Says or said? (indirect speech)

[Unregistered]

In which cases would I say "Mike says he is hungry", instead of "Mike said he was hungry"? When do I say "say" and when "said"?

 

[emsr2d2]

In which cases would I say "Mike says he is hungry", instead of "Mike said he was hungry"? When do I say "say" and when "said"?

I would say that you would use it when you're talking about something which has been said very recently and is still true. For example:

You and Mike are in the living room. He says "I'm hungry". You go into the kitchen and say to another friend "Mike says he's hungry, so shall we make some lunch now?"