Dolaylı cümleler, asıl cümlenin zamanınına göre değişiklik gösterir. Zaman değişikliği aşağıdaki gösterilebilir:
- simple present -> simple past
- simple past -> past perfect
- present continuous -> past continuous
- past continuous -> past perfect continuous
- present perfect -> past perfect
- past perfect -> past perfect
- past perfect continuous -> past perfect continuous
- present perfect continuous -> past perfect continuous
- future (be going to) -> was/were going to
- future continuous -> would be -ing
- future perfect -> would have
- future perfect continuous -> would have been -ing
Not : could, might, should, ought to, had better, used to dolaylı anlatımda değişmez
