Indirekte Rede im Englischen: Regeln und Übungen
In diesem Abschnitt wird die Bildung und Verwendug der indirekten Rede (indirect/reported speech) im Englischen erklärt.
Vertiefung
Englische Version:
Formation
In creative writing tasks and text analysis it will at some point most likely become necessary to report speech. In indirect speech we generally distinguish between reporting and reported clause:
| reporting clause | reported clause |
She said He said | (that) she was going to France. (that) he had walked home at three o'clock. |
When you turn direct speech into indirect speech you need to pay special attention to the following three issues:
1. Important is a change of tense in the reported clause, called backshifting. More details will follow further down.
Beispiel
1. She said, "I am going to France" -> She said (that) she was going to France.
2. He said, "I walked home at three o'clock." -> He said (that) he had walked home at three o'clock.
2. In addition to that you must adjust time and place to fit the new situation:
Beispiel
She said, "I saw it here yesterday." -> She said (that) she had seen it there the day before.
3. Except for when everybody who was involved in a conversation is still present, you must change 1st and 2nd person pronouns into 3rd person pronouns:
Beispiel
Peter said to Samuel, "I met your son yesterday." -> Peter said to Samuel (that) he had met his son the day before.
If the speaker directly addresses Samuel: Peter said (that) he had met your son the day before.
After common reporting verbs (e.g. agree, mention, say) you may leave out that in the reported clause. But please do not do it in your exams because including that sounds more formal.
Negatives
There exist two options:
1. If you want to report that someone has not said something, you do it within the reporting clause:
She didn't say that she was going to France.
2. If you want to report a negative statement, you susually negate the reported clause:
He said, "I didn't walk home at three o'clock." -> He said (that) he hadn't walked home at three o'clock.
However, there exists a group of verbs describing mental processes or states (e. g. feel, intend, plan, suppose, think) , which require the negation to be included in the reporting clause:
Beispiel
"I suppose it will not happen" -> She didn't suppose it to happen. (*She supposed it wouldn't happen.)
Reporting questions
wh-questions
Such questions require a reporting clause and a suitable interrogative in the reported clause:
He asked me, "What is your favourite movie?" -> He asked me what my favourite movie was. (was = form of to be)
The word order may, in comparison to a regular statement, be changed if you are dealing with a wh-question including a form of to be. Compare:
Statement: .....my favourite movie was. (Only backshift like above)
Changed word order: He asked me what was my favourite movie. (incl. backshift)
Incorrect: "Have you talked to mom?" -> *My sister asked me if had I talked to mom. (...if I had talked to mom.)
yes or no questions
Beispiel
How would you report the following question? "Are you vegetarian?"
Vertiefung
Answer:
You need a reporting clause: She/He/XY asked me....
You need to adjust tense and personal pronoun in the reported clause: I was vegetarian.
Both parts are then combined using if or whether: She asked me if/whether I was vegetarian.
Do not use do in a reported clause :
Pete asked me where I bought it. *Pete asked me where I did/I did buy it.
"Did you catch many fish?". He asked if I had caught many fish. (*...if I did catch...)
This is not true for negations. They require did not:
Pete asked me why I didn't buy it.
Tenses in Reported Speech
The reason for changing grammatical tense in the reported clause is a difference in actual time:
The reported utterance was made in the past:
Merke
Rule of thumb: present becomes past and past becomes past perfect.
Beispiel
present simple -> past simple: "I do not want any presents for my birthday." -> Grandma said (that) she did not want any presents for her birthday.
present progressive ->past progressive: " I am drowning!" -> He screamed that he was drowning.
If a past tense was used in the indirect speech, you indicate it by using past perfect in the reported clause:
Beispiel
"I always wanted to have many birthday presents when I was your age." -> Last week grandma said that she had always wanted to have many birthday presents when she was my age.
If the situation described in indirect speech is static, still in progress or for other reasons especially relevant in the moment of its being reported, use a present or present perfect form in the reported clause and present tense in the reporting clause:
Beispiel
President Obama assumes that he knows what is best for his country.
Jehovah's Witnesses think that they have understood the Bible correctly.
Present perfect puts special emphasis on a result, not an action.
Merke
would, might, could, should und ought remain the same in indirect speech!
Use
Indirect speech is about more than a mechanical application of grammatical rules. Instead, it is about catching the mood and circumstances of the original statement by an appropriate interpretation and about expressing that interpretation in a suitable manner that is able to even convey subtleties. This can by done by choosing the right adverbs and reporting verbs. Said may work fine in most cases but is also unspecific in meaning:
Beispiel
"Mom, you must allow me to go to the festival. All my friends are going!"
