An indirect question makes a question the complement of a larger clause: मुझे नहीं पता कि वह कहाँ रहता है “I don't know where he lives” and पूछिए कि बैठक कब शुरू होगी “Ask when the meeting will begin.” The embedded clause identifies missing information, but it is not itself used as a direct speech act toward the listener.
Hindi normally retains its own clause order inside the embedded question. It does not copy English subject–auxiliary inversion, and a wh-expression generally stays in the position associated with its semantic role.
Wh-questions embedded under a matrix predicate
Common matrix expressions include पूछना “ask,” जानना “know,” पता होना “be known,” समझना “understand,” याद होना “remember,” देखना “see/check,” and बताना “tell.” कि often introduces the finite complement.
मुझे नहीं पता कि रीना कहाँ रहती है।
mujhe nahīṃ patā ki rīnā kahā̃ rahtī hai.
I don't know where Rina lives.
ज़रा देखिए कि अगली ट्रेन कब आएगी।
zarā dekhie ki aglī ṭren kab āegī.
Please check when the next train will arrive. (honorific)
उसने पूछा कि हम इतनी देर से क्यों आए।
usne pūchā ki ham itnī der se kyoṃ āe.
They asked why we arrived so late.
Within each complement, कहाँ, कब, or क्यों occupies a natural preverbal focus position. English moves the wh-word to the front of the subordinate clause but then removes direct-question inversion: where Rina lives, not where does Rina live. Hindi needs neither operation; its direct and indirect versions can have the same internal word order.
रीना कहाँ रहती है?
rīnā kahā̃ rahtī hai?
Where does Rina live? (direct question)
क्या आपको मालूम है कि रीना कहाँ रहती है?
kyā āpko mālūm hai ki rīnā kahā̃ rahtī hai?
Do you know where Rina lives? (honorific matrix polar question)
The second sentence contains two layers. Initial क्या asks whether the addressee knows; embedded कहाँ specifies the information at issue. This is not accidental “double questioning”: the two interrogative elements belong to different clauses.
For the wider behavior of finite complements, see कि complement clauses.
Case-marked wh-phrases stay locally licensed
An embedded interrogative takes the case required by its role inside the embedded clause. कौन changes to किस/किन before postpositions, just as it does in a direct question.
पुलिस जानना चाहती है कि गवाह ने किससे बात की थी।
pulis jānnā cāhtī hai ki gavāh ne kisse bāt kī thī.
The police want to know whom the witness had spoken to.
कृपया बताइए कि यह चाबी किसके पास थी।
kripyā batāie ki yah cābī kiske pās thī.
Please say who had this key. (formal/honorific)
हमें तय करना है कि इन प्रस्तावों में से किन पर चर्चा होगी।
hameṃ tay karnā hai ki in prastāvoṃ meṃ se kin par carcā hogī.
We have to decide which of these proposals will be discussed.
The matrix verb does not assign the wh-phrase's postposition. बात करना licenses से, के पास होना licenses के पास, and चर्चा होना here combines with पर. This local relationship explains why blindly fronting कौन to the beginning of the whole sentence fails.
Hindi can front a focused phrase for contrast, but that is discourse-driven scrambling, not obligatory wh-movement. Neutral prose keeps the embedded constituent near its ordinary position.
Embedded yes–no questions
For an embedded yes–no issue, Hindi frequently uses कि … या नहीं “whether … or not.” This form makes both possible answers explicit and is reliable across formal speech and writing.
मुझे नहीं मालूम कि वह आज आएगा या नहीं।
mujhe nahīṃ mālūm ki vah āj āegā yā nahīṃ.
I don't know whether he will come today.
समिति जाँच करेगी कि नियमों का पालन हुआ है या नहीं।
samiti jā̃c karegī ki niyamoṃ kā pālan huā hai yā nahīṃ.
The committee will examine whether the rules have been followed. (formal)
पहले पूछ लो कि वे हमारे साथ चलेंगे या नहीं।
pahle pūch lo ki ve hamāre sāth caleṅge yā nahīṃ.
First ask whether they will come with us. (conversational)
Formal and journalistic Hindi also permits कि क्या …, especially where क्या clearly marks an embedded issue rather than asking the reader a direct question.
रिपोर्ट में यह प्रश्न उठाया गया है कि क्या मौजूदा व्यवस्था पर्याप्त है।
riporṭ meṃ yah praśn uṭhāyā gayā hai ki kyā maujūdā vyavasthā paryāpt hai.
The report raises the question of whether the existing system is adequate. (formal)
In everyday speech, … या नहीं is often less ambiguous. Do not use an English infinitive as though Hindi had a direct equivalent of whether to go in every context. Hindi commonly chooses जाना है या नहीं, जाएँ या नहीं, or a nominal decision expression according to whose obligation or decision is meant.
हम तय नहीं कर पा रहे कि अभी निकलें या सुबह तक रुकें।
ham tay nahīṃ kar pā rahe ki abhī nikleṃ yā subah tak rukeṃ.
We can't decide whether to leave now or stay until morning.
This is an embedded alternative question. Both subjunctive predicates depend on तय करना and share the understood subject हम.
Direct quotation versus indirect question
Direct quotation preserves the original speaker's wording and deictic center. An indirect question integrates the content into the reporting speaker's sentence.
नीला ने पूछा, ‘बैठक कहाँ होगी?’
nīlā ne pūchā, ‘baiṭhak kahā̃ hogī?’
