Embedded Questions: -(으)ㄴ지 / -는지 아세요? | Korean Grammar

"Do you know where he lives?" contains a hidden question — where does he live? — packed inside a bigger sentence. English does something drastic to embed it: it fronts the wh-word (where), then flips the inner clause back to statement order (where he lives, not where does he live). Korean's strategy is completely different and, once you see it, far more mechanical. It leaves the inner question exactly where it is, keeps its word order untouched, and simply tags the verb with -(으)ㄴ지 / -는지 to turn the whole thing into a noun clause. This page teaches that tag and the verbs it lives under.

The frame: a question under a verb of knowing

Embedded questions sit under a small set of "cognition" verbs — 알다 (know), 모르다 (not know), 궁금하다 (be curious), 물어보다 (ask). You nominalize the question with -(으)ㄴ지/-는지, then hang it off one of these.

그 사람이 오는지 아세요?

geu sarami oneunji aseyo

Do you know whether he's coming?

이게 맞는지 궁금해요.

ige manneunji gunggeumhaeyo

I'm curious whether this is right.

언제 시작하는지 알아요?

eonje sijakaneunji arayo

Do you know when it starts?

Look at what did not happen. In 언제 시작하는지, the wh-word 언제 ("when") stays right where it would sit in a plain question — it is not fronted. The clause 그 사람이 오는지 keeps its subject-then-verb order. Korean just wraps -는지 around the verb and slots the result in front of 알아요. That's the entire operation.

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English embeds by moving the wh-word to the front and reordering the clause. Korean embeds by tagging the verb with -(으)ㄴ지/-는지 and changing nothing else — the wh-word stays in situ, the clause stays SOV. Stop translating the English word order; just nominalize the verb.

Choosing -(으)ㄴ지 vs -는지: the same old split

The allomorph you pick follows the verb-vs-adjective divide, keyed to tense:

Predicate	Ending	Example
Present verb, 있다/없다	-는지	가는지 · 먹는지 · 있는지
Present adjective (batchim)	-은지	좋은지 · 많은지
Present adjective (vowel)	-ㄴ지	예쁜지 · 비싼지
Copula 이다	-ㄴ지 (인지)	학생인지 · 누구인지
Past (all classes)	-았/었는지	갔는지 · 좋았는지
Future / conjecture	-(으)ㄹ지	갈지 · 먹을지

가격이 얼마나 비싼지 물어봤어요.

gagyeogi eolmana bissanji mureobwasseoyo

I asked how expensive it is.

아이가 밥을 잘 먹는지 걱정이에요.

aiga babeul jal meongneunji geokjeong-ieyo

I'm worried about whether the kid is eating well.

이 식당이 문을 열었는지 모르겠어요.

i sikdang-i muneul yeoreonneunji moreugesseoyo

I don't know whether this restaurant has opened.

Two things pay attention to here. First, 있다/없다 side with the verbs (있는지, 없는지), as they do everywhere. Second, the past tense levels the split just as it did with -나요?/-(으)ㄴ가요?: once the stem ends in 았/었, every predicate takes -는지, so a past adjective is 좋았는지, never ×좋았은지.

The prospective -(으)ㄹ지: unknown or undecided

When the embedded question is about something not yet settled — what you'll do, whether something will happen — use -(으)ㄹ지, usually paired with 모르다.

뭐 먹을지 아직 못 정했어요.

mwo meogeulji ajik mot jeonghaesseoyo

I haven't decided what to eat yet.

내일 비가 올지 안 올지 모르겠어요.

naeil biga olji an olji moreugesseoyo

I don't know whether it'll rain tomorrow or not.

Yes/no embeddings: -는지 and the "whether or not" frame

A yes/no question (not a wh-question) embeds the same way — the -는지/-(으)ㄴ지 clause carries the "whether" meaning by itself. To make the yes/no-ness explicit, Korean often doubles it into a -(으)ㄴ지 A 안 -(으)ㄴ지 ("whether A or not A") frame.

저분이 누구인지 아세요?

jeobuni nuguinji aseyo

Do you know who that person is?

그 소문이 사실인지 아닌지 모르겠어요.

geu somuni sasirinji aninji moreugesseoyo

I don't know whether the rumor is true or not.

The 사실인지 아닌지 pattern is the crisp Korean equivalent of English "…whether or not," laying out both poles explicitly. It's especially common in careful or slightly formal speech. In formal writing this same "whether-or-not" idea is often nominalized outright with the noun 여부 (참석 여부 "whether or not one attends," 사실 여부 "whether or not it's true"), but in everyday conversation the -(으)ㄴ지 안 -(으)ㄴ지 frame is what you'll actually hear.

