Present or Past Tense after "He Told Me That"? (Examples)

When reporting something someone else said, should you use present or past tense? Reported speech can be tricky, and it can be hard to tell whether you should be using the past or present tense when reporting speech. This article will answer this question.

You can use either present or past tense after “he told me that”, and it all depends on the context of what is being said. Present tense would normally imply that the event is still relevant to the present moment, while past tense would be relevant to the past only.

You would use the past tense in a situation in which the thing that he told you was only relevant in that specific moment, but is no longer relevant in the present moment.

However, you would use the present tense when whatever it is that he told you is still relevant to the present moment.

For example: If you say “he told me he wants me to join the company”, you’re using present tense because the possibility of you joining the company is still there.

If you say “he told me he wanted me to join the company” then you’re subtly implying that you’re no longer able to join the company, because you’re using the past tense.

You use the present tense after “he told me that” when you’re talking about something that is still relevant in the present moment, as you report what you were told earlier.

If the action discussed is, for example, a recurring thing that the person told you they do, then it makes sense for you to use present tense, as the person presumably does this action regularly.

It’s a correct expression to use, and can be of incredible use to convey the fact that something that was discussed in the past is still very much relevant in the present moment.

Here are some examples of the ways in which you can use the present tense after “he told me that”:

The past tense after “he told me that” is used to convey the fact that the thing you were told in the past was relevant in that specific moment, but in some way is no longer relevant in the current present.

You’d use past tense after “he told me that” to ensure that the listener knows that what you were told was happening in that moment, but has somehow lost its relevance since then.

Here are some examples of how you can use past tense after “he told me that” without any issues:

You should use “he told me that he would” because it’s grammatically correct. “He told me that he will” is not grammatically correct because both of its clauses have different verb tenses, which is incorrect. “He told me he would” does not have this problem.

This means that “he told me that he will” is a phrase that should generally be avoided, because it’s incorrect and the different verb tenses make it sound awkward.

Both the present and past tense are useful when used after “he told me that”. Which one you decide to use depends on the context, and what you want to communicate. Specifically, it depends on whether the thing that was told in the past is still relevant to the present.

You may also like: “He Said He Will Come” or “He Said He Would Come”?

Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.