Indirect questions in German

What is an indirect question?

Indirect questions are embedded within the structure of another sentence. They are often placed right after a introduction part. We usually use a full stop at the end of the indirect question, except if the indirect question is a real question. 

• Kannst du mir sagen, wie die Aufgabe zu lösen ist? (real question) - Can you tell me, how to solve this task?
• Sie fragt, ob alle morgen Zeit haben. (not a real question) - Sie askes, if everybody has time tomorrow

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Structure of indirect questions in German

The sentence structure is as followed: After the introductory phrase,  question-word + subject + object + verb. Compared to normal questions, the verb is at the end of the sentence. If we don't use a question word, we use "ob" to introduce the indirect question.

• Wir möchten wissen, ob der Termin morgen steht. (ob) - We want to know, if the date tomorrow is set
• Er fragt, wann wir uns morgen treffen. (question word) - He askes, when we will meet tomorrow
• Ich sage dir später, was der Lehrer uns heute gesagt hat. (question word) - I will tell you later, what the teacher told us today

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