Reported Speech

We use reported speech when we are saying what other people say, think or believe.

• He says he wants it.
• We think you are right.
• I believe he loves her.
• Yesterday you said you didn't like it but now you do!
• She told me he had asked her to marry him.
• I told you she was ill.
• We thought he was in Australia.

When we are reporting things in the present, future or present perfect we don't change the tense.

• He thinks he loves her.
• I'll tell her you are coming.
• He has said he'll do it.

When we tell people what someone has said in the past, we generally make the tense 'more in the past'.

• You look very nice = I told him he looked very nice.
• He's working in Siberia now = She told me he was working in Siberia now.
• Polly has bought a new car = She said Polly had bought a new car.
• Jo can't come for the weekend = She said Jo couldn't come for the weekend.
• Paul called and left a message = He told me Paul had called and had left me a message.
• I'll give you a hand = He said he would give me a hand.

However, when we are reporting something that was said in the past but is still true, it is not obligatory to make the tense 'more in the past'. The choice is up to the speaker. For example:

"The train doesn't stop here"

• He said the train doesn't stop here.
• He said the train didn't stop here.

"I like Sarah"

• She said she likes Sarah.
• She said she liked Sarah.

When we are reporting what was said, we sometimes have to change other words in the sentence.

We have to change the pronoun if we are reporting what someone else said. Compare these two sentences. In each case the person actually said "I don't want to go."

• I said I didn't want to go.
• Bill said he didn't want to go.

We have to change words referring to 'here and now' if we are reporting what was said in a different place or time. 
Compare these two sentences. In each case the person actually said "I'll be there at ten tomorrow."

• (If it is later the same day) He said he would be there at ten tomorrow.
• (If it is the next day) He said he would be there at ten today.

Now compare these two sentences.

• (If we are in a different place) He said he would be there tomorrow at ten.
• (If we are in the place he is coming to) He said he would be here at ten tomorrow.

We also use reported speech when we are saying what other people asked or wanted to know. We do not use do or question marks in indirect questions.

• "What time is it?" = He asked me what time it was.
• "Why hasn't he come? = She wondered why he hadn't come.
• "When will you be arriving?" = He wanted to know when we would be arriving.
• "What were you doing?" = They questioned him about what he had been doing.

We use the same structure when we report answers.

• "147 Oak Street." = I told him what my address was.
• "I didn't have time to do it." = She explained why she hadn't done it.
• "Look at this dress and bag." = She showed me what she had bought.
• "Put the paper here and press this button." = He demonstrated how the scanner worked.

Yes/no questions are reported with if or whether.

• Do you want a ride? = Mike asked me if I wanted a ride.
• Are you coming? = They wanted to know if I was coming.
• Will you be here later? = She asked me whether I would be here later.
  

Past Perfect

We use the past perfect simple to talk about what happened before a point in the past. It looks back from a point in the past to further in the past.

• I hadn't known the bad news when I spoke to him.
• I checked with the supplier and they still hadn't received the contract.
• She had already told him before I got a chance to give him my version.
• The company has started the year well but was badly hit by the postal strike.

The past perfect simple is often used when we report what people had said/thought/believed.

• He told me they had already paid the bill.
• He said he believed that John had moved to Italy.
• I thought we had already decided on a name for this product.

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastperfect/exercise1.html

Affirmative Sentences (Frases afirmativas)

• Examples:
• • I had visited the Louvre before so I knew where the Mona Lisa was. (Había visitó el Museo del Louvre antes, así que sabía donde estaba la Mona Lisa.)
  • They had studied English before they went to London. (Habían estudiado inglés antes de irse a Londres.)
  • Henry changed careers because he had worked as an accountant for many years and was bored. (Henry cambió de profesión porque había trabajado como contable durante muchos años y estaba aburrido.)
• Negative Sentences (Frases negativas)
  

  • Examples:
  • I had not visited the Louvre before so I didn't know where the Mona Lisa was. (No había visitado el Museo del Louvre antes, así que no sabía donde estaba la Mona Lisa.)
  • They had not studied English before they went to London. (No habían estudiado inglés antes de irse a Londres.)
  • Henry changed careers even though he had not worked as an accountant for long.(Henry cambió de profesión a pesar de que no había trabajado como contable durante mucho tiempo.)

