Direct and indirect speech

Another person’s words can be passed on in two ways. If we give them word for word, unchanged, it is direct speech; if we keep only the content and retell it in our own words and in a different form, it is indirect speech (o‘zlashtirma gap). In direct speech the words are quoted exactly, so quotation marks and a dash are used: Ali dedi: «Men ertaga kelaman». In indirect speech the other’s thought is given in the form of the author’s own sentence: Ali ertaga kelishini aytdi. Here there are no quotation marks, the person changes (men → u), and the predicate takes the form of a verbal noun or participle. As a result a composite sentence with direct speech becomes the form of a simple sentence. Both ways convey the content, but direct speech preserves another’s words more exactly.