Reported Speech and Passive se

B1Sentence building 6 min

Reported speech passes on words with decir que and preguntar si; passive se leaves out who acts: se venden casas. After dice que the tense stays; after dijo que, a present becomes the imperfect: Dice que tiene sueño. Dijo que tenía sueño.

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CheatsheetB1

Point	Rule	Example	English
Reporting now	dice que: the same tense, the person changes	Dice que tiene hambre.	She says she's hungry.
Reporting the past	dijo que: a present becomes the imperfect	Dijo que tenía sueño.	He said he was sleepy.
Orders	dice que with the present subjunctive	Dice que te sientes.	She says you should sit down.
Questions	si for yes-no questions; question words stay, with their accent	Pregunta si vienes. / Me preguntó dónde vivía.	She's asking if you're coming. / He asked me where I lived.
Passive se	se with the verb agreeing with the thing	Se vende casa. / Se venden casas.	House for sale. / Houses for sale.
Impersonal se	se with a singular verb: people in general	En este restaurante se come muy bien.	You eat very well in this restaurant.
Trap	pronouns and possessives change with the speaker	Mi casa es pequeña. → Dice que su casa es pequeña.	My house is small. → She says her house is small.
Trap	a plural thing takes a plural verb: se venden	Aquí se hablan tres idiomas.	Three languages are spoken here.

OverviewB1

Reported speech passes on what someone said with a verb of saying and que.
Passive se tells what is done without saying who does it.

Form: reported speechB1

Words said	Reported
Tengo hambre. — I'm hungry.	Dice que tiene hambre. — She says she's hungry.
Vivo en Lima. — I live in Lima.	Me dijo que vivía en Lima. — He told me he lived in Lima.
Siéntate. — Sit down.	Dice que te sientes. — She says you should sit down.
¿Vienes? — Are you coming?	Pregunta si vienes. — She's asking if you're coming.
¿Dónde vives? — Where do you live?	Me preguntó dónde vivía. — He asked me where I lived.

After dice que, the tense stays; the person, the pronouns and the possessives change to fit the new speaker.
After dijo que, a present becomes the imperfect: Estoy cansada. → Dijo que estaba cansada. — I'm tired. → She said she was tired.
An order becomes que with the present subjunctive: Ven. → Dice que vengas. — Come. → She says you should come.
A yes-no question takes si; a question word stays, with its accent.
The forms of the subjunctive: Present Subjunctive: Forms.

Form: passive and impersonal seB1

Pattern	Example	English
se + singular verb + singular noun	Se vende casa.	House for sale.
se + plural verb + plural noun	Se venden casas. / Se alquilan bicicletas.	Houses for sale. / Bikes for hire.
se + singular verb	En este restaurante se come muy bien. / ¿Cómo se dice esto en español?	You eat very well in this restaurant. / How do you say this in Spanish?

The verb agrees with the thing: singular for one, plural for several.
With no thing named, the verb stays singular and speaks of people in general.
Signs and adverts use it: Se vende / Se alquila / Se busca.

Compare: dice que with indicative and subjunctiveB1

Information	Order
the indicative passes on a fact	the subjunctive passes on an order
Dice que viene. — She says she's coming.	Dice que vengas. — She says you should come.

Typical errorsB1

✗	✓	Rule
Dice tiene hambre.	Dice que tiene hambre.	que never drops after decir
Dijo a mí que vivía en Lima.	Me dijo que vivía en Lima.	the person told is a pronoun before the verb: me dijo
Mi madre dice que vienes a casa ya.	Mi madre dice que vengas a casa ya.	to pass on the order ¡Ven a casa ya!: the subjunctive
Me preguntó donde vivía.	Me preguntó dónde vivía.	a reported question word keeps its accent
Se vende casas.	Se venden casas.	the verb agrees with the thing

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