Sequence of tenses

Carlos dijo que vivía en Lima

In short:

When we talk in past tenses, all actions should be adjusted to the past.

Silvio dijo: “Te quiero” – Silvio said: “I love you”

Silvio dijo que me quería – Silvio said, that he loved me

We often build sentences using various tenses at once. It’s not that hard, when you know how to conjugate verbs. However, there are situations, in which you should combine tenses properly. The rules of combining past tenses are called sequence of tenses, or concordancia de tiempos, in Spanish.

A good way to practice the sequence of tenses is by changing direct speech into indirect speech.

Direct and indirect speech

Direct speech means a direct quotation of a speaker, which is often written in quotes.

Elías dice: “Tú estudias mal” – Elias says: “You are bad at learning”

Indirect speech, on the contrary, is reporting speaker’s words in another person, using the que conjunction. That’s why indirect speech is sometimes called reported speech.

Elías dice que yo estudio mal – Elías says, that I’m bad at learning

These are two ways of expressing the same meaning. In the first example we literally quoted the speaker. In the second example we passed the speaker’s phrase with our own words, joining two little sentences in one using the que conjunction. Doing that, we changed the verb’s person.

Marta dice: “Estoy cansada” – Marta says: “I’m tired”

Marta dice que está cansada – Marta says that she is tired

Mis padres dicen: “Vosotros no respetáis a los mayores” – My parents say: “You don’t respect the elders”

Mis padres dicen que no respetamos a los mayores – My parents say that we don’t respect the elders

Try it yourself:

Mi mamá dice: “Tú eres inteligente” – …

Los vecinos dicen: “Vosotros hacéis ruido” – …

Felipe dice: “Trabajo en el puerto” – …

Yo digo: “Sebastian está en casa” – …

Sequence of tenses

Let’s start learning the sequence of tenses on some really simple examples. We’ll be using only the verb decir as the main action.

Elías dice: “Tú estudias mal” – Elias says: “You are bad at learning”

Elías dice que yo estudio mal – Elias says that I’m bad at learning

When the first quote is changed into indirect speech, the grammar tense in the second part of the sentence doesn’t change. It’s still Presente, because the verb dice in the first part comes in Presente.

However, if we use the verb decir in Indefinido, we can’t leave the second (reported) part in Presente. We must change it to Imperfecto.

Elías dijo: “Tú estudias mal” – Elias said: “You are bad at learning”

Elías dijo que yo estudiaba mal – Elias said that I was bad at learning

This happened because of the sequence of tenses rule. Everything that took place in the past, should be expressed using past tenses.

There are three types of tense modifications, that are produced according to the sequence of tenses.

1. Presente → Imperfecto

Ana dijo: “Estoy en casa”

Ana dijo que estaba en casa

Ana dijo: “No tenemos tiempo”

Ana dijo que ellos no tenían tiempo

Using Imperfecto in the indirect speech means that the actions are not happening at the present moment. They were happening at the moment of the speech.

Try it yourself:

Javier said, that he lived in Colombia

You said, that you wanted to take a rest

We said, that we could help

2. Indefinido, Pretérito Perfecto → Pluscuamperfecto

Ana dijo: “Compré una pizza”

Ana dijo que había comprado una pizza

Ana dijo: “Me he comido la pizza”

Ana dijo que se había comido la pizza

Pluscuamperfecto is needed exactly when the sequence of tenses comes into play. If the main verb (decir) has a form of any past tense (Indefinido, Imperfecto or Pretérito Perfecto), and we need to tell about something that had happened even before, Pluscuamperfecto should be used.

Try it yourself:

My granny said, that she’d seen a black cat

I said, that I’d finished the course

You told me, that you’d done the exercises (vosotros)

3. Futuro Simple → Potencial

Ana dijo: “Estaré en casa” – Ana said: “I’ll be at home”

Ana dijo que estaría en casa – Ana said, that she would be at home

Ana dijo: “Mis padres viajarán a Mallorca” – Ana said: “My parents will go to Mallorca”

Ana dijo que sus padres viajarían a Mallorca – Ana said, that her parents would go to Mallorca

Using Potencial instead of Futuro Simple is called Futuro en pasado (Future in the past). Futuro en pasado is one of the most common use cases of Potencial. In English the word would is applied in the similar case.

