📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 19 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 4 · Contar lo que dicen
The words that have to change
Module 7 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 19 of 30: When you report someone, four kinds of word shift. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
mi hermano
my brother
mee ehr-MAH-noh
su hermano
his brother
soo ehr-MAH-noh
en mi casa
at my house
ehn mee KAH-sah
el posesivo
the possessive
ehl poh-seh-SEE-boh
cambiar
to change
kahm-BYAR
el cambio
the change
ehl KAHM-byoh
allá
over there
ah-YAH
con atención
carefully
kohn ah-tehn-SYOHN
ella decía que no
she used to say no
EH-yah deh-SEE-ah keh noh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
When you report someone, four kinds of word shift. The person: yo becomes él or ella. The possessive: mi becomes su. The listener: tú becomes the person spoken to. And here becomes there: aquí becomes allí or allá.
Y también · And also
Pablo me dice: «Voy a tu casa con mi hermano». Reported: Pablo me dice que viene a mi casa con su hermano. Read it twice — every word that moved did so for a reason you can name. Decía (used to say, was saying) is decir in the imperfecto: decía, decías, decía.
Ojo · Watch out
In reported speech tu casa becomes mi casa when the listener is now you, and mi becomes su. Read every changed word twice — each moved for a reason. And ir becomes venir when the movement is toward the speaker.
decir, imperfecto — the table
yo decía · tú decías · él/ella/usted decía · nosotros decíamos · ustedes decían · ellos/ellas decían
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with mi hermano.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out decir, imperfecto in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.