Indirect questions
indirekte Fragen
Indirect questions are questions asked in a roundabout, embedded way instead of directly: ob, wo, wann, wie.
“Weißt du, wo ist der Bahnhof?” — that is a mistake in German. The question order has to go, and the verb moves to the very end.
Right now: two kinds of question, two routes
An indirect question is a subordinate clause. So the rule you learned with weil works exactly the same way here.
ShortcutIf the question has a W-word, that word becomes the conjunction (wo · wann · wie · warum). If it does not, you insert ob. Either way, the verb goes to the end.
| Direct question | Indirect version | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Wo ist der Bahnhof? | Ich weiß nicht, wo der Bahnhof ist. | the verb moved to the end |
| Wann kommt er? | Weißt du, wann er kommt? | the verb moved to the end |
| Kommt er heute? | Ich weiß nicht, ob er heute kommt. | ob added + verb to the end |
The third row is the critical one: a yes/no question has no conjunction, so German supplies one — ob. It is the counterpart of English “whether” (or “if”, when it means “whether”).
English already does this
English also changes the structure when it tucks a question inside a sentence: the question order goes back to normal, and do/does disappears. German does the same job, just with a different tool.
| Direct | Embedded | German |
|---|---|---|
| Where does he live? | I don’t know where he lives. | Ich weiß nicht, wo er wohnt. |
| Is he coming? | I don’t know whether he’s coming. | Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt. |
| When will he come? | I don’t know when he will come. | Ich weiß nicht, wann er kommt. |
The second row — “whether” — is the exact counterpart of German ob. Once you make that link, ob is hard to forget. The difference: in German the verb also travels to the very end.
Two places where it goes wrong
Using wenn instead of ob
The single most important line on this page. English “if” covers both meanings, so they blur together, but in German they are two completely different words:
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ob | whether — a question | Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt. — I don’t know whether he’s coming |
| wenn | if / when — a condition | Ich freue mich, wenn er kommt. — I’ll be happy if he comes |
Both send the verb to the end, so the sentence still works grammatically — the mistake is invisible, but the meaning changes completely. One of the sneakiest errors there is.
Ich weiß nicht, wenn er kommt.
That reads like “I don’t know in case he comes” — it makes no sense.
Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt.
I don’t know whether he’s coming.
Test: swap the English. If “whether” fits, it is ob; if only “if” (as in “provided that”) fits, it is wenn.
Keeping the question order
In a direct question the verb moves to the front. When you switch to the indirect form, this is undone — learners copy the question order as it is.
Ich weiß nicht, wann kommt er.
The question order stayed.
Ich weiß nicht, wann er kommt.
I don’t know when he’s coming.
Können Sie mir sagen, wo der Bahnhof ist?
Can you tell me where the station is?
With a separable verb, the two parts join up at the end: Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug abfährt. If there is a modal verb, the modal goes last: …, ob ich kommen kann.
Where the question mark goes
A small detail, but one that shows up in written exams: the main clause decides the punctuation, not the question tucked inside it.
| Sentence | Mark | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt. | full stop | the main clause is a statement |
| Weißt du, ob er kommt? | question mark | the main clause is a question |
| Können Sie mir sagen, wo der Bahnhof ist? | question mark | the main clause is a question |
The structure inside is the same in all three rows. The only thing that changes is whether the opening clause is a question.
The phrases that introduce an indirect question are a short list, and every one of them is useful: Ich weiß nicht, … · Weißt du, … · Können Sie mir sagen, … · Ich frage mich, … · Es ist unklar, …
The part nobody tells you: it is a politeness tool
Textbooks file this topic under “joining sentences”. For someone living in Germany its real job is different: this is the normal way to ask a stranger a question.
| Direct (blunt) | Indirect (normal) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Wo ist der Bahnhof? | Können Sie mir sagen, wo der Bahnhof ist? | on the street |
| Wann kommt der Bus? | Wissen Sie, wann der Bus kommt? | at the bus stop |
| Haben Sie das? | Ich wollte fragen, ob Sie das haben. | in a shop |
The sentences on the left are not wrong — grammatically flawless. But asked like that to a stranger in Germany, they come across a notch too blunt. The form on the right is both correct and safe.
