Ask politely with indirect questionsاسأل بلباقة بصيغة غير مباشرة

The idea, simply

An indirect question is more polite and starts with a phrase such as Could you tell me or Do you know. After it, use normal sentence order: subject then verb, with no do, does, or did: Could you tell me where the station is? not where is the station. If there is no question word, use if: Do you know if the bank is open?

Examples

• Could you tell me where the station is?

• Do you know what time the shop opens?

• Do you know if the bank is open today?

Lesson words

• stationمحطة
  The station is five minutes away.
• openمفتوح، يفتح
  Is the pharmacy open now?
• costيكلّف
  How much does the ticket cost?
• strangerشخص غريب
  She asked a stranger for help.
• wonderيتساءل
  I wonder if he is coming.

Lesson exercises

1. Put the words in the correct order.

   Words: Could / is? / me / station / tell / the / where / you

   Answer

   Could you tell me where the station is?

2. Complete the gap: Do you know ___ the meeting has started?

   Answer

   if

3. Choose the correct English sentence.

   • Can you tell me how much this costs?
   • Can you tell me how much does this cost?
   • Can you tell me how much costs this?
   Answer

   Can you tell me how much this costs?

4. Which question is correct and polite?

   • Do you know where Ahmed lives?
   • Do you know where does Ahmed live?
   • Do you know where lives Ahmed?
   Answer

   Do you know where Ahmed lives?

   After Do you know, the subject comes before the verb with no does: where Ahmed lives.

5. Ask a stranger for information politely.

   Model answer

   Could you tell me where the station is?

   Compare your answer with the model and check word order, capitals, and punctuation.