Lesson 2 part 3, Syntaxis and phrasing: direct and indirect speech

Direct and indirect speech

Taking in consideration one of the most famous and known fairytale of all the times: "Pinocchio", the wooden boy who rapresents the symbol of liers, whose nose grew up everysingle time he said a lie, but at the same time shows his tender power of mercy thanks to the special relationships which links him to his father (Geppetto), who always tends to forgivr him at the end of the story.

The extract showed in the picture, tells a special part of the story, when pinocchio meets the blu Fairy:

DIRECT SPEECH (Present tense reporting verb)

-La fata dice a Pinocchio: 

"Tu non puoi crescere, perche' i burattini non crescono mai"

"Comincerai ad andare a scuola."

"Torna a casa prima che faccia notte"

Typical items of the direct speech in italian:

- "   " brackets

-"Tu..." first capital letter

-"comincerai....torna" verbs in form of command or esortation (imperative)

INDIRECT SPEECH (Present tense reporting verb)

- La fata dice a Pinocchio che lui non puo' crescere perche' i burattini non crescono mai.

- La fata dice a Pinocchio che comincera' ad andare a scuola.

- La fata dice a Pinocchio di tornare a casa prima che faccia notte.

Typical items of the indirect speech in italian:

- use of the conjunction "che" to introduce the indirect speech with explicit verbs

- use of the conjunction "di" to introduce the indirect speech with implicit verbs(infinitive form)

- the subject of the indirect speech is reported in 3rd person "Dice che LUI non puo' crescere..."