Here is the trick: you postpone the hard part of the sentence. Saying Können Sie mir sagen, … buys you half a second while you pull the rest together. It is a real technique for cutting down those frozen moments when you speak — read it alongside the page on freezing moments.
The second thing nobody mentions: ob is not only for indirect questions. It can start a sentence on its own, and then it means “I wonder if …”: Ob er heute kommt? — I wonder if he’s coming today. Germans use this a lot when thinking out loud.
What you just learned
Ich weiß nicht, ___ er kommt.
Show the answer
ob — When a yes/no question is turned into an indirect question, the conjunction ob (“whether”) is used.
Ich weiß nicht, wo ist er.
Show the answer
False — In indirect questions the verb always stands at the very end of the subordinate clause: ... wo er ist.
Können Sie mir sagen, ___ das Ticket kostet? (how much the ticket)
Show the answer
wie viel. If the direct question has a W-word, that word itself becomes the conjunction — nothing is added in front of it. ob only steps in for yes/no questions, that is, when there is no W-word; a double conjunction like ob wie viel does not exist in German.
What to do this week
This topic sticks when you ask the question twice. Five minutes a day:
- Write five direct questions: Wo ist …? Wann kommt …? Wie viel kostet …?
- Rebuild each one with Können Sie mir sagen, … — throw the verb to the end.
- Then write three yes/no questions and embed them with ob: Ich weiß nicht, ob …
- Check every ob sentence in English: can you say “whether”?
- Once a week, write a wenn sentence and an ob sentence side by side — see the difference in meaning in your own sentences.
Next up is the second meaning of modal verbs: why Er muss krank sein does not mean “he has to get sick”.
Build the sentence yourself
Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.
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tap the words
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tap the words
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tap the words
Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- A question word is the conjunction
If the original question starts with wann · wo · warum · wie viel, the same word is used in the indirect form; nothing extra is added. If there is no question word, ob fills the gap.
Wo ist der Bahnhof? → Wissen Sie, wo der Bahnhof ist?
- ob = “whether”
Questions with a yes/no answer take ob in the indirect form. Its English counterpart is “whether” — and it is NOT wenn, even though English “if” can stand for either.
Kommt er? → Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt.
- The verb goes last, the inversion ends
In a subordinate clause the conjugated verb is in final position. The inverted order of the question (kommt er) is fixed in the indirect form: er kommt.
Wann kommt er? → Weißt du, wann er kommt?
- A separable verb joins up at the end
In a subordinate clause the particle of a separable verb glues back on: fährt ab → abfährt. In the Perfekt the participle comes first and the auxiliary stands last.
… wann der Zug abfährt. · … warum du nicht gekommen bist.
Ich weiß nicht, wenn er kommt.
Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt.
English “if” covers both, so they get mixed up. wenn is a conjunction of condition/time; asking “whether or not” needs ob.
Weißt du, wann kommt er?
Weißt du, wann er kommt?
An indirect question is no longer a question sentence but a subordinate clause. The inverted order breaks and the verb goes to the end.
Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug ab fährt.
Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug abfährt.
In a subordinate clause the separated part glues back onto the verb and stands at the end as one word.
Sag mir, warum du nicht bist gekommen.
Sag mir, warum du nicht gekommen bist.
In a Perfekt subordinate clause the order shifts: participle first, the auxiliary last.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
Ich weiß nicht, er heute kommt.
Ich weiß nicht = I don’t know
Weißt du, wann ?
Do you know when he’s coming?
Ich freue mich, du kommst.
sich freuen = to be happy
Können Sie mir sagen, wo der Bahnhof ?
Can you tell me where the station is?
Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug .
I don’t know when the train leaves.
Können Sie mir sagen, das Ticket kostet? (how much the ticket)
Can you tell me how much the ticket costs?
Practice done — –
To finish the topic, take the full test: score 60% and it is marked as done on your level path.
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Indirect questions worksheet
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
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Questions
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