Breakdown of L'agent demande à l'opérateur quand le client a appelé.
avoir
to have
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
quand
when
le client
the client / the customer
appeler
to call (general)
demander
to ask (for) / to require / demand
l'opérateur
the operator (m)
l'agent
the agent (m)
Questions & Answers about L'agent demande à l'opérateur quand le client a appelé.
Why is the word order quand le client a appelé and not quand a appelé le client or quand est-ce que le client a appelé?
In French indirect questions (when you report what someone is asking), you do not use question word order. You drop est-ce que and you never invert the subject and verb. You just use the normal statement word order: question word (quand) + subject (le client) + verb (a appelé).
Why is there an à in demande à l'opérateur? In English we just say "asks the operator".
The first verb is in the present tense (demande) and the second is in the past (a appelé). Is this normal for reported speech?
Yes! When the introductory verb (demande) is in the present tense, the tense of the original question does not shift. The agent is asking about an event that already happened ("When did the customer call?"), so the reported part correctly stays in the past tense (a appelé).
Since this sentence is asking about when the customer called, why is there no question mark at the end?
Even though it contains the question word quand, the overall sentence is a statement about a question being asked, not a direct question itself. Indirect questions always end with a period.
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