Study materials
The same question in two registers. The second is noticeably softer.
Where is the station?
Could you tell me where the station is?
Notice what happened inside. Is moved behind the subject, and the embedded part became an ordinary statement. Politeness costs exactly that one move.
The inversion happens once
Question word order has already been used in the opening: Could you, Do you know. So the embedded part does not repeat it.
Do you know what time it starts?
Could you tell me where she works?
The helpers do, does and did belong to the direct question. In an indirect one they disappear, and their ending returns to the verb.
What time does it start? → Do you know what time it starts?
If there is no question word
Yes-no questions need a link word. The same if and whether work here as in reported questions.
Do you know if the shop is open?
I wonder whether they got my message.
Openings and the mark at the end
There are many openings, and they set the level of politeness. The mark at the end, though, depends not on them but on whether the opening is itself a question.
| Opening | Mark at the end |
|---|---|
| Could you tell me ... | question mark |
| Do you know ... | question mark |
| Would you mind telling me ... | question mark |
| I wonder ... | full stop |
| I'd like to know ... | full stop |
The logic is simple: I wonder is a statement about you, not a question to the other person. Formally you are not asking anything, hence the full stop.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is inverting twice.
Could you tell me where is the station? → Could you tell me where the station is?
The second is leaving the helper inside.
Do you know what time does it start? → Do you know what time it starts?
The third is losing the link word in a question with no question word.
Do you know the shop is open? → Do you know if the shop is open?
All three are caught by one test. Read the embedded part on its own. If it sounds like a calm statement, everything is right.
Try it right now
Imagine you are in an unfamiliar city. Ask three polite questions in English: about the time, about the way, and about whether something is open.
Then read each embedded part on its own, without the opening. All three should sound like statements.