REPORTED SPEECH

Reported speech is often also called indirect speech.
when we use reported speech, we ara usually talking about the past ( Because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past ) the verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

~ DIRECT SPEECH,
a. Simple present tense:
ex. 'I never eat meat, ' he explained.
b. Present continuous tense:
ex. ' I m waiting for doni,' he said.
c. Present perfect tense:
ex. ' I have found a flat,' he said.
d. Present perfect continuous tense:
ex. He said, ' i've been waiting for ages'.

~INDIRECT SPEECH,
a. Simple past tense:
ex. He explained that he never ate meat.
b. Past continuous tense:
ex. He said (that) he was waiting for jajang.
c. present perfect tense:
ex. He said (that) he had found a flat.
d. Past perfect continuous tense:
ex. He said he had been waiting for ages.