A reported question presents someone else's request for information without necessarily repeating their exact words. Hindi normally uses पूछना with a clause introduced by कि. A reported wh-question keeps its question word, while a reported yes-or-no question can use कि क्या or कि…या नहीं; the latter pattern is introduced in whether clauses with कि नहीं.
Unlike English, Hindi does not switch to auxiliary-first order in either direct or reported questions. The embedded clause retains ordinary Hindi constituent order, and the matrix sentence normally ends with । because the current narrator is making a statement about a past question.
Reporting a wh-question
Compare direct and indirect forms:
माया ने पूछा, “बस कहाँ रुकेगी?”
māyā ne pūchā, “bas kahā̃ rukegī?”
Maya asked, ‘Where will the bus stop?’
माया ने पूछा कि बस कहाँ रुकेगी।
māyā ne pūchā ki bas kahā̃ rukegī.
Maya asked where the bus would stop.
Direct speech uses Maya's exact question and a question mark. Indirect speech removes the quotation marks, adds कि, and embeds कहाँ in a clause ending in रुकेगी. English omits that before an indirect question; Hindi कि still marks the finite boundary.
Other question words behave the same way:
समीरा ने पूछा कि बैठक कब शुरू होगी।
samīrā ne pūchā ki baiṭhak kab śurū hogī.
Sameera asked when the meeting would begin.
उन्होंने पूछा कि यह चाबी किसकी है।
unhoṃne pūchā ki yah cābī kiskī hai.
They asked whose key this was. (honorific or plural)
The interrogative expression stays inside the role it fills: कब is time, किसकी is the possessive predicate, and कहाँ is place. It does not need to move to the front of the whole sentence.
Reporting yes-or-no questions
One common pattern uses embedded yes-or-no क्या:
रोहन ने पूछा कि क्या आप कल उपलब्ध हैं।
rohan ne pūchā ki kyā āp kal uplabdh haiṃ.
Rohan asked whether you were available the next day. (respectful)
Another spells out the two alternatives:
रोहन ने पूछा कि आप कल उपलब्ध हैं या नहीं।
rohan ne pūchā ki āp kal uplabdh haiṃ yā nahīṃ.
Rohan asked whether you were available the next day. (respectful)
Both are natural. कि क्या labels the embedded proposition as a yes-or-no question; कि…या नहीं explicitly says “whether…or not.” The latter is especially transparent when the clause is long.
Do not confuse question-marker क्या with argument क्या “what”:
उसने पूछा कि तुमने बाज़ार से क्या खरीदा।
usne pūchā ki tumne bāzār se kyā xarīdā.
He or she asked what you bought at the market. (informal)
Here क्या is the object of खरीदा, not a yes-or-no marker. Moving it immediately after कि would favor “whether you bought [something].”
The person being asked normally takes से
Neutral Standard Hindi marks the source of the requested information with से:
शिक्षिका ने मुझसे पूछा कि मैंने गृहकार्य क्यों नहीं किया।
śikṣikā ne mujhse pūchā ki maĩne grihakārya kyoṃ nahīṃ kiyā.
The teacher asked me why I hadn't done the homework.
The structure is X ने Y से पूछा कि…. Forms with Y को पूछा occur regionally and colloquially, but से is the broadly accepted neutral choice. This differs from Y को बताया “told Y.”
If no addressee matters, omit it:
किसी ने पूछा कि बाहर इतना शोर क्यों हो रहा है।
kisī ne pūchā ki bāhar itnā śor kyoṃ ho rahā hai.
Someone asked why there was so much noise outside.
Simple and expanded reports
A simple embedded question can be very short:
दिया ने पूछा कि रास्ता कौन-सा है।
diyā ne pūchā ki rāstā kaun-sā hai.
Diya asked which route it was.
Expansion does not change the outer frame:
दिया ने स्टेशन पर खड़े कर्मचारी से पूछा कि पुराने शहर जाने वाली आख़िरी बस किस प्लेटफ़ॉर्म से मिलेगी।
diyā ne sṭeśan par khaṛe karmacārī se pūchā ki purāne śahar jāne vālī āxirī bas kis pleṭform se milegī.
At the station, Diya asked an employee which platform the last bus to the old city would leave from.
The long noun phrase पुराने शहर जाने वाली आख़िरी बस stays together, and किस प्लेटफ़ॉर्म से keeps its postposition. Reported-question status does not loosen ordinary phrase structure.
Pronouns and viewpoint can change
Direct तुम refers to the original addressee:
नीरा ने अर्जुन से पूछा, “तुम कब लौटोगे?”
nīrā ne arjun se pūchā, “tum kab lauṭoge?”
Neera asked Arjun, ‘When will you return?’ (informal quotation)
In an indirect report, Arjun becomes third person:
नीरा ने अर्जुन से पूछा कि वह कब लौटेगा।
nīrā ne arjun se pūchā ki vah kab lauṭegā.
Neera asked Arjun when he would return.
If several men are under discussion, repeat अर्जुन inside the embedded clause or restructure the sentence. वह has no special form meaning “the addressee rather than the questioner.”
Time words shift only if the reporting situation changes. Same-day reporting can retain आज; a later account may use उस दिन. Place words behave similarly: यहाँ can remain if the narrator is still at the original location.
