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Advanced Reported Speech — Discorso Indiretto B2·Reported Speech with Modal Verbs
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Rule reminder

Modal verbs in reported speech: potere → poteva (could), dovere → doveva (had to), volere → voleva (wanted), sapere → sapeva (knew how to). In past reported speech these shift to imperfect. Future modals (potrà, dovrà) → conditional (potrebbe/avrebbe potuto, dovrebbe/avrebbe dovuto).

Reported Speech with Modal Verbs1 / 10

Direct: 'Non so nuotare, ma so suonare il pianoforte.' → Reported: Il bambino disse che ___

More in this section

→ When NOT to Apply Backshift→ Dialogue to Reported Speech: News Interview→ Dialogue to Reported Speech: Job Interview→ Mixed Backshift: All Tenses
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