How to Form Indirect Questions｜Basic Structure and Example Sentences

In English, we often embed questions such as “whether …” or “what …” within a sentence. These are called indirect questions.

Unlike direct questions, which are asked directly to someone, indirect questions function as a part of a larger sentence.

In this lesson, I will explain the basic structure and usage of indirect questions.

1. Basic Rules of Indirect Questions

Indirect questions are used by embedding a “question” within a sentence. At that point, the word order follows the normal structure of a statement (subject + verb).

Unlike direct questions, there is no inversion (where an auxiliary or the verb be comes before the subject).

In an indirect question, the order becomes “subject + verb”, as in “where she is.”

Indirect questions are often used with the following expressions:

2. Embedding Yes/No Questions

When embedding a Yes/No question (expressing “whether …” or “if …”), we use if or whether.

if (whether … or not)

whether (a slightly more formal expression)

Both if and whether generally have the same meaning, but whether sounds slightly more formal. It is also frequently used when presenting two alternatives, as in “whether … or ….”

3. Indirect Questions with Wh-Words

When the question begins with a wh-word (who, what, when, where, why, how), the word order becomes the same as in a statement: wh-word + subject + verb.

Here, does disappears, and the order becomes “she wants.” In the past tense, the verb must also change accordingly.

In this case, did disappears, and the verb changes to the past form (left).

4. Indirect Questions as Polite Expressions

Indirect questions can also be used to make speech softer and more polite.

Thus, indirect questions are very useful in conversations when you want to ask politely without sounding too direct.

5. Summary

Izumi

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「English Morning｜基礎から学ぶ英語講座」を運営している泉（Izumi）です。このサイトでは基礎から応用まで、英語の文法を解説しています。