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B2 · Upper-intermediate · Lesson 25
Reported speech
Polish keeps the original tense — no backshift.
Reporting speech is simpler than in English in one big way: Polish does not shift tenses back. 'He said he is tired' stays present — Powiedział, że jest zmęczony. You just pick the right linking word for the type of sentence.
| Reporting… | Connector | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a statement | że | Mówi, że pada |
| a yes/no question | czy | Pyta, czy mam czas |
| a request / purpose | żeby | Prosi, żebym przyszedł |
- •że for statements, czy for yes/no questions, żeby for requests.
- •The reported tense matches what the speaker actually said.
Quick check
Report a statement with:
że introduces reported statements.
Compared with English, Polish reported speech…
No backshift — the tense stays.
Practice
Now produce the answers yourself — type them, choose the form, or build the sentence.
Report a statement: 'Mówi, ___ pada.'
Report a yes/no question: 'Pyta, ___ mam czas.'
Polish reported speech shifts the tense back?
No backshift — keep the tense.
Say: She said she will come.
Prosi, ___ przyszedł. (a request — 'that I come')
What this lesson covered
Reporting what someone said is simpler in Polish than in English, because Polish doesn't shift the tense backwards. This lesson showed how to relay statements and questions faithfully. Statements are introduced with że (“that”): powiedział, że przyjdzie — literally “he said that he will come,” keeping the original future rather than changing it to “would.” Yes/no questions use czy (“whether/if”): zapytała, czy mam czas (she asked if I had time). Common reporting verbs include powiedzieć, mówić, zapytać and obiecać. The one rule to internalise is the absence of backshift: whatever tense the speaker originally used, you keep it. That makes reported speech one of the friendlier advanced topics — you mostly just add że or czy and repeat the original words. It's essential for storytelling and passing on messages.