Turkish grammar: Dolaylı sorular

What this grammar point covers

Indirect questions in Turkish are sentences where you report or ask about a question without quoting it directly. Instead of asking someone directly, you embed the question inside another sentence.

When to use it

Use indirect questions in Turkish when you want to report a question, express curiosity, or ask politely without using direct question forms. They are common in both spoken and written Turkish.

Key forms

• Question word + (subject) + verb + -ip/-ıp/-up/-üp or -diğini/-duğunu/-düğünü/-tuğunu/-tüğünü, etc.
• No question mark at the end.
• Examples: Ne söylediğini biliyorum. / Onun ne zaman geleceğini sordum.

Examples

Tips

• In indirect questions, do not use the question particle 'mi' or a question mark.
• Verb tense and person must match the embedded clause.
• Pay attention to vowel harmony with suffixes like '-diğini', '-duğunu', etc.