What is an indirect question?

Hola Marcos

The general explanation to recognise an indirect question is to find an embedded question in it. For example:

Juan quiere saber dónde vais a ir esta noche. 

Juan wants to know where you're going tonight.

embedded question "¿dónde vais ia ir esta noche? (Juan wants to know the answer to this question)

Dime cómo lo hago. 

Tell me how I [have to] do it.

embedded question ¿cómo lo hago? (I want the answer to this question)

Lisa me preguntó a qué hora era el concierto. 

Lisa asked me what time the concert was.

embedded question = ¿a qué hora era el concierto? (Lisa wants to know the answer to this question)

You'll find indirect questions using verbs like preguntar, decir, saber...

However, indirect questions are not limited to these verbs; you can also see indirect questions using for example me da igual, no importa, depende de, etc.. that often use the subjunctive and these are more difficult to recognise, especially because you can't extract the exact question from the sentence. In fact, it doesn't sound like anybody is expecting an answer to a question. For example:

No importa quién te lo haya dicho.  

It doesn't matter who may have told you. 

 (embedded question ¿quién te lo haya dicho..?????? )

Nuestra estancia en este hotel dependerá de cuánto cueste la habitación durante la temporada alta. 

Our stay in this hotel will depend on how much the price of the room is in high season.

(embedded question ¿cuánto cueste...??????)

Me da igual cuándo llegues. 

I don't care when you come back.

(embedded question ¿cuándo llegues..??????)

We need to make it the indicative to make sense ¿quién te lo ha dicho? ¿cuánto cuesta? ¿cuándo llegas? 

Indirect questions in Spanish are a bit tricky, but practice makes it all fall into place. 

This is very good content for an informative article. I'll note it down. : ))

Saludos 

Inma