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                          The reported speech in German is independent from the 
                          introductory verb. The conjunctive I is to be used. 
                          The orientation into future, present or past just gives 
                          the mode of the conjunctive form. 
						
                          
                        
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  Reported speech in German | 
                                 
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  pronoun | 
                                  introductory verb | 
                                  (orientation into)  
                                    use of  | 
                                  subordinate phrase | 
                                    | 
                                 
                                 
                                   | 
                                  Er 
                                    Sie,  
                                    Es | 
                                  sagt | 
                                  (future)  | 
                                  dass sie Schuhe 
                                    kaufen werde. | 
                                  | 
                                
                                 
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  sagte | 
                                   compound conjunctive I for future | 
                                  dass er ein Haus bauen 
                                    werde. | 
                                   | 
                                
                                 
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  hat gesagt | 
                                  (present time) | 
                                  dass sie Schuhe kaufe. | 
                                   | 
                                
                                 
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  hatte gesagt | 
                                  simple conjunctive I for present tense | 
                                  dass er ein Haus baue. | 
                                   | 
                                
                                 
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  wird sagen | 
                                  (past) | 
                                  dass sie Schuhe gekauft 
                                    habe. | 
                                   | 
                                
                                 
                                 
                                  |   | 
                                  wird gesagt haben | 
                                  compound conjunctive I for past | 
                                  dass er ein Haus gebaut 
                                    habe. | 
                                   | 
                                
                                 
                                |   
                        In reported speech the conjunctive I is not distinguished 
                          in its function from conjunctive II. The conjunctive 
                          II can only occur in the reported speech for two reasons: 
                        
                          
                            
                              
                                  | 
                                1. | 
                                   It substitutes the conjunctive 
                                    I that is identical to the indicative present 
                                    and for this reason ambiguous. In this case 
                                    it is legitimate to use the conjunctive II. | 
                               
                              
                                  | 2. | 
                                  The speaker 
                                      does not know the correct form of conjunctive 
                                      I and therefore uses the conjunctive II. 
                                      In these cases the use of conjunctive II 
                                      would be wrong. But it happens so frequently 
                                      that nobody notices anymore phrases with 
                                      conjunctive II as an error. 
                                     | 
                               
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