There are two ways of relating what someone has said:  direct and indirect.

DIRECT  SPEECH: 

A direct speech gives the words of a speaker exactly as spoken.

Ex:  She said, “I don’t like horror movies”

      The actress said, “after this scene, I will need a rest”.

Direct speech  is mainly used in conversation in books, quotations, and plays.

INDIRECT  SPEECH:  

An indirect speech gives the same meaning without using the speaker’s exact words.

  Ex:  She said that she didn’t like horror movies.

          The actress said that after this scene, she would need a rest.

*NOTE:  Indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense.  So the verbs in direct speech have to be changed into  a corresponding past tense.

Ex: simple present, ex:  “I never watch TV he said

      simple past, ex:  He said that he never watched TV.                 

Present continuous  = past continuous

Present perfect  =  past perfect

Present perfect continuous = past  perfect  continuous

*Simple past = past perfect (It is often left unchanged:  past  =  past  )

future  = conditional

future continuous  = conditional continuous

Reporting questions: 

When reporting questions, you have to change the verb and the word order. (there is no question mark)

Ex:  Tom ( to Sue) What are you doing tonight?

       Sue (to John)  He asked me what I was doing tonight.