Question

He said,"can you swim?" I said no.

Change into indirect speech

Answer 1

Indirect speech: He asked me if I could swim.

Direct/Indirect speech in English grammar:

• In direct speech, the exact words of the speaker are quoted in inverted commas.  
• While, indirect speech includes reported verbs and reported speech.
• The exact words are not quoted in the inverted commas and are written as spoken by a third person.
• Commas are replaced by 'that' asked' 'suggested' etc. according to the nature of the sentence.