Advanced, Task 20

Simplified and native speakers:

• Simplified example
• Carmen V.
• José M.
• Hanevy S.
• Natacha P.
• Teresa C.

Click red links to download .m4v files for use in iPod:

• Simplified example
• Carmen V.
• José M.
• Hanevy S.
• Natacha P.
• Teresa C.

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Key vocabulary for this task

Example phrases for this task

Grammar points for this task



		Simplified Example "La Caperucita Roja vivía con su mamá..."



		Carmen V. Perú, Lima "Bueno este es el cuento de la Caperucita Roja..."

		José M. Venezuela, Maracaibo "Me llamo José M., soy de Venezuela..."

		Hanevy S. México, Irapuato, Guanajuato "La historia de Caperucita Roja es que Caperucita Roja..."

		Natacha P. Argentina, Buenos Aires "¿Caperucita Roja? Ah, una historia que me contaba mi mamá cuando era chiquita..."

		Teresa C. Santiago, Chile "Había una niña que era la Caperucita Roja..."

acompañar		to accompany, to go with
barriga (f)		belly
boca (f)		mouth
cazar		to hunt
cesta (f)		basket
desobedecer		to disobey
despedirse		to say goodbye
engañar		to deceive
fastidiar		to annoy, to bother

golpear		to hit
gritar		to shout, to yell
mano (f)		hand
oído (m)		ear (internal)
ojo (m)		eye
oreja (f)		ear (external)
saltar/brincar		to jump
sospechar		to be suspicious, to suspect
tocar una puerta		to knock on a door

Bueno este es el cuento de la Caperucita Roja.	Well, this is the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Tocó la puerta de la anciana, entró con engaños, y simplemente se la comió.	He knocked on the old lady's door, enterred with a trick, and simply ate her.
"No te vayas por el camino más largo. Te vas por el camino corto porque por el camino largo te puedes encontrar con el lobo."	"Don't go by way of the longer road. Use the short road because on the longer road you could run into the wolf."
Se trata de una niña que vivía con su mamá y un poquito más alejado de su casa vivía la abuelita.	It's about a girl that lived with her mom and a little ways away from her house lived her grandmother.
Un día la mamá la manda con una cestita y pastelitos para que le visitara a su abuelita.	One day, her mom sent her with a little basket and treats to visit her grandma.

Reporting what someone says (all verb tenses)

Now that you understand the basics of using indirect speech in Spanish (see "Related Grammar" in advanced 19) it is time to learn how to report speech in all tenses. As we saw in the previous lesson, the first question to ask is whether you are reporting information or a favor. The second question to ask is: what tense is being used. Favors will always be in command form. Information, on the other hand, could be in any tense. For example, my neighbor Joe might say, "I spoke with Ted yesterday."

In order to report this information to a third party I will need to change the verb tense as follows: Joe said that he had spoken with Ted yesterday. Spanish and English have the same changes for indirect speech. The chart below shows how each verb tense changes when used in indirect speech.

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Simple present Simple past

Simple past Past perfect

Present perfect Past perfect

Future Conditional

Let's look at one example of each verb tense:

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Jorge dice, "me duele la cabeza". Jorge dijo que le dolía la cabeza.

Jorge says, "My head hurts." Jorge said that his head hurt.

Pablo dice, "fui al mercado". Pablo dijo que había ido al mercado.

Pablo says, "I went to the market." Pablo said that he had gone to the market.

Lisa dice, "he dormido mucho hoy". Lisa dijo que había dormido mucho hoy.

Lisa says, "I've slept a lot today." Lisa said that she had slept a lot today.

Erica dice, "estaré en clase mañana". Erica dijo que estaría en clase mañana.

Erica says, "I will be in class tomorrow." Erica said that she would be in class tomorrow.