Try it yourself:

Elena said, that she would bring a book

You said, that you would help me

I said, that we would go to the river

Try to transform the following sentences into indirect speech:

Alberto dijo: “Estoy tranquilo” – …

El policía dijo: “Tu pasaporte no es válido” – …

Ayer Félix dijo: “El verano pasado fui a Montenegro” – …

Diego y Susana dijeron: “La próxima semana compraremos mueble” – …

If, instead of dijo you say decía, the sequence of tenses will work the same way. The difference is that the speaker didn’t say something once, but used to say it before in general.

Carmen decía: “Vivo en México” – Carmen decía que vivía en México

Álvaro decía: “Seré millonario” – Álvaro decía que sería millonario

Mi hermano decía: “Yo he estado en Budapest” – Mi hermano decía que había estado en Budapest

As for Pretérito Perfecto (ha dicho), you have two options. When the main action (decir) is expressed with Pretérito Perfecto, it’s allowed to either use the sequence of tenses rules, or leave the reported speech in the same tense, as it comes in the quote.

Ana ha dicho: “Estoy en casa”

a. Ana ha dicho que está en casa

b. Ana ha dicho que estaba en casa

El actor ha dicho: “Terminaremos la película en mayo”

a. El actor ha dicho que terminarán la película en mayo

b. El actor ha dicho que terminarían la película en mayo

The reason is that Pretérito Perfecto is considered to be both a present and a past tense at the same time, or something in between.

Try it yourself:

Rafael ha dicho: “Estudio en la Universidad Complutense”

a. …

b. …

Nosotros hemos dicho: “En otoño fuimos a Canadá”

a. …

b. …

In all examples above we used only the verb decir as the main action. Naturally enough, many other verbs can be used instead.

preguntar – to ask

contestar – to answer

responder – to respond

informar – to inform

anunciar – to announce

gritar – to shout

añadir – to add

Alejandro gritó: “¡No soy un cobarde!” – Alejandro shouted: “I’m not a coward”

Alejandro gritó que no era un cobarde – Alejandro shouted, that he wasn’t a coward

El jefe me informó: “Te despediré” – The boss informed me: “I’ll fire you”

El jefe me informó que me despediría – The boss informed me, that he would fire me

In case of the verb preguntar, the si conjunction should be used as the connector.

si – if

Alba preguntó: “¿Tienes un boli?” – Alba asked me: “Do you have a pen?”

Alba preguntó si tenía un boli – Alba asked me if I had a pen

Try it yourself:

El señor Martínez anunció: “El viernes haremos una fiesta” – …

Jorge añadió: “No me gustan las películas románticas” – …

El futbolista protestó: “No he oído el pitido” – …

El profesor preguntó: “¿Habéis hecho los deberes?” – …

To get this topic fully covered, let’s have a look at how actions in Imperfecto and in Futuro Próximo behave, if they are used in the dependent clause (the second part) of sentences. First, try to guess yourself.

Roberto dijo: “Cuando yo era niño, vivía en una isla”

El chico dijo: “Voy a decirlo a mis padres”

In case of Imperfecto, nothing will be changed when transforming the direct speech into indirect speech.

Roberto dijo: “Cando yo era niño, vivía en una isla”

Roberto dijo que cuando era pequeño, vivía en una isla

The voy a decirlo construction will change to iba a decirlo, because Presente of voy should be transformed into Imperfecto iba, according to the sequence of tenses.

El chico dijo: “Voy a decirlo a mis padres”

El chico dijo que iba a decirlo a sus padres

Try it yourself:

Mis amigos dijeron: “Nosotros jugábamos al escondite cada día” – …

Yo dije: “Voy a llamar a Lorenzo” – …

Changing time markers

There are situations, in which not only verbs, but other elements, such as time markers, should be changed, logically.

ayer – el día anterior

la semana pasada – la semana anterior

mañana – al día siguiente

hace dos años – hacía dos años

Pablo dijo: “Ayer dejé de fumar” – Pablo said: “Yesterday I quit smoking”

Pablo dijo que el día anterior había dejado de fumar – Pablo said that the previous day he had quit smoking

Marisa preguntó: “¿Me llamarás mañana?” – Marisa asked: “Will you call me tomorrow?”

Marisa preguntó si la llamaría al día siguiente – Marisa asked if I would call her the next day

Finally, the word hace, meaning ago, should be changed to hacía.

Alex dijo: “Escribí este libro hace dos años” – Alex said: “I wrote this book two years ago”

Alex dijo que había escrito este libro hacía dos años – Alex said, that he had written this book two years earlier

Now you know everything to speak Spanish and tell whole stories using past tenses right.