Indirect questions are often used in both spoken and written language to ask about information in a polite or embedded way. They follow certain patterns and grammatical rules that differ from direct questions. Instead of using the standard word order of a yes-no or W-question, indirect questions take on the syntax of a subordinate clause. The verb moves to the end, and no question mark is used unless the main sentence is a question.
A typical structure involves a main clause followed by a subordinate clause introduced by a question word or the conjunction ob. In these cases, the indirect question acts like a noun clause. For example, in the sentence Ich weiß nicht, wo sie wohnt, the direct question Wo wohnt sie? becomes indirect by moving the conjugated verb wohnt to the end of the clause. The subject sie remains in second position, just as it would in a statement, not in the first position as it would in a direct question. The translation would be "I don't know where she lives."
Yes-no questions are introduced with ob, which translates roughly to “whether” in English. So the direct question Kommt er morgen? becomes Ich frage mich, ob er morgen kommt, meaning "I wonder whether he’s coming tomorrow." In this transformation, ob replaces the question structure, and kommt is placed at the end of the clause. Similarly, Hast du Zeit? would become Er möchte wissen, ob du Zeit hast — “He wants to know if you have time.”
Indirect questions with W-words like wer, was, wann, wo, warum, and others follow the same rule of verb-final position. For instance, Was machst du da? becomes Er fragt, was du da machst, meaning "He asks what you’re doing there." The clause introduced by was ends with machst, in contrast to the direct question where machst appears in the second position.
Modal verbs and compound tenses such as the present perfect follow the same pattern. The verb complex moves to the end of the clause in the correct order. In Ich weiß nicht, wann sie angekommen ist ("I don’t know when she arrived"), the past participle angekommen precedes the auxiliary ist, as required in subordinate clauses. Likewise, Kannst du mir sagen, wie ich dorthin kommen kann? translates as “Can you tell me how I can get there?”, where kommen kann sits at the end of the clause, with the main verb before the modal verb.
When the main clause is a yes-no question, it still takes the same structure. For example, Weißt du, wann der Film anfängt? is a full question, but the subordinate clause remains unchanged with anfängt at the end. It would be incorrect to use the direct question form Wann fängt der Film an? inside this structure.
It's also possible to use indirect questions without a main clause that is obviously interrogative. In those cases, the question is embedded as part of a larger statement. For instance, Sie erklärt mir, wie das funktioniert means “She explains to me how that works,” where the clause wie das funktioniert behaves just like a noun clause. The verb funktioniert comes last, and the clause is introduced by wie instead of being formed as a direct question.
Care should also be taken with pronouns and word order. While the verb moves to the end, the rest of the sentence remains in the order of a statement. Ich weiß, wer das gemacht hat (“I know who did that”) uses the subject-verb-object order after the wer, just as in a declarative clause, not the inverted structure of a question.
The use of indirect questions in reported speech is common as well. Instead of quoting someone directly with a question, the speaker integrates the question into their own statement. Er fragte: „Warum bist du so spät?“ becomes Er fragte, warum ich so spät war. The tense may shift to reflect sequence of tenses, and the verb war appears at the end of the clause.