Le discours direct et indirect en anglais
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Discours direct et discours indirect en anglais
En français et en anglais, pour rapporter les propos de quelqu’un ou ses propres paroles, on peut utiliser le discours direct ou le discours indirect. Il peut s’agir d’affirmations, de questions, d’ordres, de conseils…
Lorsqu’on passe du style direct au style indirect il faut souvent changer les pronoms personnels, les démonstratifs et les possessifs en fonction de qui dit quoi:
- I devient he / she
- me devient him / her
- my devient his / her
- we devient they
- this devient that
- us devient them
- mine devient his / hers
- ours devient theirs
- our devient their
Voici quelques exemples:
Discours direct |
Discours indirect |
She says: « My dad likes onion soup. » |
She says that her dad likes onion soup. |
Kevin said, ‘I’m tired.’ |
Kevin said (that) he was tired. |
Have you ever been to Japan? |
She asked me if I had ever been to Japan. |
Open the door! |
He told me to open the door. |
Note: That est souvent sous-entendu au discours indirect. Il n’est pas obligatoire de le mettre, et il est donc indiqué entre parenthèses dans cette leçon.
Les verbes introducteurs
Pour rapporter les paroles de quelqu’un, au discours direct comme au discours indirect, on a besoin d’un verbe introducteur.
Les deux plus fréquents sont tell (dire à quelqu’un) et say (dire), mais il y en a bien d’autres possibles comme:
- ask → demander
- reply → répondre
- warn → avertir
- answer → répondre
- point out → signaler
- state → affirmer
- write → écrire
- add → ajouter
- exclaim → s’exclamer
- protest → protester
- report → rapporter
- explain → expliquer
- think → penser
- admit → admettre
- declare → déclarer
- mention → mentionner
- suggest → suggérer
- advise → conseiller
- claim → prétendre que
- forbid → interdire
- order → ordonner
- hope → espérer
- inquire → se renseigner
- want to know → vouloir savoir
- wonder → se demander
Say ou tell ?
Attention à bien distinguer SAY de TELL. Les deux verbes se traduisent par ‘dire’, mais leur emploi est différent. Avec TELL, l’interlocuteur est cité : le nom ou le pronom est placé immédiatement après tell (tell somebody something).
Avec SAY, l’interlocuteur n’est pas nécessairement cité ; s’il l’est, on l’introduit par la préposition to (say something to somebody):
- He says (that) he is English. → Il dit qu’il est anglais.
- He tells me (that) he is English. → Il me dit qu’il est anglais.
Toutefois, tell s’emploie dans quelques expressions sans mention d’un interlocuteur:
- tell the truth → dire la vérité
- tell a story → raconter une histoire
- tell the time → dire l’heure.
Note: la formulation ‘He said to me…’ est possible mais semble maladroite. On utilise de préférence ‘He told me…’.
LES MODIFICATIONS DE TEMPS
Le passage au discours indirect entraîne des modifications de temps, selon que le verbe est au présent ou au passé.
Si le verbe introducteur est au présent, le temps (ou le modal) ne change pas.
- « I’m sorry. » → He says he is sorry.
- « I hate driving » → He says he hates driving.
Attention, si les propos rapportés sont encore vrais maintenant il ne faut pas changer le temps !
- He said this morning (that) he hates driving. (il déteste toujours conduire).
Si le verbe introducteur est au passé, le temps du verbe change:
En règle générale, on applique la concordance des temps comme en français.
Exemples de changements principaux des temps:
Discours direct |
Discours indirect |
Présent simple
He said: « I am happy »
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Prétérit
He said (that) he was happy.
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Présent continu / progressif
He said: « I‘m looking for my phone »
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Past Continuous
He said (that) he was looking for his phone.
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Prétérit
He said: « I visited Paris last year »
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Past Perfect Simple
He said (that) he had visited Paris the previous year.
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Present Perfect
He said: » I‘ve lived in London for a long time «
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Past Perfect
He said (that) he had lived in London for a long time.
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Past Perfect
He said: « They had cleaned the kitchen when I arrived«
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Past Perfect
He said (that) they had cleaned the kitchen when he had arrived.
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Past Continuous
He said: « I was watching TV when the accident occurred«
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Past Perfect Continuous
He said (that) he had been watching TV when the accident had occurred.
