Indirect Questions: si and Interrogative Words
अप्रत्यक्ष प्रश्न: si और प्रश्नवाचक शब्द
Hindi embeds yes/no questions with कि...या नहीं ('that...or not') rather than a single dedicated word — मुझे नहीं पता कि वह आ रही है या नहीं ('I don't know whether she's coming') — a little more elaborate than French's single-word si. But question words embed directly in Hindi exactly as they do in French: कहाँ, कब, कैसे, क्यों, कौन never change shape between a direct question and an embedded one.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
si fills the gap when there's no question word — Hindi instead uses कि...या नहीं
Je me demande si elle vient. (I wonder whether she's coming — si for yes/no questions)
मुझे आश्चर्य है कि वह आ रही है या नहीं।
si works like a single dedicated word for embedding a yes/no question. Hindi doesn't have one single word doing this same job — instead it wraps the embedded statement in कि ('that') and tags या नहीं ('or not') at the end: कि वह आ रही है या नहीं, literally 'that she is coming or not'. Both languages agree on something else important, though: neither keeps the question-formation machinery of the direct question inside the embedded clause. French drops est-ce que/inversion, and Hindi likewise just states वह आ रही है in plain statement order, adding या नहीं rather than any question marker — so the core move (embed as a plain statement, mark the yes/no nature some other way) is one you already make in Hindi, just with a different marker than French's si.
Question words embed directly; qu'est-ce que becomes ce que — a French-only wrinkle Hindi doesn't have
Je ne sais pas où il habite. (I don't know where he lives) / Je me demande ce que tu penses. (I wonder what you think — from Qu'est-ce que tu penses ?)
मुझे नहीं पता वह कहाँ रहता है। / मुझे पता नहीं तुम क्या सोचते हो।
Question words like où, quand, comment, pourquoi, and qui embed directly into the indirect question with no change of form — matching Hindi's कहाँ, कब, कैसे, क्यों, कौन, which likewise stay exactly the same whether the question is direct (तुम क्या सोचते हो?) or embedded (मुझे पता नहीं तुम क्या सोचते हो). The one irregular pair to watch is a purely French wrinkle with no Hindi parallel at all: qu'est-ce que ('what', as an object) becomes ce que when embedded, and qu'est-ce qui ('what', as a subject) becomes ce qui, because French can't reuse its two-part qu'est-ce que/qui construction inside another clause. Hindi's क्या was always just one plain word to begin with, so there's no equivalent two-part form to collapse — on this point, Hindi's simplicity works in your favor rather than adding a French-style complication to keep track of.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- कि...या नहींki...yā nahīñ
- English
- whether
- Hindi
- मुझे आश्चर्य है कि...या नहींmujhe āścarya hai ki...yā nahīñ
- English
- I wonder whether...
- Hindi
- मुझे नहीं पता कि...या नहींmujhe nahīñ patā ki...yā nahīñ
- English
- I don't know whether...
- Hindi
- क्या (embedded, वस्तु)kyā (embedded, object)
- English
- what (embedded, object)
- Hindi
- क्या (embedded, कर्ता)kyā (embedded, subject)
- English
- what (embedded, subject)
- Hindi
- मुझे बताओ तुम कहाँ रहते हो।mujhe batāo tum kahāñ rahte ho
- English
- Tell me where you live.
- Hindi
- मुझे आश्चर्य है वह क्यों गया।mujhe āścarya hai vah kyoñ gayā
- English
- I wonder why he left.