My son said that I must allow him to go to the festival because all his friends were going.
My son begged me that I must allow him....
Reporting Verbs
Here you find some examples of common reporting verbs and how they are used:
Verb+Infinitiv:
He/she/XY [subject] refused, agreed, decided, promised, offered, threatened, swore, suggested, proposed + to meet, to return, to pay [infinitive].
Verb+Objekt+Infinitiv
[subject] advised, invited, reminded, warned, dis-/encouraged, asked, urged, + me, my brother, the lawyer [object] + [infinitive].
These are just a few examples.
Free Indirect Speech
Especially in novels, you may come across what is called free indirect speech. It has been carried to the extreme in modern pieces of literary fiction, e.g. by James Joyce or Virginia Woolf. To get an impression of the effects created by this narrative technique, please read the following extract of Virgina Woolf's To the Lighthouse. The extract has been taken from the beginning of the novel and desribes the Ramsey family's youngest son's reaction towards the prospect of going on a little boat trip the following day:
"Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said Mrs. Ramsay. "But you'll have to be up with the lark," she added.
To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night's darkness and a day's sail, within touch. Since he belonged, even at the age of six, to that great clan which cannot keep this feeling separate from that, but must let future prospects, with their joys and sorrows, cloud what is actually at hand, since to such people even in earliest childhood any turn in the wheel of sensation has the power to crystallise and transfix the moment upon which its gloom or radiance rests, James Ramsay, sitting on the floor cutting out pictures from the illustrated catalogue of the Army and Navy stores, endowed the picture of a refrigerator, as his mother spoke, with heavenly bliss. It was fringed with joy.
Quelle: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100101.txt
Bildung (Formation)
Sowohl beim kreativen Schreiben als auch bei der Textanalyse wird es immer wieder notwendig, eine Aussage indirekt wiederzugeben. Bei indirect speech wird zwischen dem reporting clause und dem reported clause unterschieden:
| reporting clause | reported clause |
She said He said | (that) she was going to France. (that) he had walked home at three o'clock. |
Wenn du aus direct speech eine Wiedergabe als indirect speech machst, musst du vor allem auf drei Dinge achten:
1. Wichtig ist die Veränderung der Zeitform des Verbs im reported clause (backshifting). Details zum backshifting findest du weiter unten.
Beispiel
1. She said, "I am going to France" -> She said (that) she was going to France.
2. He said, "I walked home at three o'clock." -> He said (that) he had walked home at three o'clock.
2. Außerdem müssen Bezeichnungen für Zeit und Ort angepasst werden:
Beispiel
She said, "I saw it here yesterday." -> She said (that) she had seen it there the day before.
3. Außer wenn alle am Gespräch Beteiligten noch anwesend sind, musst du pronouns der ersten und zweiten Person in die dritte Person verändern:
Beispiel
Peter said to Samuel, "I met your son yesterday." -> Peter said to Samuel (that) he had met his son the day before.
Wenn der Sprecher direkt zu Samuel redet: Peter said (that) he had met your son the day before.
Das that des reported clause kann nach häufigen reporting verbs (z.B. agree, mention, say) wegfallen. In Klausuren solltest du es aber dem formalen Charakter entsprechend nicht auslassen.
Verneinungen (Negatives)
Hier gibt es zwei Möglichkeiten:
1. Wenn du wiedergeben möchtest, was jemand nicht gesagt hat, geschieht das im reporting clause:
She didn't say that she was going to France.
2. Wenn du eine negative Aussage wiedergeben möchtest, steht die Verneinung meistens im reported clause:
He said, "I didn't walk home at three o'clock." -> He said (that) he hadn't walked home at three o'clock.
Es gibt jedoch eine Gruppe von Verben, die innere Vorgänge/Zustände bezeichnen (z. B. feel, intend, plan, suppose, think) und bei denen die Verneinung im reporting clause geschieht:
Beispiel
"I suppose it will not happen" -> She didn't suppose it to happen. (*She supposed it wouldn't happen.)
Indirekte Rede und Fragen (Reporting questions)
wh-questions
Solche Fragen werden mit einem reporting clause und einem passenden Fragewort im reported clause wiedergegeben:
He asked me, "What is your favourite movie?" -> He asked me what my favourite movie was. (was = Form von to be)
Die Wortstellung kann im Vergleich zu einer Aussage verändert werden, wenn es sich um eine wh-Frage + Form von to be handelt. Vergleiche:
Aussage: .....my favourite movie was. (Nur backshift wie im Beispiel oben)
Veränderte Reihenfolge: He asked me what was my favourite movie. (inkl. backshift)
Falsch: "Have you talked to mom?" -> *My sister asked me if had I talked to mom. (...if I had talked to mom.)
yes or no questions
Beispiel
Wie würdest du die folgende Frage wiedergeben? "Are you vegetarian?"
