Pattern: report other people’s questions without quotes. This page focuses on reported speech questions and shows you how to change direct questions into natural reported questions in English. Yes/No questions → ask + if/whether + statement word order; Wh-questions → ask + wh-word + statement word order.
What changes in reported speech questions
- Word order: statement order (no inversion, no do/does/did).
- Punctuation: no question mark (use a full stop).
- Linkers: use if / whether for Yes/No; keep who/what/where/when/why/how for Wh-questions.
- Backshift: if the reporting verb is in the past (said/asked/told), tenses usually shift back.
“Do you like coffee?” → She asked if I liked coffee.
Direct → Reported
Yes/No questions → if / whether
“Can you help now?”
She asked if I could help then.
“Will he come tomorrow?”
They asked whether he would come the next day.
Wh-questions → wh-word + statement order
“Where were you yesterday?”
She asked where I had been the day before.
“When will the meeting start next week?”
He asked when the meeting would start the following week.
Backshift: quick table
| Direct speech | Reported speech |
| Present Simple | Past Simple |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect |
| Past Simple / Continuous | Past Perfect / Past Perfect Continuous |
| Will | Would |
| Can / May | Could / Might |
Time/place markers
| today → that day | now → then |
| yesterday → the day before | tomorrow → the next / following day |
| last week → the previous week | next week → the following week |
| here → there | this/these → that/those |
say / tell / ask — correct usage
- ask + object: She asked me where I lived.
- tell + object (statements/instructions): He told us that…
- say without an object or with to + object: He said (to me) that…
Common mistakes
| ❌ He said me that he was busy. | ✅ He told me (that) he was busy. / He said to me that… |
| ❌ She asked me do I like tea? | ✅ She asked me if I liked tea. |
| ❌ My wife asked me what was the time. | ✅ My wife asked me what the time was. |
| ❌ Using a question mark: … if I liked tea? | ✅ Use a full stop: … if I liked tea. |
More examples
“What are you doing now?”
He asked what I was doing then.
“How long have you worked here?”
The interviewer asked how long I had worked there.
“Why did you call yesterday?”
She asked why I had called the day before.
“Who is responsible for the task?”
The director asked who was responsible for the task.
How to practise reported speech questions
- Write a list of direct questions and convert them into reported speech questions.
- Swap direct questions in pairs and ask students to report what their partner asked.
- Use the grammar trainer to generate mixed exercises with different reported speech questions for daily practice.
Yes/No → if / whether
Wh → wh-word + statement order
No do/does/did and no “?”
Watch backshift and time markers