A whether clause presents two possibilities—yes and no—as the content of knowing, asking, checking, deciding, or uncertainty. The clearest neutral Hindi frame is कि P या नहीं: मुझे नहीं पता कि बैंक खुला है या नहीं “I don't know whether the bank is open.”
Here कि opens the embedded clause, while final या नहीं supplies the negative alternative “or not.” English whether packages both jobs into one word; Hindi normally marks the clause boundary and the alternative separately. The same structure inside acts of asking is developed under reported questions.
The core कि…या नहीं pattern
मुझे नहीं पता कि बैंक आज खुला है या नहीं।
mujhe nahīṃ patā ki baiṅk āj khulā hai yā nahīṃ.
I don't know whether the bank is open today.
The larger sentence is a statement of uncertainty. Inside it, बैंक आज खुला है is the positive possibility and या नहीं means “or it is not.” There is no English-style inversion: बैंक still comes before its predicate.
The same frame occurs after many predicates:
| Main expression | Typical purpose |
|---|---|
| पता होना / न होना | know / not know whether |
| पूछना | ask whether |
| देखना, जाँचना | see or check whether |
| तय करना | decide whether |
| संदेह होना | doubt whether |
ज़रा देखो कि मुख्य दरवाज़ा बंद है या नहीं।
zarā dekho ki mukhya darvāzā band hai yā nahīṃ.
Please check whether the main door is closed. (informal)
हमने पूछा कि शाम की बस समय पर आएगी या नहीं।
hamne pūchā ki śām kī bas samay par āegī yā nahīṃ.
We asked whether the evening bus would arrive on time.
Simple and expanded versions
A short whether clause may contain only one subject and predicate:
रिया जानना चाहती है कि मोहन आएगा या नहीं।
riyā jānnā cāhtī hai ki mohan āegā yā nahīṃ.
Riya wants to know whether Mohan will come.
An expanded clause keeps the same outer frame:
रिया जानना चाहती है कि मोहन अगले सोमवार की समीक्षा बैठक में पूरी रिपोर्ट लेकर आएगा या नहीं।
riyā jānnā cāhtī hai ki mohan agle somvār kī samīkṣā baiṭhak meṃ pūrī riporṭ lekar āegā yā nahīṃ.
Riya wants to know whether Mohan will bring the complete report to next Monday's review meeting.
The long material belongs inside the positive alternative; या नहीं closes the entire question. It does not normally sit directly after the first noun.
कि क्या is another embedded yes-or-no frame
Hindi also uses कि क्या P, especially in careful reporting and formal writing:
अधिकारी ने पूछा कि क्या सभी यात्रियों को सूचना मिल गई है।
adhikārī ne pūchā ki kyā sabhī yātriyoṃ ko sūcnā mil gaī hai.
The official asked whether all the passengers had received the information. (formal)
In this use, क्या marks the embedded proposition as a yes-or-no question. Compare:
- कि क्या सभी तैयार हैं — whether everyone is ready
- कि सभी तैयार हैं या नहीं — whether everyone is ready or not
The second explicitly names both alternatives and is often easier for learners to interpret. Using both is possible for emphatic clarity—कि क्या वे आएँगे या नहीं—but everyday sentences usually do not need double marking.
For a question word meaning “what,” क्या occupies an argument position: उसने पूछा कि तुमने क्या खरीदा “she asked what you bought.” That is a reported wh-question, not a whether clause.
Direct question versus embedded whether clause
A direct yes-or-no question addresses the listener:
क्या सीमा कल हमारे साथ चलेगी?
kyā sīmā kal hamāre sāth calegī?
Will Seema come with us tomorrow?
An embedded version reports that uncertainty:
अमन ने पूछा कि सीमा अगले दिन उनके साथ चलेगी या नहीं।
aman ne pūchā ki sīmā agle din unke sāth calegī yā nahīṃ.
Aman asked whether Seema would go with them the following day.
The indirect sentence ends as a statement, so it normally takes ।, not ?. Its question meaning lives inside the complement of पूछा.
Colloquial direct कि नहीं
In direct speech, कि नहीं? can mean “or not?” and often sounds insistent:
तुम आज फ़ॉर्म भरोगे कि नहीं?
tum āj form bharoge ki nahīṃ?
Are you going to fill in the form today or not? (informal, insistent)
This कि coordinates alternatives in a direct question; it is not simply the complementizer that follows पता है or पूछा. Do not copy its impatient tone into every neutral embedded question. Standard neutral reporting favors पूछा कि तुम फ़ॉर्म भरोगे या नहीं.
Non-finite and omitted-subject possibilities
The positive alternative can contain an infinitival predicate when the larger construction supplies the subject:
हमें तय करना है कि अभी निकलना है या नहीं।
hameṃ tay karnā hai ki abhī nikalnā hai yā nahīṃ.
