Embedded Questions

Embedded questions are sentences that are basically halfway between being declarative statements and wh-questions. They don't usually end in question marks, but a question is implied. They're also not completely structured like normal declarative sentences. Here are some examples of embedded questions:

  • I don't know where the bathroom is.
  • I wonder what my present will be.
  • I can't remember when I started.
  • I have no idea who Earl is.

Embedded questions exist in Spanish, but notice how the structure is different:

  • No sé dónde está el baño.
  • Me pregunto qué será mi regalo.
  • No recuerdo cuándo empezó yo.
  • No tengo idea quién es Earl.

Looks like the pronoun and the verb like to stay together in Spanish, but word order is pretty liberal. You could also put the subject before the verb, but that usually sounds pretty English-y. Either way, ELLs tend to translate directly from Spanish, which results in sentences like these:

  • I don't know where is the bathroom.
  • I have no idea who is Earl.

Oops. That's not quite right. Don't worry, though: we'll help you straighten out those sentences.

You can think of embedded questions as an indirect way of asking a wh-question. Let's repeat the first three steps in making a wh-question, which was given in the last section:

Step 1: Think of the question you want to ask. In this case, think of the information that's missing. What's the wh-pronoun that represents that missing information? If you need to find out the location of something, then use where. If you need to find the reason for something, use why.

Step 2: Make that question into a declarative statement. Here are the examples above written as declarative statements:

  • The bathroom is where.
  • My present will be what.
  • I started when.
  • Earl is who.

To make it easier to conceptualize, here are those wh-pronouns replaced with what they could potentially stand for:

  • The bathroom is around the corner.
  • My present will be a pony.
  • I started at 9:00AM.
  • Earl is a complete stranger.

Now...stop. Don't move the highest verb, like how it says in Step 3 for creating wh-questions. Remember, you're not making a wh-question; you're making an embedded question.

Instead, skip Step 3 and move on to Step 4...which is now Step 3 for us.

Step 3 (or 4): Move the wh-pronoun to the front of the sentence.

  • Where the bathroom is.
  • What my present will be.
  • When I started.
  • Who Earl is.

Step 5: Add a question phrase. Okay, maybe we made up the phrase "question phrase." These are just the phrases that are going to make your weird incomplete sentences into embedded questions. In other words, these phrases show how clueless you are.

  • I don't know + where the bathroom is.
  • I wonder + what my present will be.
  • I can't remember + when I started.
  • I have no idea + who Earl is.

Boom. You're done. While you learn English, you'll probably unconsciously learn how to make embedded questions by listening and being corrected, so we wouldn't worry too much about it. Still, it doesn't hurt to start early.