Indirect Questions: ob and W-words
अप्रत्यक्ष प्रश्न: ob और W-शब्द
Embedding a question inside another sentence ("I don't know whether he's coming") pushes the German question word into a subordinate clause, sending the verb to the end — a shift that never happens in direct questions.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
ob for embedded yes/no questions, verb-final
Kommt er? → Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt. (Is he coming? → I don't know whether he's coming.)
क्या वह आ रहा है? → मुझे नहीं पता कि क्या वह आ रहा है।
A direct German yes/no question starts with the verb (Kommt er?). The moment you embed this question inside another sentence, that verb-first order disappears completely: ob opens the clause and the verb (kommt) moves all the way to the end. Hindi's "कि क्या वह आ रहा है" leaves the verb in its normal position, with no major word-order shift — so this genuine German word-order change needs active learning.
W-words stay put, but the clause still becomes verb-final
Wann kommt er? → Ich weiß nicht, wann er kommt. (When is he coming? → I don't know when he's coming.)
वह कब आ रहा है? → मुझे नहीं पता कि वह कब आ रहा है।
Indirect W-questions keep the original question word (wer, was, wann, wo, warum, wie, welche...) right where it was, but everything after it now follows subordinate-clause order, verb at the end. Hindi's "कि वह कब आ रहा है" also leaves the verb in its usual spot, so German's verb-final rule here calls for a fresh, active habit — after the W-word, always check that the verb has moved to the very end.
sich fragen ('to wonder') is reflexive in German
Ich frage mich, ob das stimmt. (I wonder whether that's true.)
मुझे सोचना पड़ता है कि क्या यह सही है।
Hindi's "सोचना"/"जानना चाहना" isn't reflexive, but its natural German equivalent, sich fragen (literally 'to ask oneself'), is — you must include the reflexive pronoun mich/dich/sich, even though the Hindi sentence has no separate 'oneself' word. Dropping the reflexive pronoun here is a common gap that doesn't sound like an obvious mistake to a Hindi/English ear, so it needs deliberate practice.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ob | op | क्या (अनिश्चितता में)kyā | whether/if |
| wissen | VIS-en | जाननाjānnā | to know |
| sich fragen | zikh FRAH-gen | सोचना (जानना चाहना)socnā | to wonder |
| ich frage mich, ob... | ikh FRAH-geh mikh, op | मैं सोचता हूँ कि क्या...maiñ soctā hūñ ki kyā... | I wonder whether... |
| ich weiß nicht, ob... | ikh vys nikht, op | मुझे नहीं पता कि क्या...mujhe nahīñ patā ki kyā... | I don't know whether... |
| warum | vah-ROOM | क्योंkyoñ | why |
| wie | vee | कैसेkaise | how |
| welche | VEL-kheh | कौन-साkaun-sā | which |
| keine Ahnung, ob... | KY-neh AH-noong, op | कोई अंदाज़ा नहीं कि क्या...koī andāzā nahīñ ki kyā... | no idea whether... |