Reported Questions

We usually introduce reported questions with the verb "ask":

Reported questions are one form of reported speech

Reported YES/NO questions

direct question

reported question

She said: "Are you cold?"

He said: "Where's my pen?"

She asked me if I was cold

He asked where his pen was

He asked (me) if/whether... (YES/NO questions)

He asked (me) why/when/where/what/how... (question-word questions)

As with reported statements, we may need to change pronouns and tense (backshift) as well as time and place in reported questions.


But we also need to change the word order. After we report a question, it is no longer a question (and in writing there is no question mark). The word order is like that of a normal statement (subject-verb-object).

We introduce reported YES/NO questions with ask + if:

direct question

She said,

Do you like coffee?"

reported question

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She asked

if I liked coffee.

Note that in the above example the reported question has no auxiliary "do". But there is pronoun change and backshift.


Note that we sometimes use "whether" instead of "if". The meaning is the same. "Whether" is a little more formal and more usual in writing:


They asked us if we wanted lunch.

Reported question-word questions

We introduce reported question-word questions with ask + question word:

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Note that in the above example the reported question has no auxiliary "do". But there is pronoun change and backshift.


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