Italian: Reported / Indirect Speech
What is the correct grammar to use with indirect/reported speech? I can't seem to get a clear answer from grammar books on which tenses need to be used and what changes in tenses need to be made. Plus I am getting confused trying to compare it to other Romance languages like Spanish which use the subjunctive tense, etc.

Should I be translating "He said that..." only as "Lui disse che..." or can it also be translated as "Lui ha detto che..."?

Here are the types of sentences that I'm trying to translate from American English to Italian. I've written both standard and informal forms here. :)

1. He said that he had bought / bought a new car.

2. He said that he had went / went to Starbucks.

3. He said that you had shown / showed your horse to her.

Thanks for your help. :)

Question

Italian: Reported / Indirect Speech
What is the correct grammar to use with indirect/reported speech? I can't seem to get a clear answer from grammar books on which tenses need to be used and what changes in tenses need to be made. Plus I am getting confused trying to compare it to other Romance languages like Spanish which use the subjunctive tense, etc.

Should I be translating "He said that..." only as "Lui disse che..." or can it also be translated as "Lui ha detto che..."?

Here are the types of sentences that I'm trying to translate from American English to Italian. I've written both standard and informal forms here. :)

1. He said that he had bought / bought a new car.

2. He said that he had went / went to Starbucks.

3. He said that you had shown / showed your horse to her.

Thanks for your help. :)

Answer

Hi Shawn, it depends on when the ACTION tooks place in the past. 
These are two different past verb forms:
1) PASSATO REMOTO (Lui disse che...) >> "REMOTO" means remote. You can use this past form when the action/the fact tooks place a long time ago (the last year, ten years ago, when he was a child, etc)
2) PASSATO PROSSIMO (Lui ha detto che) >> "PROSSIMO" means near. You can use this past form when the action is happened in the recent past (yesterday, two hours ago, the other time, the last time, etc).

There is another important past verb form : 3) TRAPASSATO PROSSIMO (Lui aveva detto che..)

When you use the PASSATO REMOTO (firts verb)  you should use TRAPASSATO PROSSIMO after (second verb)
Ex: Lui disse (PASSATO REMOTO) che aveva comprato (TRAPASSATO PROSSIMO) una nuova auto.

When you use the PASSATO PROSSIMO you should use PASSATO PROSSIMO after too.
Ex: Lui ha detto (PASSATO PROSSIMO) che ha comprato (PASSATO PROSSIMO) una nuova auto.

But not finish here: there are more verb forms... Good luck with the Italian verbs! ;)

Answer

As others have basically said, the avere + past participle is the more common form. I have heard many times that the remote past is not generally used in conversation, though there are some parts of Italy where it is used.

Answer

I write here what I consider the most used forms,
although other variations exist.

1. He said that he had bought / bought a new car.
Lui mi ha detto di avere comprato una nuova macchina.

2. He said that he had went / went to Starbucks.
Mi ha detto di essere andato da Starbucks.

3. He said that you had shown / showed your horse to her.
Mi ha detto di averle {fatto vedere, mostrato} il suo cavallo.

averle = avere + a lei
/fare vedere/ is used more often than /mostrare/

Answer

Hi Shawn, I'm an Italian native speaker, but not a teacher, so I maybe I can help you to translate the sentences but I'm not able to explain you the rules :-)

1. He said that he had bought / bought a new car.
    Lui disse/ha detto che aveva comprato/ha comprato una nuova macchina

2. He said that he had went / went to Starbucks
    Lui disse/ha detto che era andato/è andato da Starbucks

3. He said that you had shown / showed your horse to her.
    Lui disse che/ha detto che aveva mostrato/ha mostrato il tuo/vostro cavallo a lei.

"Lui disse che/ Lui ha detto che" are both correct, but nowadays for informal conversation is more common to use "Lui ha detto che".