‘Yes/no’ questions have a form of be (e.g. is, are) or an auxiliary verb (e.g. can, do, have) that goes before the subject:

We report these questions with ask if:

Or:

• She asked whether they were
• She asked whether John could

Note that in a reported question, we do not put be or an auxiliary verb before the subject.

Many questions begin with a question word (Who, What, Where, etc.):

We report these questions with ask:

We can also ask somebody something:

• The manager asked me if I could use Microsoft Office.
• They asked him where Sarah lived.

Note that when we report a question that somebody asked, we usually change the tense of the verb:

• ‘Can John swim?’
• She asked if John could

The most common tense changes are:

• Present → Past: am/is → was are → were is living → was living live → lived
• Present Perfect → Past Perfect: has gone → had gone
• Past Simple → Past Perfect: arrived → had arrived
• Modals: will → would can → could

We often change other words, for example:

We can use wanted to know and wondered instead of asked:

• She wanted to know if they were English. (OR She wanted to know whether they …)
• She wondered why Jane had gone.