Interrogative Sentences (Frases interrogativas)

• Examples:
• How did you know where the Mona Lisa was? Had you visited the Louvre before? (¿Cómo sabías dónde estaba la Mona Lisa? ¿Había visitó el Museo del Louvre antes?)
• Had they studied English before they went to London? (¿Habían estudiado inglés antes de irse a Londres?)
• Had Henry worked as an accountant for long before he changed careers? (¿Henry había trabajado como contable durante mucho tiempo antes de cambiar de profesión?)

Uses

We use the past perfect to refer to an action or event that started in the past andbefore other action is also in the past (past simple).
Examples:

• I'd read the book before I saw the movie. (Había leído el libro antes de ver la película.)
• Donna had just left when you called. (Donna había salido justo cuando llamaste.)
• Had you ever flown before the trip to France? (¿Alguna vez habías volado antes del viaje a Francia?)

Used for actions that happened before a specific time in the past.

• Examples:
• I had already woken up when the alarm clock rang at 7am. (Ya me había despertado cuando sonó el despertador a las 7.)
• He hadn't been to France before the trip in 2008. (No había estado en Francia antes del viaje del 2008.)

Also, as the present perfect, with some verbs use the past perfect for situations thathave begun in the past and continued to a specific point in the past.

• Examples:
• She had only owned one car before she bought her new BMW. (Había tenido un coche antes de que le compró a su nuevo BMW.)
• I'd been depressed for a long time before I changed jobs. (Había estado deprimido durante mucho tiempo antes de que cambiara de trabajo.)

Present Perfect

Time Present Perfect is used to speak of actions begun in the past and still continuein the present. For example:

Since I Have Been here Monday.
He estado aquí desde el lunes

To shape, use the auxiliary HAVE, conjugated to the appropriate person (change onlythe third person singular), followed by the past participle, which is equal for all people.

Then observed the conjugation of the verb TO BE.

TO BE
I	have been
You	have been
He	has been
She	has been
It	has been
We	have been
You	have been
They	have been

- For regular verbs, the past participle is formed by taking the verb itself and adding"ed" or "d " if it ends in a vowel. If it ends in "y " is changed to "ied".

Have we played tennis for two hours.Hemos jugado tenis por dos horas.
She has arrived late again.
Ha llegado tarde de nuevo.

Have You Studied a lot.

Has estudiado mucho.

- The irregular verbs have their own past participle and the only way to learn is tomemorize them. Are usually displayed in the third column of the lists of irregular verbs in English dictionaries.

For example, the past participle of the verb TO SEE (ver) is "seen. " It is always the same for all people.

We have seen many people around here.Hemos visto mucha gente por aquí.

She has seen many people around here.Ella ha visto mucha gente por aquí.

- For questions using this time, we use HAVE (conjugated to the appropriate person),followed by the subject, then the past participle and finally the rest of the sentence.

Have you had lunch?Has almorzado? 


- The negative form is composed of the auxiliary HAVE in its negative form (conjugatedto the appropriate person), followed by the past participle, which is equal for all people.


I haven't seen him yet.Aún no lo he visto. 

This is a short list of some irregular verbs with past participle.

INFINITIVO	PARTICIPIO PASADO
go (ir)	gone
have (tener)	had
write (escribir)	written
read (leer)	read
catch (atrapar)	caught
fall (caer)	fallen
hear (escuchar)	heard
see (ver)	seen
say (decir)	said
give (dar)	given
know (saber)	known

Note

Do not confuse time Present Perfect with time Simple Past. Notice the difference inmeaning between these sentences:

I have just had lunch.Recién he almorzado. (es una acción comenzada en el pasado y recientemente terminada)

I had lunch five hours ago.Almorcé hace cinco horas. (es una acción completamente en el pasado).
The Present Perfect suggests a relationship between this current and the past. In contrast, the Simple Past always refers to the past. Therefore, when using SimplePast, should indicate when the action took place.