You are probably already familiar with direct questions, even if you don’t know them by that name. But what about indirect questions (also called embedded questions)?
Imagine you had to stop somebody on the street to ask for directions to the stadium. Would you say “Where is the stadium?” or “Do you know where the stadium is?”
Probably the latter, because it sounds more polite when we place the direct question within another question or statement.
This is just one example of an indirect question, but these grammatical structures are very common in English, so let’s look at some more ways to form them and reasons why we might use them.
An indirect question is a type of question that is embedded within another question, statement, or request. This is why they are also referred to as embedded questions.
The easiest way to understand indirect questions is to compare them with direct questions.
Direct questions are formed with a question word (what, which, how, why, etc.) or by starting the sentence with a verb (e.g. Is she happy?).
These are examples of direct questions:
To form an indirect question, we place the direct question within another question, statement, or request. See how the examples above are transformed when we convert them to indirect questions:
You’ll see that some of the words from the original questions have changed order or form. We’ll go over the main indirect question grammar rules in just a moment so you understand how to form them yourself.
Other introductory phrases for indirect questions include:
We use indirect questions as a polite way to make a request or ask for information. The bluntness of a direct question may come across as rude when you are speaking to a stranger or someone senior to you, or addressing someone in a formal situation.
Using an introductory phrase before asking the question or making a request also helps us signal that the question or request is about to follow. This can be helpful when asking clarifying questions.
We usually add ‘please’ to an embedded question to make it more polite, too. And if you’re interrupting someone or trying to get their attention, adding ‘Excuse me’ to the beginning is the best way to do it politely.
One other reason you might use an indirect question, specifically beginning “I wonder …”, is to show that you are thinking out loud, but not necessarily expecting an answer. This is an example of a rhetorical question.
Yes, the terms ‘indirect question’ and ’embedded question’ are used interchangeably to refer to a question posed within another question or statement.
Grammatically, one of the main differences between direct and indirect questions is that direct questions often use inversion and indirect questions do not.
You’re probably used to swapping the subject and verb around to form a question, e.g. “He is tall.” becomes “Is he tall?” This is known as inversion. But with indirect questions, we do not do this. The word order stays the same as in a statement.
Direct question: What is Hannah’s favorite color? (verb-subject)
Indirect question: I wonder what Hannah’s favorite color is. (subject-verb)
Statement: Hannah’s favorite color is yellow. (subject-verb)
Direct question: Are they happy living in Japan? (verb-subject)
Indirect question: Do you know whether they are happy living in Japan? (subject-verb)
Statement: They are happy living in Japan. (subject-verb)
Here are some more indirect question grammar rules, according to the type of question being asked.
When a question begins with a question word, we follow this structure to convert it to an embedded question:
Introductory phrase + question word + subject + verb
Here are some examples:
Direct: Where is the bathroom?
Indirect: I was wondering where the bathroom is.
Direct: Who is that man over there?
Indirect: I’d like to know who that man is over there.
Direct: Why did you decide to move to Germany?
Indirect: May I ask why you decided to move to Germany?
Direct: What time is it?
Indirect: Could you please tell me what time it is?
Direct: When is the meeting due to begin?
Indirect: Would you mind telling me when the meeting is due to begin?
Direct: Which dish would you recommend?
Indirect: I wanted to ask which dish you would recommend.
Direct: How much money did we lose as a result of this error?
Indirect: Do you have any idea how much money we lost as a result of this error?
Some direct questions are formed with a question word and the auxiliary verb ‘do’. For example:
To convert these to indirect questions, we add an introductory phrase, drop the verb ‘do’, and adjust the main verb to agree with the subject and tense (if applicable):
We use ‘if’ and ‘whether’ to form indirect questions with a yes/no answer, or with limited possible outcomes.
The grammatical structure of these questions is:
Introductory phrase + if/whether + subject + verb
Again, we do not use inversion here. The noun clause follows the word order of a statement rather than a direct question.
‘If’ and ‘whether’ are generally used interchangeably in embedded questions, but there is one distinction that may sometimes be relevant:
This means there is a slight difference in meaning in cases like this:
Sometimes people use the phrase ‘whether or not’ in this situation, to make it clearer that there are two possible options.
You can read more about the differences between if and whether in our separate guide.
Whatever verb tense you would use in the direct question or statement form, it should stay the same in the indirect form.
This is different from reported questions which require you to ‘backshift’ the tense, e.g. “Did you have a nice time?” becomes “They asked if we had had a nice time.” in a reported question.
A contraction is a shortening of two words into one with an apostrophe replacing any letters that are dropped. We don’t use contractions at the end of sentences or questions, and it’s important to remember this if your embedded question ends in a verbal phrase that could normally be contracted.
Note that it is fine to contract any other words that appear in the question, according to the normal rules of contractions in English.
Confusingly, not all indirect questions use a question mark. You need to look at whether it is grammatically a question or a statement, and then apply the appropriate punctuation.
There are some specific cases where you can use question tags with indirect questions. A tag question consists of a statement and a ‘tag’ like “is he” or “didn’t they”. We use these to confirm something that we already believe to be true.
So, the first requirement is that your indirect question is a statement rather than a question. The second requirement is that you are using the question to check or confirm something that you already believe to be true.
Here are some examples of indirect tag questions:
In reality, it’s unlikely you will encounter this type of construction very frequently.
We hope this article has helped you understand the difference between direct and indirect questions and why we use them. Once you start looking out for them, you’ll probably realize just how common they are in English.
If you have any other examples you would like to share, or if you want to check that you are forming an indirect question correctly yourself, you are welcome to leave a comment below.
