Direct speech involves the supposedly literal quotation of what a person said, whereas indirect speech is not meant to be literal (see direct and indirect speech). For example, direct speech preserves indexicals like now and I, which may be changed to then and (s)he in indirect speech (see here and now indexicals). Direct speech may be introduced by so-called bridge-verbs, of which the subject specifies who is the speaker. An example is given below:

Here, the bridge verb sizzesay specifies the manner of expression. Forms of expression include saying, thinking, reporting , and so on. The subject of the verb of expression, memmother in the example above, specifies who is the one expressing something.

Indirect speech is syntactically more fully integrated into the superordinate clause in which it is contained, although the degree of integration also depends on the chosen construction. The example above can be rendered as indirect speech in the form of a Verb-Final construction, as follows:

The form of the pronoun is now changed from first person in direct speech to third person in indirect speech, due to the subject of the bridge verb, which is also third person.

There are various constructions for the representation of direct and indirect speech following bridge verbs. These constructions include: Verb-First clauses, Verb-Second clauses, Verb-Final clauses, which may or may not be introduced by a complementiser.

Such constructions are not only found following bridge verbs, but also in other superordinate structures, notably those defined by degree clauses and clauses of effect.

CV2 is the abbreviation that is used for this construction featuring a clause introduced by a Complementiser (C) followed by Verb-Second (V2). CV2s are not syntactically integrated in the superordinate clause in which they are found, so they are unintegrated (U). Correspondingly, we will henceforth refer to CV2s as UCV2s, while noting that ICV2s (Integrated CV2s) are not found in Frisian.