​                 Direct & Indirect Speech

When do we use direct speech ?
Direct Speech “Quoted Speech” is used when we want to retell what someone is saying in the present. You have to use quotation marks and you have to say exactly what that person is saying. Example: She said  “I'm thirsty”.

When do we use indirect speech ?
Indirect Speech “Reported  Speech” is used when we want to retell what someone has said  in the past. You don't have to use quotation marks in reported speech. In indirect speech the tense is changed and we go back in time.

Reported statements:
Tom said, “I’ve lost my keys.”
Tom said he had lost his keys.
 
Reported questions:
“When did it start raining”? Mike asked.
Mike asked when it had started raining.

Reported commands:
“Give me your passport”, she told me.
She told me to give her my passport.

Notice that we change the tense and we go back in time.
Examples:

In indirect speech we change some words that have to do with time and place, for example:

Yesterday     the day before
Now                then
Today             that day
Tonight          that night
Tomorrow     the following day
Ago                  before
These              those
This                 that
Here                there

Example: 
Direct speech          Sara said, "he bought a laptop yesterday".    
Indirect speech       Sara said she had bought a laptop the day before.