Indirect question
In contrast to the term direct question, an indirect question is a question that is expressed in a subordinate clause . An indirect question is therefore not formulated as an independent question sentence .
An example
In the sentence “Can you come to me tomorrow?”, The question is put forward directly in an independent main sentence (= direct question ). If you complete this sentence in the form: “I would like to ask you whether you can come to me tomorrow”, then the content of the question is shifted to the subordinate clause “whether you can come to me tomorrow” and is dependent on the main clause "I would like to ask you". Such sentence forms are meant by indirect question .
features
Indirect questions are thus syntactically dependent questions, that is, they are formulated in a subordinate clause in relation to a main clause. In German they are introduced by the subjunction whether or by question pronouns or question adverbs .
literature
- Hadumod Bußmann (Ed.) With the collaboration of Hartmut Lauffer: Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. 4th, revised and bibliographically supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-520-45204-7 , keyword “indirect questioning”.
- Duden. German universal dictionary. 6th, revised and expanded edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim / Leipzig / Vienna / Zurich 2007, ISBN 3-411-05506-5 .
- Helmut Glück (Ed.): Metzler Lexicon Language . 4th edition. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart and Weimar 2010, ISBN 3-476-02335-4 , keyword “indirect questioning”.