The matrix verb, and deliberating with -(으)ㄹ지

The embedded clause plugs into whatever cognition verb fits your meaning: 알다/모르다 for knowing, 궁금하다 for curiosity, 물어보다 for asking, and others like 기억하다 (remember), 확인하다 (check), 이해하다 (understand). The -(으)ㄴ지/-는지 clause behaves like an ordinary noun phrase — it can be the object of these verbs, or even the subject of a sentence.

그 사람 이름이 뭔지 기억이 안 나요.

geu saram ireumi mwonji gieogi an nayo

I can't remember what that person's name is.

A particularly useful pattern is -(으)ㄹ지 + 고민하다/생각하다 for deliberating over a choice — "wondering whether to…", "trying to decide whether to…". This projects the embedded question into an undecided future.

회사를 그만둘지 계속 다닐지 고민하고 있어요.

hoesareul geumandulji gyesok danilji gominhago isseoyo

I'm agonizing over whether to quit the company or keep working there.

Because 고민하다 ("mull over") already implies weighing options, it pairs naturally with the both-poles -(으)ㄹ지 … -(으)ㄹ지 frame, laying the two courses of action side by side.

A note on the "do you know…?" verb

The polite way to ask "do you know…?" is 아세요? — the honorific of 알다 — not 알아요?, whenever you're addressing someone you'd normally speak politely to. And 궁금하다 ("be curious") takes the embedded clause directly, with no separate "know/ask" verb: 언제 오는지 궁금해요 frames your curiosity as being about the embedded question itself.

이 단어가 무슨 뜻인지 아세요?

i daneoga museun tteusinji aseyo

Do you know what this word means?

그 영화가 재미있는지 궁금했어요.

geu yeonghwaga jaemiinneunji gunggeumhaesseoyo

I was curious whether that movie was any good.

Embedded questions vs. the general noun clause

-(으)ㄴ지/-는지 is one member of a larger family of clause-nominalizers. Where -는 것, -기, and -음 turn a statement into a noun ("the fact that he came," "coming"), -(으)ㄴ지/-는지 specifically nominalizes a question — it carries an interrogative, "whether/what/when…" meaning that the others don't. That's why it pairs with know/wonder/ask verbs rather than with like/want. The broader machinery of noun clauses is covered under -는 것 nominalization and the embedded-question syntax page; this page is the interrogative slice of it.

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Rule of thumb: if the inner clause answers a question word or a yes/no, use -(으)ㄴ지/-는지 (오는지, 뭐 하는지, 맞는지). If it just states a fact you're reporting or acting on ("I know THAT he came"), you're in -는 것 territory instead. The interrogative meaning is what selects -는지.

Common Mistakes

1. Shoving a finished question ending inside the clause. You must nominalize with -는지 — you can't embed a live sentence-final question form like -나요? or -아요?.

❌ 그 사람이 오나요 아세요?

Wrong — you can't stuff a finished question (오나요) under 아세요; nominalize it as 오는지.

✅ 그 사람이 오는지 아세요?

geu sarami oneunji aseyo

Do you know whether he's coming?

2. Fronting the wh-word, English-style. The wh-word stays in situ; don't move it to the front of the sentence.

❌ 언제 그 영화가 시작하는지 저는 언제 몰라요.

Wrong — no double 언제 and no fronting; the wh-word sits once, in place.

✅ 그 영화가 언제 시작하는지 몰라요.

geu yeonghwaga eonje sijakaneunji mollayo

I don't know when the movie starts.

3. Picking the wrong allomorph. Verbs and 있다/없다 take -는지; adjectives take -(으)ㄴ지.

❌ 그 옷이 예쁘는지 모르겠어요.

Wrong — 예쁘다 is an adjective, so it takes -ㄴ지 (예쁜지), not -는지.

✅ 그 옷이 예쁜지 모르겠어요.

geu osi yeppeunji moreugesseoyo

I don't know whether that outfit is pretty.

4. Keeping the present allomorph in the past. Past levels everything to -았/었는지.

❌ 어제 날씨가 좋았은지 몰라요.

Wrong — past adjectives take -았/었는지 (좋았는지), never -았은지.

✅ 어제 날씨가 좋았는지 몰라요.

eoje nalssiga joanneunji mollayo

I don't know whether the weather was nice yesterday.

Key Takeaways

Embed a question by tagging its verb with -(으)ㄴ지/-는지 and slotting it under 알다 / 모르다 / 궁금하다 / 물어보다.
The wh-word stays in situ and the clause stays SOV — no fronting, no reordering, unlike English.
Allomorphs follow the usual split: present verb/있다/없다 → -는지, adjective → -(으)ㄴ지, copula → -인지, past → -았/었는지, future/undecided → -(으)ㄹ지.
Yes/no embeddings can spell out both poles with -(으)ㄴ지 안 -(으)ㄴ지 ("whether or not").
-(으)ㄴ지/-는지 nominalizes a question; -는 것/-기/-음 nominalize a statement.

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