Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O assistente perguntou quem estava na linha.

O assistente perguntou quem estava na linha.

The assistant asked who was on the line.

Breakdown of O assistente perguntou quem estava na linha.

quem

who

estar

to be (temporary / location)

in / on / at

perguntar

to ask

Questions & Answers about O assistente perguntou quem estava na linha.

How does the reported speech work here with the word quem?

In indirect questions that use a question word like quem (who), onde (where), or como (how), you just use that word to connect the two parts of the sentence. You do not need to add que (that) or se (if) after the reporting verb perguntou.

Why do we use the imperfect tense estava instead of the simple past?

When reporting a question that was originally asked in the present tense ('Quem está na linha?'), the rule in reported speech is to shift the verb one step back in time. The present tense está becomes the imperfect tense estava.

Why is 'on the line' translated as na linha rather than using sobre?

The preposition sobre generally means physically 'on top of' a surface. For being connected on a phone call, Portuguese uses the preposition em (in/on/at), which combines with a to become na.

In English, we might say 'asked who it was'. Why is there no word for 'it' in the Portuguese sentence?

Portuguese drops pronouns when they aren't needed, and it doesn't use 'dummy' subjects like 'it' at all. The word quem directly acts as the subject for the verb estava, so translated literally it is simply 'who was'.