Reported speech · CEFR B2 · Confident
Reported questions — English reported speech
A reported question stops being a question: the word order goes back to normal, the question mark goes, and yes/no questions take "if".
The shape
asked + (if / question word) + subject + verb
Report a question without leaving it looking like one.
In Hindi
बताया गया सवाल अब सवाल नहीं रहता — क्रम सामान्य हो जाता है और प्रश्नचिह्न हट जाता है।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
He asked me where do I live. | He asked me where I lived. A reported question has no "do" and no swap. |
Learn these first
These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
- I asked if / whether…B1Report a yes/no question
- I don't know where he livesB1Report a question inside a statement
Questions people ask
- What is the reported questions used for?
- A reported question stops being a question: the word order goes back to normal, the question mark goes, and yes/no questions take "if". In practice: report a question without leaving it looking like one.
- How do you form the reported questions?
- asked + (if / question word) + subject + verb.
- What is the most common mistake with the reported questions?
- Saying “He asked me where do I live.” instead of “He asked me where I lived.”. A reported question has no "do" and no swap.
Where reported questions fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Reported questions is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to reported speech. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
Practise the reported questions →