Question

"Why are you crying?" said the woman to a little boy. "I want a balloon," he said.

Change it into Indirect Speech:

Answer 1

When we're reporting a speech, we're narrating things that happened or were said in the past. So, the speech will go one tense back.

In reported speech, we add a reporting verb (usually 'said'), the subject changes in narration ('he', 'she', 'it' or 'they') and the related words also change.

So, the reported/indirect speech for the given sentences is:

The woman asked a little boy why he was crying. He replied that he wanted a balloon.