An indirect question is a question wrapped inside a statement. Instead of asking Est-ce que tu viens ? directly, you embed the question under a verb of asking, wondering, knowing, or telling: Je me demande si tu viens. (I wonder if you're coming.) The question is no longer being asked — it is being reported or contemplated. The shift sounds small in translation but triggers several grammatical changes in French: word order returns to declarative, est-ce que disappears, and one specific case — direct que / qu'est-ce que — undergoes a special transformation into ce que or ce qui.
This page covers the three building blocks of French indirect questions: (1) si for embedded yes/no questions, (2) the WH-words (quand, où, pourquoi, comment, combien) for embedded WH-questions, and (3) the ce que / ce qui trick that replaces que / qu'est-ce que. Master these three and you will produce indirect questions that sound entirely natural.
The core rule: no inversion, no est-ce que
The first thing to drop when going from direct to indirect is the question machinery itself. Direct questions use one of three forms (intonation, est-ce que, inversion). Indirect questions use declarative word order — full stop. No inversion. No est-ce que. Just subject + verb + complement, with whatever conjunction or WH-word introduces the embedded clause.
Direct: Est-ce que tu viens ce soir ?
Are you coming tonight?
Indirect: Je me demande si tu viens ce soir.
I wonder if you're coming tonight.
Direct: Où habites-tu ?
Where do you live?
Indirect: Dis-moi où tu habites.
Tell me where you live.
Notice in the second pair: the direct question uses inversion (habites-tu), but the indirect version drops back to plain declarative order (tu habites). This is a hard rule. In modern French, you do not invert in indirect questions. Older or very literary French sometimes does (Dis-moi où habites-tu — archaic), but contemporary speech and writing keep declarative word order.
Si — for embedded yes/no questions
When you embed a yes/no question — one that could be answered oui or non — you introduce the embedded clause with si (if/whether). This is the same word as the if in conditionals, but here it means whether.
Je ne sais pas si elle viendra à la fête.
I don't know whether she'll come to the party.
Il m'a demandé si j'avais le temps de l'aider.
He asked me whether I had time to help him.
On verra s'il fait beau demain.
We'll see whether the weather is nice tomorrow.
Je me demande si ça vaut le coup d'attendre.
I'm wondering whether it's worth waiting.
Notice in the third example: si contracts to s' before il and ils — and only before those two words. Si elle stays si elle; si on stays si on. The contraction is mandatory, like qu'il / qu'elle.
Demande-lui s'il a faim.
Ask him whether he's hungry.
Je ne sais pas si elle a faim.
I don't know whether she's hungry.
A subtle but useful point: French si in indirect questions does not trigger the conditional-clause rules (no special tense restrictions). You can freely embed any tense after it, including the future — unlike conditional si, which famously refuses the future in its own clause. Je ne sais pas s'il viendra (I don't know whether he'll come) is perfectly normal; s'il viendra, je serai content (as a conditional) is not.
WH-words — embed them unchanged
For embedded WH-questions, you keep the question word — où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien — and put declarative word order behind it.
Il m'a demandé où je travaillais.
He asked me where I worked.
Je voudrais savoir quand tu seras libre.
I would like to know when you'll be free.
Explique-moi comment ça marche, ce truc.
Explain to me how this thing works.
Personne ne comprend pourquoi il a démissionné.
Nobody understands why he resigned.
Je me demande combien ça va coûter au total.
I'm wondering how much it'll cost in total.
This is the most straightforward case in indirect questions because the WH-word's form doesn't change. The work is purely structural: ditch the inversion or the est-ce que from the direct question, slot the WH-word in front of declarative word order, and you're done.
Note also that qui (who) embeds the same way:
Dis-moi qui t'a raconté ça.
Tell me who told you that.
Je ne sais pas qui c'est.
I don't know who it is.
The trick case: que / qu'est-ce que → ce que / ce qui
Here is where indirect questions get genuinely difficult, and where most learners stumble. Direct que and qu'est-ce que — both meaning what — do not survive the embedding intact. They have to be converted:
| Direct (asking) | Indirect (embedded) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? | ...ce que tu fais | what you're doing (direct object) |
| Que fais-tu ? | ...ce que tu fais | what you're doing (direct object) |
| Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? | ...ce qui se passe | what's happening (subject) |
The pattern: que / qu'est-ce que becomes ce que when what is the object of the embedded verb, and ce qui when what is the subject. The little word ce is a placeholder — literally the thing that... — and the choice of que (object) vs qui (subject) follows the same logic as relative pronouns (see complex/relative-clauses).
Je ne sais pas ce qu'il fait dans la vie.
I don't know what he does for a living.
Dis-moi ce que tu veux pour ton anniversaire.
Tell me what you want for your birthday.
Je me demande ce qui se passe avec lui en ce moment.
I wonder what's going on with him right now.
Personne ne sait ce qui l'a poussé à partir.
Nobody knows what drove him to leave.
To decide between ce que and ce qui, ask: in the embedded clause, is what the subject or the object of the verb?
- what he is doing → what is the object of doing → ce que (ce qu'il fait).
- what is happening → what is the subject of is happening → ce qui (ce qui se passe).
A useful test: if the verb that follows immediately has a separate subject (a pronoun or noun), you want ce que. If the verb has no subject in sight (because what itself is the subject), you want ce qui.
Je me demande ce que Marie a acheté.
I'm wondering what Marie bought.
Je me demande ce qui a plu à Marie.
I'm wondering what Marie liked.
