Le discours direct rapporte les paroles de quelqu'un telles qu'elles ont été dites (entre guillemets). Le discours indirect / rapporté (reported speech) rapporte ces mêmes paroles sans guillemets, en les intégrant dans une phrase avec un verbe introducteur (say, tell, ask, explain...).
Quand le verbe introducteur (say/tell) est au passé, on applique généralement le backshift : le temps du verbe recule d'un cran dans le passé. Les pronoms changent selon qui parle, et les repères de temps/lieu changent car la situation d'énonciation change.
| Discours direct | Discours rapporté |
|---|---|
| Present Simple | Past Simple |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect |
| Past Simple | Past Perfect |
| Past Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous |
| will | would |
| can | could |
| must / have to | had to |
| may | might |
| Discours direct | Discours rapporté |
|---|---|
| I / you | he / she / I (selon le contexte) |
| this / these | that / those |
| here | there |
| now | then / at that moment |
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| yesterday | the day before / the previous day |
| next week | the following week |
| ago | before |
Pour les questions rapportées, on garde l'ordre sujet-verbe (pas d'inversion) et on n'ajoute pas "do/does/did" : "Where do you live?" → she asked me where I lived. Pour les ordres et demandes, on utilise "tell/ask + object + to + verb" : "Close the door," he said → He told me to close the door.
"I am tired," she said. → She said (that) she was tired.
"I will call you tomorrow," he said. → He said (that) he would call me the next day.
"We have finished the project," they said. → They said (that) they had finished the project.
John said, "I saw her yesterday." → John said that he had seen her the day before.
"Where do you live?" she asked me. → She asked me where I lived.
"Close the door," he said. → He told me to close the door.
Une phrase peut être affirmative (elle affirme un fait), négative (avec don't/doesn't/didn't/won't + base verbale, ou be/have + not), active (le sujet fait l'action) ou passive (le sujet subit l'action : be + participe passé). On utilise le passif quand l'agent est inconnu, évident ou moins important que l'action elle-même.
| Temps | Affirmative (active) | Negative | Passive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | They write reports. | They don't write reports. | Reports are written (by them). |
| Past Simple | They wrote a letter. | They didn't write a letter. | A letter was written. |
| Present Continuous | They are writing a report. | They aren't writing a report. | A report is being written. |
| Present Perfect | They have written the essay. | They haven't written the essay. | The essay has been written. |
| Future Simple | They will write the article. | They won't write the article. | The article will be written. |
La concordance des temps (tense agreement) signifie que le temps de la proposition subordonnée doit correspondre logiquement à celui de la proposition principale : au présent, on garde le présent dans la subordonnée ; au passé, on recule le temps de la subordonnée.
She says (that) she is happy. — verbe principal au présent → pas de backshift.
She said (that) she was happy. — verbe principal au passé → backshift.
The house was built in 1975 by local workers. (passive, agent mentionné car pertinent)
English is spoken in many African countries. (passive, agent non précisé car évident/inutile)
Un affixe est un élément ajouté à un mot pour en modifier le sens ou la nature grammaticale. Un préfixe se place avant le radical (souvent pour la négation ou la répétition) ; un suffixe se place après (souvent pour changer la catégorie grammaticale : nom, adjectif, adverbe...).
| Affixe | Sens / fonction | Exemple |
|---|---|---|
| un- | négation (adjectifs) | happy → unhappy |
| dis- | négation / inversion | agree → disagree |
| im- / in- / il- / ir- | négation (selon la lettre suivante) | possible → impossible, correct → incorrect, legal → illegal, regular → irregular |
| re- | encore, à nouveau | write → rewrite |
| mis- | mal, incorrectement | understand → misunderstand |
| -ful | plein de (adjectif) | care → careful |
| -less | sans (adjectif) | hope → hopeless |
| -tion / -sion | nom formé sur un verbe | inform → information, decide → decision |
| -ment | nom formé sur un verbe | argue → argument |
| -ness | nom formé sur un adjectif | kind → kindness |
| -ly | adverbe formé sur un adjectif | quick → quickly |
| -able / -ible | adjectif : "qui peut être..." | read → readable |
| -er / -or | nom de la personne qui fait l'action | teach → teacher, act → actor |
1. Lire/écouter attentivement le document et repérer l'idée principale.
2. Noter les points clés (qui, quoi, quand, où, pourquoi).
3. Reformuler avec ses propres mots, sans recopier les phrases du texte.
4. Utiliser des verbes de parole (say, explain, state, argue, claim, add, point out) et le discours rapporté.
5. Rester concis : un résumé fait généralement le tiers de la longueur du texte original.
6. Structurer : introduction (sujet + source) → idées principales → courte conclusion.
Texte original : "African youth need more digital skills. Schools should teach coding from an early age, and governments must invest in internet access in rural areas."
