Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

In this lesson, we will learn how to report yes/no questions indirectly, such as asking "whether" or "if" a condition is true. We will practice these structures using the vocabulary of public opinion polls and market research.

### Using "Whether" (ما إذا)

To express "whether" in an indirect question, you can use the phrase ما إذا. It is frequently followed by the verb كان to introduce the reported condition or state.

When conducting an opinion poll, you will often use a questionnaire (استبيان). Here is how you report a question about it:

{{item:1142912}}

You can use this structure after verbs of asking, knowing, or understanding. For example, to report uncertainty about a behavior (سلوك):

{{item:1142928}}

### Using "If" (إن كان)

Another common way to express "if" or "whether" is the phrase إن كان (literally "if it was"). This functions very similarly to ما إذا and is used to set up the indirect question.

If you are researching a consumer (مستهلك) or analyzing a purchase (شراء), you might use إن كان to report what you want to find out:

{{item:1142915}}

{{item:1142920}}

### Targeting Preferences and Categories

Market research often involves analyzing demographic groups and their choices. Key terms include the verb to target (استهدف), the noun for category (فئة), and the noun for preference (تفضيل).

Let's see how these words combine seamlessly with our new indirect question structures to describe the goals of a market analysis:

{{item:1142926}}

{{item:1142918}}

Indirect yes/no questions (ما إذا / إن كان)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
whether	ما إذاmâ idhâ
questionnaire	استبيانistibyân
The researcher asked whether the questionnaire was clear.	سأل الباحث ما إذا كان الاستبيان واضحا.sa'ala al-bâhithu mâ idhâ kâna al-istibyânu wâdihan
whether / if (lit. if it was)	إن كانin kâna
consumer	مستهلكmustahlik
We want to know if the consumer will buy the product again.	نريد أن نعرف إن كان المستهلك سيشتري المنتج مرة أخرى.nurîdu an na'rifa in kâna al-mustahliku sayashtarî al-muntaja marratan ukhrâ
preference	تفضيلtafdîl
category	فئةfi'ah
The supervisor asked whether this was the first preference for this category.	سألت المشرفة ما إذا كان هذا التفضيل الأول لهذه الفئة.sa'alati l-mushrifatu mâ idhâ kâna hâdhâ t-tafdîlu l-awwala li-hâdhihi l-fi'ati.
purchase	شراءshirâ'un
The manager clarified whether the purchase was fast or slow.	أوضح المدير إن كان الشراء سريعا أو بطيئا.awdaha al-mudîru in kâna ash-shirâ'u sarî'an aw batî'an
to target	استهدفistahdafa
behavior	سلوكsulûk
The marketing team targets the consumers' preferences and purchase behavior.	يستهدف فريق التسويق تفضيلات المستهلكين وسلوك الشراء.yastahdifu fariiqu at-taswiiqi tafdiilaati al-mustahlikiina wa suluuka ash-shiraa'i
analysis	تحليلtahlîl
The designer asked whether the data analysis was ready.	سألت المصممة ما إذا كان تحليل البيانات جاهزا.sa'alati al-musammimatu mâ idhâ kâna tahlîlu al-bayânâti jâhizan
We will test if the new product targets the appropriate category.	سنجرب إن كان المنتج الجديد يستهدف الفئة المناسبة.sanujarribu in kâna al-muntaju al-jadîdu yastahdifu al-fi'ata al-munâsibata
The questionnaire studies the purchase percentage, in addition to consumer preferences.	يدرس الاستبيان نسبة الشراء بالإضافة إلى تفضيلات المستهلك.yadrusu al-istibyânu nisbata ash-shirâ'i bil-idâfati ilâ tafdîlâti al-mustahlik.
We did not understand whether this behavior was normal.	لم نفهم ما إذا كان هذا السلوك طبيعيا.lam nafham mâ idhâ kâna hâdhâ s-sulûku tabî'iyyan
The researcher asked whether the analysis targets the youth category.	سألت الباحثة إن كان التحليل يستهدف فئة الشباب.sa'alati l-bâhithatu in kâna t-tahlîlu yastahdifu fi'ata sh-shabâb.