An indirect question is a question inside another sentence, after words like Can you tell me, Do you know, I wonder, I don't know or She asked. In these sentences, the question word order disappears.
1. Subject + verb, like a normal sentence
- Where is the station? → Can you tell me where the station is?
- Who is that man? → I wonder who that man is.
Structure: question word + subject + verb
2. No do, does or did
Do, does and did disappear. The main verb takes the tense instead.
- What time does the film start? → Do you know what time the film starts?
- Why did he leave? → I don't know why he left.
3. Yes/no questions → if or whether
When the direct question has no question word, add if or whether.
- Is the shop open? → Do you know if the shop is open?
- Did they call? → I'm not sure whether they called.
4. After "asked": the tense usually moves back
- "Where do you live?" → She asked me where I lived.
- "Can you help me?" → He asked if I could help him.
5. The punctuation follows the first part
The end of the sentence depends on how it starts. "Can you tell me where he is?" keeps its question mark. "I wonder where he is." ends with a full stop.
6. Common mistakes
- ❌ Can you tell me where is the station?
- ✔️ Can you tell me where the station is?
- ❌ I don't know what does he want.
- ✔️ I don't know what he wants.
- ❌ She asked me where did I live.
- ✔️ She asked me where I lived.