No automatic tense backshift
कबीर ने पूछा कि दुकान अभी खुली है या नहीं।
kabīr ne pūchā ki dukān abhī khulī hai yā nahīṃ.
Kabir asked whether the shop was open at that moment.
Present-state खुली है preserves the question's viewpoint. Past खुली थी would deliberately place the state in a completed past frame. Likewise, Hindi future can remain future after पूछा:
सारा ने पूछा कि परिणाम कब आएँगे।
sārā ne pūchā ki pariṇām kab āẽge.
Sara asked when the results would come.
English uses would; Hindi uses ordinary future आएँगे. Choose TAM for the event being asked about, not by a sequence-of-tense formula.
Finite question or nominal question
A finite clause states a full issue:
मैंने पूछा कि विमान कब उतरेगा।
maĩne pūchā ki vimān kab utregā.
I asked when the plane would land.
A noun phrase can ask for one piece of information more compactly:
मैंने विमान के उतरने का समय पूछा।
maĩne vimān ke utarne kā samay pūchā.
I asked the plane's landing time.
The nominal version contains no independent tense. The finite version can contrast उतरा था, उतर रहा है, or उतरेगा and is better when the temporal viewpoint matters.
Punctuation and a formal boundary
An indirect reported question normally ends with ।. Use ? only when the whole current sentence asks a question, as in क्या उसने पूछा कि बस कब आएगी?
जाँच समिति ने विभाग से पूछा कि क्या सभी अभिलेख निर्धारित समय के भीतर सुरक्षित कर लिए गए थे।
jā̃c samiti ne vibhāg se pūchā ki kyā sabhī abhilekh nirdhārit samay ke bhītar surakṣit kar lie gae the.
The inquiry committee asked the department whether all records had been secured within the prescribed time. (formal)
Clause boundary: [जाँच समिति ने विभाग से पूछा] [कि क्या सभी अभिलेख निर्धारित समय के भीतर सुरक्षित कर लिए गए थे].
A spoken dialogue
अमन: मीरा ने क्या पूछा? लीला: उसने पूछा कि हम खाना घर पर खाएँगे या बाहर।
aman: mīrā ne kyā pūchā? līlā: usne pūchā ki ham khānā ghar par khāẽge yā bāhar.
Aman: What did Meera ask? Leela: She asked whether we would eat at home or out. (informal)
This is an alternative question with two positive choices, घर पर and बाहर, rather than yes versus no. The shared predicate is omitted after the second alternative because it is recoverable.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English inversion
❌ उसने पूछा कि कहाँ है नया कार्यालय।
Incorrect as neutral embedded order — keep the subject before है.
✅ उसने पूछा कि नया कार्यालय कहाँ है।
usne pūchā ki nayā kāryālay kahā̃ hai.
He or she asked where the new office was.
2. Using question-marker क्या when “what” is intended
❌ उसने पूछा कि क्या तुमने खरीदा।
Incorrect for ‘what you bought’ — clause-initial क्या is read as a yes-or-no marker.
✅ उसने पूछा कि तुमने क्या खरीदा।
usne pūchā ki tumne kyā xarīdā.
He or she asked what you bought. (informal)
3. Marking the addressee with को in neutral Standard Hindi
❌ अध्यापक ने मुझे पूछा कि मैं देर से क्यों आया।
Nonstandard in the neutral frame — the person asked takes से.
✅ अध्यापक ने मुझसे पूछा कि मैं देर से क्यों आया।
adhyāpak ne mujhse pūchā ki maĩ der se kyoṃ āyā.
The teacher asked me why I had arrived late. (male speaker)
4. Keeping direct-question punctuation in a report
❌ रीना ने पूछा कि बस कब आएगी?
Incorrect punctuation when the whole sentence is a statement reporting Reena's question.
✅ रीना ने पूछा कि अगली बस कब आएगी।
rīnā ne pūchā ki aglī bas kab āegī.
Reena asked when the next bus would come.
Key Takeaways
- Reported wh-questions keep their interrogative word inside the कि clause.
- Reported yes-or-no questions use कि क्या or the explicit frame कि…या नहीं.
- The person asked normally takes से in neutral Standard Hindi.
- Indirect questions retain Hindi word order and normally end with ।, not ?.
- Pronouns, deixis, and TAM change only when the new reporting viewpoint requires it.
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- Whether clauses with कि नहींA2 — Form embedded yes-or-no alternatives with कि…या नहीं, and distinguish them from direct questions with क्या or colloquial कि नहीं.
- Reported statementsA2 — Turn direct Hindi statements into indirect reports with कि while adjusting speaker reference, deixis, punctuation, and time only when meaning requires it.
- Reported commands and requestsA2 — Report instructions and requests with a subjunctive कि clause or an oblique infinitive while keeping the addressee, politeness, negation, and desired outcome clear.
- Indirect questions and embedded word orderC1 — Embed wh- and yes-no questions under verbs such as पूछना, जानना, and पता होना while preserving Hindi clause structure and case marking.
- 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.
- Pronouns in reported speechC1 — Track speaker, addressee, third-person reference, deixis, reflexives, and honorific agreement when Hindi speech is reported.