We have to decide whether to leave now.
The understood leavers are हम from the main clause. Hindi does not need to repeat हमें inside the embedded alternative.
A finite embedded subject may also be omitted when context and agreement identify it:
कविता ने अभी तक नहीं बताया कि आएगी या नहीं।
kavitā ne abhī tak nahīṃ batāyā ki āegī yā nahīṃ.
Kavita still hasn't said whether she will come.
Feminine आएगी points to Kavita. If two women are salient, state the intended subject rather than making the listener guess.
Time and aspect remain inside the alternatives
The matrix verb does not mechanically control the embedded tense:
रवि ने पूछा कि दुकान अभी खुली है या नहीं।
ravi ne pūchā ki dukān abhī khulī hai yā nahīṃ.
Ravi asked whether the shop was open at that moment.
Present-state खुली है can preserve the question as Ravi framed it. If the narrator explicitly locates the state in a finished past period, खुली थी या नहीं is appropriate. Hindi chooses the embedded form according to the intended time relation, not simply because पूछा is past.
Punctuation and a formal boundary
No comma is required before कि in a short embedded question. With a long formal sentence, punctuation may help readability, but the conjunction—not the comma—creates the dependency.
समिति यह निर्धारित करेगी कि प्रस्तावित बदलाव मौजूदा नियमों के अनुरूप है या नहीं।
samiti yah nirdhārit karegī ki prastāvit badlāv maujūdā niyamoṃ ke anurūp hai yā nahīṃ.
The committee will determine whether the proposed change conforms to the existing rules. (formal)
Clause boundary: [समिति यह निर्धारित करेगी] [कि प्रस्तावित बदलाव मौजूदा नियमों के अनुरूप है या नहीं]. Formal निर्धारित करेगी selects the whole whether clause as its content.
A spoken dialogue
नील: पता है कि कैफ़े अभी खुला है या नहीं? सारा: नहीं, मैं फ़ोन करके पूछती हूँ।
nīl: patā hai ki kaife abhī khulā hai yā nahīṃ? sārā: nahīṃ, maĩ fon karke pūchtī hū̃.
Neel: Do you know whether the café is still open? Sara: No, I'll call and ask. (informal)
The whole first turn is a direct question पता है...?, while the clause after कि is an embedded whether question.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English inversion
❌ मुझे नहीं पता कि है दुकान खुली या नहीं।
Incorrect — embedded Hindi keeps the subject before its predicate.
✅ मुझे नहीं पता कि पास वाली दुकान खुली है या नहीं।
mujhe nahīṃ patā ki pās vālī dukān khulī hai yā nahīṃ.
I don't know whether the nearby shop is open.
2. Omitting या from the neutral alternative frame
❌ उसने पूछा कि ट्रेन आ गई है नहीं।
Incorrect — the neutral embedded alternative is या नहीं.
✅ उसने पूछा कि आख़िरी ट्रेन आ गई है या नहीं।
usne pūchā ki āxirī ṭren ā gaī hai yā nahīṃ.
He or she asked whether the last train had arrived.
3. Using insistent direct कि नहीं as every indirect pattern
❌ प्रबंधक ने पूछा कर्मचारी आएँगे कि नहीं।
Incorrect in careful neutral reporting — mark the clause boundary with कि and use या नहीं.
✅ प्रबंधक ने पूछा कि कर्मचारी आएँगे या नहीं।
prabandhak ne pūchā ki karmacārī āẽge yā nahīṃ.
The manager asked whether the employees would come.
4. Backshifting only because पूछा is past
❌ उसने पूछा कि तुम आज दफ़्तर में थे या नहीं।
Wrong if the question concerns whether you are at the office now — थे changes the time frame to past.
✅ उसने पूछा कि तुम आज दफ़्तर में हो या नहीं।
usne pūchā ki tum āj daftar meṃ ho yā nahīṃ.
He or she asked whether you are at the office today. (informal)
Key Takeaways
- Neutral कि P या नहीं means “whether P or not.”
- कि क्या P is another common embedded yes-or-no pattern, especially in careful reporting.
- Embedded questions keep ordinary Hindi order; they do not copy English inversion.
- Direct P कि नहीं? is informal and often insistent, so it is not the default indirect pattern.
- Subject reference and TAM are interpreted inside the embedded alternative, even when the subject is omitted.
Related Topics
- 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.
- Reported questionsA2 — Report Hindi wh- and yes-or-no questions with पूछना and कि while preserving embedded word order, clear participant reference, and meaningful tense choices.
- 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.
- Alternative questionsB1 — Ask someone to choose between explicit alternatives with या, distinguish choice questions from polar questions, and place interrogative phrases naturally.
- 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.
- Negative questions and expectationB2 — Use negative questions to check expectations, express surprise, or challenge an assumption while keeping scope and answers unambiguous.