Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

Practise with a grammar game

Indirect questions can refer to two different things:

			Questions in reported speech
			Questions within questions

Questions in reported speech

When we report questions, we use the word order of an affirmative statement. In other words, the subject usually comes before the verb, and the auxiliary "do" is not used.

Tense and time changes are the same as for other types of reported speech (see grammar definitions: reported speech).

We use "if" or "whether" to report "yes/no" questions.

We do not put a question mark at the end of reported questions.

			What do you like doing in your free time?
			He asked me what I liked doing in my free time.
			Are you going to the film tomorrow?
			She asked if/whether we were going to the film the next day.

Questions within questions

We sometimes avoid asking direct questions to people, especially if we wish to be polite. In more formal speech, this type of structure is quite common.

			Do you know if/whether she is coming with us?
			Could you tell me when the film begins?
			Would you be so good as to tell me if the Director has arrived yet?

They are "questions within questions" because although we are asking, for example, "Do you know? ", we really want some other information.

Notice that in the "Do you know …", "Could you tell me …", etc., part of the question, the auxiliary verb, e.g. "do" or "could", comes before the subject. In the "real" question, however, the same word order rules apply as for questions in reported speech. Finally, we must put a question mark at the end.

More about indirect questions:

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000065.htm

http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/rep4.cfm

Exercise on indirect questions:

http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/vm/indirectques.html