Direct question: Where is the bank?Indirect question: Could you tell me where the bank is?
Notice that in the indirect question I put the verb ('is') after the subject ('the bank'), in the same way as I do with a normal positive sentence ('the bank is over there'), but in the direct question I put the verb 'is' before the subject 'the bank'.
This is called inversion, and it is used to make direct questions in many verb tenses in English, but we don't use inversion in indirect questions. This is very similar to the grammar of reported questions.
However, we use indirect questions in a different way from reported questions. Indirect questions are a way of being polite. They are very, very common in English, especially when you're talking to someone you don't know.
Wh' Questions
In the same way as with reported 'wh' questions, we use the question word and the word order of a normal positive sentence to make indirect 'wh' questions. We don't need to use inversion. Again, we also don't usually need to 'backshift' (change the tense of the verb) as we do with reported questions.To change a direct question to an indirect question for tenses that make questions using inversion, you just add 'if' and change the word order back to a normal positive sentence.
Wh' questions for tenses with 'do / does / did':
Sometimes you want to make an indirect 'wh' question using the present simple of any verb except 'be' or the past simple of any verb except 'be'. Usually these tenses make questions by using 'do / does / did'. However, when we want to make indirect 'wh' questions using these tenses, we don't need 'do / does / did'. Instead, we use a question word and then normal positive sentence word order.
| Verb Tense | Direct Question | Indirect Question |
| Present simple with any verb except 'be' | Where does David live? | Can you tell me where David lives? |
| Past simple with any verb except 'be' | Why did Amanda call John yesterday? | Can you tell me why Amanda called John yesterday? |
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