With prepositions: ce dont, ce à quoi
When what in the embedded clause is the object of a preposition, ce que shifts again. The two most common cases:
- After de: ce dont (what... of/about).
- After other prepositions: ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, ce avec quoi, etc.
Dis-moi ce dont tu as besoin.
Tell me what you need.
Je ne sais pas ce dont il parle.
I don't know what he's talking about.
Tu sais ce à quoi je pense ?
Do you know what I'm thinking about?
These forms feel heavy on the page and are partly avoided in casual speech, where speakers often restructure (tu sais à quoi je pense ? — with no ce, in an informal direct-feeling form). For B1 production, focus on ce dont; the rest can wait.
Tense shifts under a past matrix verb
If the introducing verb is in a past tense, the embedded clause undergoes the same tense shifts as in reported speech (see complex/indirect-speech and syntax/sequence-of-tenses-past). The most common shifts:
| Direct (present matrix) | Indirect (past matrix) |
|---|---|
| Il demande si tu viens. | Il a demandé si tu venais. |
| Il demande où tu vas. | Il a demandé où tu allais. |
| Il demande quand tu arriveras. | Il a demandé quand tu arriverais. |
| Il demande ce que tu fais. | Il a demandé ce que tu faisais. |
The shifts are mechanical: present → imparfait, future → conditionnel, passé composé → plus-que-parfait. They match English exactly (He asked when you would arrive), so an English speaker has the right intuition — the challenge is producing the embedded tense automatically.
Hier, elle m'a demandé si j'avais le temps de l'aider ce week-end.
Yesterday she asked me whether I had time to help her this weekend.
Je voulais savoir où tu étais passé toute la matinée.
I wanted to know where you'd been all morning.
How English vs French differ
English has the same broad architecture for indirect questions — embed under wonder, ask, know; drop inversion; use if / whether for yes/no questions and WH-words for the rest. The major French-specific complication is ce que / ce qui, which has no English equivalent. English speakers say I don't know what he wants, mapping cleanly with one what; French requires the placeholder ce, then que or qui depending on grammatical role. Until this becomes automatic, expect to second-guess every what in an embedded clause.
A second difference: English allows a residual inversion in indirect questions in some constructions (Do you know who is coming?), but French never does. Sais-tu qui vient ? is the direct form; Tu sais qui vient ? is the embedded one (with no inversion in the embedded clause).
A third: in English, if and whether are sometimes interchangeable (I don't know if/whether he's coming), and whether sometimes signals a more formal register. French has only si, and no register distinction.
Common Mistakes
❌ Je me demande où est-ce que tu vas.
Wrong — don't use est-ce que inside an indirect question. Drop it.
✅ Je me demande où tu vas.
I wonder where you're going.
❌ Je me demande où vas-tu.
Wrong — no inversion in indirect questions in modern French.
✅ Je me demande où tu vas.
I wonder where you're going.
❌ Dis-moi que tu veux.
Wrong — embedded 'what' (as object) is ce que, not bare que. Bare que here means 'that you want', not 'what you want'.
✅ Dis-moi ce que tu veux.
Tell me what you want.
❌ Je ne sais pas qu'est-ce qui se passe.
Wrong — qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qui is for direct questions only. Embedded, use ce qui.
✅ Je ne sais pas ce qui se passe.
I don't know what's going on.
❌ Je me demande si il viendra.
Wrong — si must contract to s' before il and ils.
✅ Je me demande s'il viendra.
I'm wondering whether he'll come.
❌ Il a demandé si je veux du café.
Wrong — past matrix verb requires imparfait in the embedded clause, not present.
✅ Il a demandé si je voulais du café.
He asked whether I wanted coffee.
Key Takeaways
An indirect question in French is a question embedded inside a statement, introduced by a verb of asking, wondering, or knowing. Three rules cover almost every case. (1) No inversion, no est-ce que — switch to declarative word order. (2) Yes/no questions take si (contracted to s' before il/ils); WH-questions keep their question word (où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien, qui). (3) Direct que / qu'est-ce que (what) becomes ce que (object) or ce qui (subject) in the embedded clause — the placeholder ce is mandatory. Under a past introducing verb, the embedded tense shifts: present → imparfait, future → conditionnel, passé composé → plus-que-parfait, mirroring English. Get the ce que / ce qui split right and the rest follows naturally.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Le Discours IndirectB1 — Reporting what someone said: tense shifts, time markers, and how to embed questions and commands in French indirect speech.
- Le Discours Indirect: structuresB1 — How to convert direct speech into indirect speech in French — the tense shifts, time-marker substitutions, and special structures for reported questions and commands.
- Concordance des Temps au PasséB1 — How embedded clauses re-tense themselves when the matrix verb is in the past — and the modern relaxation that lets you skip the shift when the embedded fact is still true.
- Les Questions en WH-: où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combienA1 — How to ask where, when, how, why, and how much/many in French — and how each WH-word slots into the three question registers (intonation, est-ce que, inversion).
- Phrases Interrogatives: les Trois RegistresA1 — French has three distinct ways to ask a yes/no or wh- question: rising intonation (informal), est-ce que (neutral), and pronoun-verb inversion (formal). Each is grammatically different and tied to register.
- Qui, Que, Quoi: pronoms interrogatifsA1 — Qui asks about people, que and quoi ask about things — but the choice between que and quoi depends on whether the word stands at the start of an inverted question (que), after a preposition (quoi), or alone (quoi). Why French splits 'what' across three forms, the longer qu'est-ce qui and qu'est-ce que constructions, and the register difference between Que fais-tu? and Tu fais quoi?