not morou.
• No a after ia. Disse que ia viajar, never ia a viajar.

If you speak Spanish

The system is the same as in Spanish (dijo que estaba, preguntó si, me pidió que esperara), so trust your instinct for the shift. Watch three forms: the imperfect subjunctive ends in -sse (esperasse, not esperara, which is a literary pluperfect in Portuguese); there's no a in ia viajar; and colloquial me preguntó que si… has no Portuguese equivalent: just perguntou se.