Vertiefung
Lösung:
Du brauchst einen reporting clause: She/He/XY asked me....
Außerdem musst du die Zeitform und das Personalpronomen im reported clause anpassen: I was vegetarian.
Die beiden Teile werden mit if oder whether verbunden: She asked me if/whether I was vegetarian.
Im reported clause darf außerdem kein do vorkommen:
Pete asked me where I bought it. *Pete asked me where I did/I did buy it.
Das trifft allerdings nicht auf Verneinungen zu, in denen did not benötigt wird:
Pete asked me why I didn't buy it.
Zeitenfolge (Tenses in Reported Speech)
Dass es im reported clause eine Veränderung der grammatischen Zeit gibt, liegt am Unterschied in der realen Zeit: Die wiedergegebene Äußerung liegt in der Vergangenheit.
Merke
Daumenregel: present wird past und past wird past perfect.
Liegt die im reported clause beschriebene Situation in der Vergangenheit, wird eine past tense verwendet:
Beispiel
present simple/past simple: "I do not want any presents for my birthday." -> Grandma said (that) she did not want any presents for her birthday.
present progressive/past progressive: " I am drowning!" -> He screamed that he was drowning.
Lag die erählte Situation schon in der direkten Rede in der Vergangenheit, wird das in der indirect speech mit dem past perfect zum Ausdruck gebracht:
Beispiel
"I always wanted to have many birthday presents when I was your age." -> Last week grandma said that she had always wanted to have many birthday presents when she was my age.
Handelt es sich bei der beschriebenen Situation um etwas Dauerhaftes oder um etwas, das bisher noch andauert oder zum Zeitpunkt der Wiedergabe besonders relevant ist, wird im reported clause eine Form des present oder present perfect verwendet. Allerdings muss dann auch im reporting clause ein Verb im present stehen:
Beispiel
President Obama assumes that he knows what is best for his country.
Jehovah's Witnesses think that they have understood the Bible correctly.
Durch das present perfect wird das Ergebnis betont, nicht die Handlung.
Merke
would, might, could, should und ought bleiben unverändert!
Verwendung (Use)
Bei der indirekten Rede geht es um mehr als eine mechanische Anwendung von grammatischen Regeln. Es geht viel mehr darum, eine passende Wiedergabe bzw. Interpretation der direkten Rede zu erreichen, die möglichst auch die Stimmung und feinen Untertöne einfängt. Dafür musst du auf passende adverbs und reporting verbs zurückgreifen. Said geht zwar eigentlich immer, ist dafür aber auch wenig aussagekräftig:
Beispiel
"Mom, you must allow me to go to the festival. All my friends are going!"
My son said that I must allow him to go to the festival because all his friends were going.
My son begged me that I must allow him to....
Reporting Verbs
Einige Beispiele für reporting verbs und den passenden Satzbau:
Verb+Infinitiv:
He/she/XY [Subjekt] refused, agreed, decided, promised, offered, threatened, swore, suggested, proposed + to meet, to return, to pay [Infinitiv].
Verb+Objekt+Infinitiv
[Subjekt] advised, invited, reminded, warned, dis-/encouraged, asked, urged, + me, my brother, the lawyer [Objekt] + [Infinitiv].
Dies sind nur einige Beispiele dafür, welche Möglichkeiten dir offen stehen.
Free Indirect Speech
In Romanen findet sich manchmal free indirect speech. Auf die Spitze getrieben wurde das in modernen Werken von James Joyce oder Virginia Woolf. Für einen Eindruck davon, welche Wirkung damit erzielt wird, lies dir das folgende Beispiel aus To the Lighthouse von Virginia Woolf durch. Es ist der Anfang des Romans in dem beschrieben wird, wie der kleine Sohn der Familie Ramsay auf die Ankündigung eines Bootsausflugs reagiert:
"Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said Mrs. Ramsay. "But you'll have to be up with the lark," she added.
To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night's darkness and a day's sail, within touch. Since he belonged, even at the age of six, to that great clan which cannot keep this feeling separate from that, but must let future prospects, with their joys and sorrows, cloud what is actually at hand, since to such people even in earliest childhood any turn in the wheel of sensation has the power to crystallise and transfix the moment upon which its gloom or radiance rests, James
Ramsay, sitting on the floor cutting out pictures from the illustrated catalogue of the Army and Navy stores, endowed the picture of a refrigerator, as his mother spoke, with heavenly bliss. It was fringed with joy.
Quelle: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100101.txt
zum Kurs 