Résumé : The speaker explained that African youth needed more digital skills. He added that schools should teach coding early and that governments had to invest in rural internet access.
Un débat structuré s'appuie sur des expressions fixes pour donner son avis, réagir à celui des autres et conclure. Il est aussi utile de vérifier la compréhension (checking understanding) pendant l'échange.
| Fonction | Expressions utiles |
|---|---|
| Donner son opinion | In my opinion, / I think that... / As far as I'm concerned, / From my point of view, |
| Être d'accord | I agree with you. / That's true. / Exactly! / I couldn't agree more. |
| Ne pas être d'accord | I don't think so. / I disagree. / That's not entirely true. / I see your point, but... |
| Demander l'avis | What do you think about...? / Do you agree that...? |
| Donner un exemple | For instance, / For example, / such as... |
| Vérifier la compréhension | Do you follow me? / Is that clear? / What do you mean by...? / Could you repeat, please? |
| Conclure | To sum up, / In conclusion, / All things considered, |
| Temps | Forme | Emploi | Exemple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | S + V(s) / do/does not | habitudes, vérités générales | She studies English every day. |
| Present Continuous | am/is/are + V-ing | action en cours, maintenant | She is studying now. |
| Past Simple | V-ed / forme irrégulière | action passée terminée | She studied last night. |
| Present Perfect | have/has + V3 | lien passé-présent, avec since/for | She has studied English since 2020 / for 3 years. |
| Past Perfect | had + V3 | action antérieure à une autre action passée | She had studied before the exam. |
| Future (will) | will + V | prédiction, décision spontanée | She will study tomorrow. |
| Future (going to) | am/is/are going to + V | projet, intention déjà prévue | She is going to study this weekend. |
| Future Progressive | will be + V-ing | action en cours à un moment futur précis | At 8 pm, she will be studying. |
| Future Perfect | will have + V3 | action achevée avant un moment futur | By next year, she will have finished her studies. |
since + point de départ précis dans le temps (since 2020, since Monday, since I was a child) — s'utilise avec le Present Perfect.
for + durée (for two years, for a week, for a long time) — s'utilise avec le Present Perfect.
ago + Past Simple, compté en remontant à partir de maintenant (two years ago, a week ago).
Écouter des chansons anglophones aide à repérer le discours rapporté ("she told me that...") et à travailler la prononciation : la terminaison -ed se prononce /t/ (walked), /d/ (played) ou /ɪd/ (wanted, needed) selon le son final du verbe. L'ajout d'un affixe déplace parfois l'accent tonique (e.g. PHOtograph → phoTOgraphy) : chanter et répéter à voix haute aide à mémoriser ces schémas d'accentuation.
Transformez ces phrases au discours rapporté (utilisez "said that").
Mettez ces phrases actives à la voix passive.
Complétez avec since, for ou ago, puis conjuguez les verbes entre parenthèses au futur progressif ou au futur parfait.
Sujet de débat : "Should smartphones be allowed in classrooms?" Rédigez 5 à 6 phrases en utilisant au moins : une expression pour donner votre opinion, une pour marquer l'accord, une pour marquer le désaccord (point de vue opposé), un exemple, et une conclusion.
Lisez ce dialogue entre une journaliste et une jeune entrepreneuse congolaise, puis (a) réécrivez-le en discours rapporté sous forme d'un paragraphe, et (b) rédigez un résumé de 2-3 phrases.
Journalist: "What is your project about?"
Aïcha: "I am creating a mobile app to help farmers sell their products directly."
Journalist: "How long have you been working on it?"
Aïcha: "I have been working on it for two years, since I finished university."
Journalist: "What will you do next?"
Aïcha: "I will launch the app next month, and I will have found new investors by the end of the year."
(a) Discours rapporté : The journalist asked Aïcha what her project was about. Aïcha replied that she was creating a mobile app to help farmers sell their products directly. The journalist then asked her how long she had been working on it. Aïcha said (that) she had been working on it for two years, since she had finished university. Finally, the journalist asked her what she would do next. Aïcha answered that she would launch the app the following month and that she would have found new investors by the end of the year.
(b) Résumé : In this interview, Aïcha explained that she had created a mobile app connecting farmers directly to buyers. She added that she had been working on the project for two years and that she planned to launch it soon while looking for new investors.