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Present Perfect Progressive
He said: »I have been swimming for one hours. »
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Past Perfect Continuous
He said (that) he had been swimming for one hours.
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Past Perfect Continuous
He said: « I had been reading a book when the light went off«
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Past Perfect Continuous
He said (that) he had been reading a book when the light had gone off.
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Futur simple (will+verb)
He said: « I will open the door. »
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Conditionnel (would+verb)
He said (that) he would open the door.
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Conditionnel (would+verb)
He said: « I would buy a plane if I were rich »
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Conditionnel (would+verb)
He said (that) he would buy a plane if he had been rich.
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LES MODAUX
Les modaux could, should, would, might, needn’t, ought to, used to ne changent pas lorsqu’ils sont rapportés au discours indirect.
Ceux qui changent sont will → would, can → could, may → might:
- I will come with you. → Tina promised she would come with me.
- I can help you. → He said he could help me.
- It may be a good idea. → I thought it might be a good idea.
Modaux |
Discours direct |
Discours indirect |
will |
« They will call you. » |
He told her that they would call her. |
would* |
« I would help, but I’m sick. » |
She said (that) she would help but she was sick. |
can |
« I can do it. » |
He said he could do it. |
could* |
« I could swim when I was four » |
She said (that) she could swim when she was four. |
should* |
« I should call my mother » |
She said (that) she should call her mother. |
may |
« May I go out? » |
He wanted to know if he might go out. |
must |
« She must apply for the job. » |
He said that she must/had to apply for the job. |
* ne changent pas
LES REPÈRES DE TEMPS, DE LIEU ET DÉMONSTRATIFS
Les expressions de temps, de lieu et les démonstratifs changent si le contexte du discours indirect est différent de celui du discours direct.
She said « I saw him yesterday. » → She said she had seen him the day before. (Elle a dit qu’elle l’avait vu la veille)
Discours direct |
Discours indirect |
Repères de temps |
today |
that day |
now |
then |
yesterday |
the day before |
… days ago |
… days before |
last week |
the week before |
next week |
the following week |
next year |
the following year |
tomorrow |
the next day / the following day |
Repère de lieu |
here |
there |
Démonstratifs |
this |
that |
these |
those |
Les ordres et interdictions au discours indirect
Pour rapporter un ordre ou une interdiction au discours indirect, on emploiera les verbes comme tell, order ou forbid… Attention, pensez à remplacer Don’t par NOT lorsqu’il est verbe principal de la phrase !
Pour les phrases affirmatives il faut utiliser to + infinitif
Pour les phrases négatives il faut utiliser not to + infinitif
- Don’t worry! → He told her not to worry.
- He said, « go to bed! » → He ordered the child to go to bed.
- Don’t marry him! → She forbade me to marry him.
- Please don’t be late. → She asked us not to be late.
Les questions au discours indirect
S’il y a un mot interrogatif comme where/who/when/why… au discours direct, on le garde au discours indirect:
- What are you doing? → She asked me what I was doing. (Elle m’a demandé / Elle me demanda ce que je faisais.)
- Who was that beautifl woman? → He asked me who that beautiful woman had been.
- Where do you live? → He wanted to know where I lived.
- « Why don’t you speak Spanish?” → He asked me why I didn’t speak Spanish.
S’il s’agit d’une question fermée à laquelle on doit répondre par oui/non, on utilise if ou whether:
- « Do you like chocolate? » → She asked me if I liked chocolate.
- « Are you living here? » → She asked me if I was living here.
- « Have you ever been to Paris? » → He asked me if I had ever been to Paris.
Lorsque la question contient un modal, celui-ci est au prétérit dans la question rapportée:
- How will he react? → He wondered how he would react.
Quelques exemples de questions indirectes:
- I wondered what they were talking about.
- I don’t know if they’ll come or not.
AUTRES TRANSFORMATIONS
Les expressions de conseils comme must, should et ought sont généralement rapportées en utilisant les verbes advise ou urge:
- « You must read this book. » → He advised / urged me to read that book.
L’expression let’s est généralement rapportée en utilisant le verbe suggest, avec le gérondif ou avec should:
- « Let’s go to the cinema. » → He suggested going to the cinema. OU He suggested that we should go to the cinema.
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