Reported Questions in English

Reported Questions in English (Reported Speech)

Reported questions in English are part of reported speech. We use them when we want to say what someone asked, but not in the form of a direct question.

Direct: “Where do you live?”

Reported: He asked where I lived.

In this lesson, you will learn:

• how word order changes
• how to report yes / no questions
• how to report wh- questions
• and the most common mistakes to avoid

Word order in reported questions

When we report a question, the word order changes. It becomes the same as a normal statement.

Direct: “What time did the flight leave Paris?”

Reported: He asked what time the flight left Paris.

Important rule:

We do NOT use the auxiliary do / does / did in reported questions.

❌ He asked what time did the flight leave.

✅ He asked what time the flight left.

Reported questions are not real questions, so we do not use a question mark.

❌ They asked if I was satisfied with the room?

✅ They asked if I was satisfied with the room.

Other changes (tense, pronouns, time & place)

We make the same changes as in reported statements:

• tense
• pronouns
• time expressions
• place words

Direct: The reporter asked, “Did you tell us the truth yesterday?”

Reported: The reporter asked the him if he had told them the truth the day before.

Reported yes / no questions

We introduce yes/no questions with ask / want to know + if or whether

Direct: “Has your union agreed on the new pay deal?”

Reported: A reporter asked the leader if his union had agreed on the new pay deal.

Direct: “Did the Minister answer your questions?”

Reported: She asked me whether the Minister had answered my questions.

Direct: “Have you ever lived in this city?”

Reported: They wanted to know if I had ever lived in that city.

With if / whether, we can add or not:

• She asked whether the Minister had answered her question or not.

Reported Wh- questions

We introduce wh- questions with ask / want to know + wh-word (what, where, when, why, how, etc.)

Direct: “When will the article appear in the newspaper?”

Reported: They asked when the article would appear in the newspaper.

Direct: “Where is the cash desk?”

Reported: She wanted to know where the cash desk was.

Very common mistake with “want to know”

We do NOT use an object after want to know.

❌ They wanted to know me why I liked it.

✅ They wanted to know why I liked it.

But:

✅ They asked me why I liked it.

Reported questions are extremely common in stories, news reports, conversations, and Cambridge exams. Once you remember that they are not real questions anymore, everything becomes much easier.

Download the worksheet with reported questions exercise in PDF here

Visit the post about reported speech here

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