they said that you were vs they said that you are

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'They said that you were' is used when referring to something that was said in the past, while 'They said that you are' is used when referring to something that was said in the present or is still relevant. The choice between 'were' and 'are' depends on the tense of the reported speech.

Last updated: March 20, 2024 • 843 views

they said that you were

This phrase is correct and commonly used when referring to something that was said in the past.

This phrase is used when reporting something that was said in the past. 'Were' is the past tense of 'are' and is used to maintain the past tense in reported speech.

Examples:

They said that you were the best student in the class.
They said that you were going to be late.
They said that you were not feeling well.
They said that you were happy with the results.
They said that you were a great help.

Show examples from the web [+]

It ain't complicated. Well, I've grown to hate it. I never liked the taste of crow but baby I ate it. They tried to warn me. They said that you were ornery. So don't bring ...
Dec 11, 2010 ... They said that you were ornery. So don't bring me those big brown eyes and tell me that you're sorry. You might as well throw gasoline on a fire
Aug 16, 2008 ... I visited some houses where they said that you were living. And they talked a lot about you. And they spoke about your giving. They passed a ...
I visited some houses where they said that You were living. And they talked a lot about You And they spoke about Your giving. They passed a basket with some ...

Alternatives:

They said that you used to be
They said that you had been
They said that you had been told
They said that you were told
They said that you were informed

they said that you are

This phrase is correct and commonly used when referring to something that is said in the present or is still relevant.

This phrase is used when reporting something that is said in the present or is still relevant. 'Are' is the present tense of 'were' and is used to maintain the present tense in reported speech.

Examples:

They said that you are the best candidate for the job.
They said that you are going to love the movie.
They said that you are not feeling well today.
They said that you are happy with the results so far.
They said that you are a great asset to the team.

Show examples from the web [+]

I've heard the concept before similarly in the Entrepreneur magazine that I subscribe to, in an article and they said that,”You are the product by the people you ...
You are so shocked by what they said that you are rendered speechless. Later on you replay the silly comment in your head, tell your friends all about it, and you ...
Sep 21, 2015 ... Why did Stack Overflow delete my account without any warning? They said that: " You are fake" I had just upvoted one of my friend's post.
"Prove to us," they said, "that you are a prophet, by telling us who it was that struck you." World English Bible Having blindfolded him, they struck him on the face ...

Alternatives:

They said that you are currently
They said that you are now
They said that you are at the moment
They said that you are presently
They said that you are currently being

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

they said that you were vs they said that you are