Neela asked, ‘Where will the meeting be?’ (direct quotation)
नीला ने पूछा कि बैठक कहाँ होगी।
nīlā ne pūchā ki baiṭhak kahā̃ hogī.
Neela asked where the meeting would be. (indirect question)
Hindi does not mechanically backshift tense in indirect speech the way traditional English descriptions often require. The future होगी remains appropriate if the meeting is future relative to the relevant viewpoint. Pronouns and time expressions change when the reporting context demands it, not because an automatic sequence-of-tense rule rewrites every form.
अमित ने मुझसे पूछा कि मैं अगले दिन कब आऊँगा।
amit ne mujhse pūchā ki maĩ agle din kab āū̃gā.
Amit asked me when I would come the next day. (male speaker)
Here original तुम becomes reporting-speaker मैं, and कल may become अगले दिन to prevent temporal ambiguity. These are viewpoint adjustments, not question-word movement.
कि omission and punctuation
In conversation, कि can sometimes be omitted after short matrix predicates when the boundary remains clear: देखो वह कब आता है “See when he comes.” Careful formal prose generally benefits from overt कि, especially before a long complement.
देखो, वह कब वापस आता है।
dekho, vah kab vāpas ātā hai.
See when he comes back. (conversational)
कृपया पुष्टि कीजिए कि भुगतान किस खाते में भेजना है।
kripyā puṣṭi kījie ki bhugtān kis khāte meṃ bhejnā hai.
Please confirm which account the payment is to be sent to. (formal)
An indirect question is normally punctuated as part of the larger sentence. मुझे नहीं पता कि वह कहाँ है। is a statement and ends with a full stop. If the matrix clause itself asks a direct question—क्या आपको पता है …?—the whole sentence ends with a question mark.
Presupposition, politeness, and interaction
Matrix wording changes social force. बताओ requests information directly; क्या आप बता सकती हैं …? frames the request as a question about ability and is conventionally polite.
बताओ, चाबी किसके पास है।
batāo, cābī kiske pās hai.
Tell me who has the key. (familiar/direct)
क्या आप बता सकती हैं कि चाबी किसके पास है? — जी, शायद चौकीदार के पास।
kyā āp batā saktī haiṃ ki cābī kiske pās hai? — jī, śāyad caukīdār ke pās.
Could you tell me who has the key? — Yes, perhaps the caretaker. (formal/honorific, addressed to a woman)
The polite matrix question conventionally requests the embedded information; answering only हाँ would be formally logical but interactionally unhelpful.
An echo can target embedded material:
आपने कहा कि फ़ाइल किसने हटाई?
āpne kahā ki fāil kisne haṭāī?
You said who removed the file? (echo/clarification)
This marked echo preserves the reporting frame while challenging किसने. A neutral request would be clearer as कृपया बताइए कि फ़ाइल किसने हटाई।
Common Mistakes
Copying English subject–auxiliary inversion
❌ मुझे नहीं पता कि कहाँ है रीना रहती।
Incorrect—the embedded Hindi clause keeps ordinary constituent and predicate order.
✅ मुझे नहीं पता कि उसका भाई कहाँ काम करता है।
mujhe nahīṃ patā ki uskā bhāī kahā̃ kām kartā hai.
I don't know where her brother works.
Adding initial क्या to a wh-complement
❌ उसने पूछा कि क्या बैठक कब शुरू होगी।
Incorrect for one embedded wh-question—क्या and कब would compete at the same clause level.
✅ उसने पूछा कि बैठक कब शुरू होगी।
usne pūchā ki baiṭhak kab śurū hogī.
They asked when the meeting would begin.
Leaving कौन uninflected
❌ पता कीजिए कि यह पत्र कौन के लिए है।
Incorrect—कौन becomes किस before compound postposition के लिए.
✅ पता कीजिए कि यह पत्र किसके लिए है।
patā kījie ki yah patr kiske lie hai.
Find out whom this letter is for. (honorific)
Punctuating an assertion as a direct question
❌ मुझे नहीं पता कि वह कब आएगा?
Incorrect in standard continuous prose—the whole sentence asserts lack of knowledge.
✅ मुझे नहीं पता कि वह कब आएगा।
mujhe nahīṃ patā ki vah kab āegā.
I don't know when he will come.
Key Takeaways
- Embedded wh-phrases stay inside their clause and take the case required by their local predicate.
- Use कि … या नहीं or formal कि क्या … for embedded yes–no issues.
- Initial matrix क्या and an embedded wh-word can coexist because they have different scopes.
- Hindi does not require English inversion or automatic tense backshift in indirect questions.
- Choose overt कि, punctuation, and matrix wording to make clause boundaries and politeness clear.
Related Topics
- Yes-no questions with clause-initial क्याA1 — Form neutral and biased yes–no questions with initial क्या while preserving ordinary Hindi word order, agreement, and interrogative intonation.
- क्या as what versus question markerA1 — Distinguish argument क्या meaning ‘what’ from clause-initial क्या marking a yes-no question by position, answer type, and grammatical behavior.
- Postpositions with interrogativesB1 — Build case-marked questions with किस, किन, कहाँ, कब, and compound postpositions without copying English preposition stranding.
- Alternative questionsB1 — Ask someone to choose between explicit alternatives with या, distinguish choice questions from polar questions, and place interrogative phrases naturally.
- कि complement clausesA2 — Use कि to place a complete finite proposition after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, and wanting while keeping both clause structures clear.
- Embedded finite versus infinitive clausesC1 — Choose between an independently tensed कि clause and a controlled or nominalized infinitive by tracking subject reference, proposition type, agreement, and time.