Dialogue
French indirect yes/no questions: ask whether with si
Use si for indirect yes/no questions in a ten-line dialogue. Practise statement word order and see why si elle viendra is correct.
- B1
- 10 lines
- Practice mode
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
An indirect yes/no question uses si, meaning “whether”: Je me demande si Léa viendra. Keep subject–verb order inside that clause. A future after this si is correct because it reports a question.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Léa may join a meeting tomorrow. You and Marc are checking who has replied. In practice mode, your lines disappear: use the English cue to rebuild the whole question. The uncertain information stays inside the si clause.
- Marc
Léa a répondu à ton message ?
English
Has Léa replied to your message?
- Vous
Pas encore. Je me demande si elle viendra demain.
Say “not yet”, then wonder whether she will come tomorrow.
English
Not yet. I wonder whether she will come tomorrow.
- Marc
Elle travaille peut-être demain matin.
English
Perhaps she’s working tomorrow morning.
- Vous
Sais-tu si elle est libre l’après-midi ?
Ask Marc, using tu and inversion, whether she is free in the afternoon.
English
Do you know whether she is free in the afternoon?
- Marc
Oui, elle termine à midi.
English
Yes, she finishes at noon.
- Vous
Peux-tu lui demander si elle veut participer ?
Ask Marc to ask her whether she wants to take part.
English
Can you ask her whether she wants to take part?
- Marc
Bien sûr. Tu as déjà choisi l’heure ?
English
Of course. Have you chosen the time yet?
- Vous
Oui, mais je ne sais pas si elle a lu mon dernier message.
Say yes, but that you don’t know whether she has read your latest message.
English
Yes, but I don’t know whether she has read my latest message.
- Marc
Je lui téléphone maintenant.
English
I’ll phone her now.
- Vous
Merci ! Si elle vient, nous commencerons à quatorze heures.
Thank him. Say that if she comes, you will start at two.
English
Thanks! If she comes, we’ll start at two.
How do you ask an indirect yes/no question in French?
| Sentence | What si introduces |
|---|---|
| Je me demande si elle viendra. | The question: will she come? |
| Si elle vient, nous commencerons. | The condition for starting. |
The dialogue’s final line gives a condition: si elle vient + future result. Earlier, si elle viendra asks about the future itself. For a question viewed from a past moment, use Je me demandais si elle viendrait (“I wondered whether she would come”).
Savez-vous si la réunion est confirmée ?
Do you know whether the meeting is confirmed?
Main-clause savez-vous has inversion; the inner clause keeps la réunion est.