--- title: "Indirect questions: Weet jij of...?" level: B1 chapter: "Word order" canonical: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/indirect-questions updated: 2026-10-09 author: Dutch Fluency license: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) --- # Indirect questions: Weet jij of...? An indirect question is a question tucked inside a bigger sentence, such as _Weet jij of de winkel open is?_ or _Ik weet niet waar hij woont._ Yes or no questions start with _of_ (whether, if), questions with a question word keep that word, and in both the verb moves to the end. You use this all day: to ask politely, to wonder aloud and to say what you do not know yet. ## The pattern > Start with _of_ for a yes or no question, or with the question word for any other question. Then use subordinate clause order (the order of a sentence part that cannot stand alone): the subject usually comes next and the verbs go to the end. - Yes or no: _Is de winkel open?_ becomes _Weet jij of de winkel open is?_ - Question word: _Waar woont Ahmed?_ becomes _Ik weet niet waar Ahmed woont._ Groups like _hoe laat_, _hoeveel_ and _welke bus_ stay together at the front. - If the question word is itself the subject, as _wie_ and _wat_ can be, the rest follows straight away: _Weet je wie er vanavond kookt?_ - Two verbs both go to the end, and a separable verb joins up again: _of ik kan komen_, _hoe laat de apotheek opengaat_ (more in Separable verbs in subordinate clauses). - The main sentence decides the punctuation: a question mark in _Weet jij of hij komt?_, a full stop in _Ik weet niet of hij komt._ ## Examples | Weet jij **of** de winkel op zondag open **is**? | Do you know if the shop is open on Sunday? | | Ik weet niet **waar** Ahmed **woont**. | I don't know where Ahmed lives. | | Sanne vraagt **of** je morgen op kantoor **bent**. | Sanne is asking whether you are at the office tomorrow. | | Kunt u me vertellen **hoe laat** de huisartsenpraktijk **opengaat**? | Can you tell me what time the GP practice opens? | | Ik vraag me af **waarom** de trein vertraging **heeft**. | I wonder why the train is delayed. | | Weet je **wie** er vanavond **kookt**? | Do you know who is cooking tonight? | | Mag ik vragen **hoeveel** een nieuw paspoort **kost**? | May I ask how much a new passport costs? | | Priya en Carlos weten nog niet **of** ze in mei op vakantie **kunnen gaan**. | Priya and Carlos don't know yet whether they can go on holiday in May. | ## Why it works this way Compare _Komt Daan morgen?_ with _Weet jij of Daan morgen komt?_ In the second sentence, the real question is _Weet jij_. The part about Daan is no longer a question of its own: it is information packed into the sentence, just like a clause after _dat_ in [Dat clauses](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/dat-clauses). So it gets the same shape: a linking word at the front, the verb at the back. _Of_ simply takes the place of _dat_ when the answer could be yes or no. _Ik weet dat Daan komt_ means you know he is coming; _Ik weet niet of Daan komt_ means you have no idea. English already does half the job: "Where does he live?" becomes "I don't know where he lives". The helper "does" disappears and the subject moves forward. Dutch takes one more step and sends the verb to the end. If you speak German, _of_ works like ob, with the same order. Spanish speakers often reach for _als_, because si covers both if and whether. _Of_ also means or, as in _koffie of thee_. In that meaning it links two main clauses and leaves the word order alone: _Ga je mee of blijf je thuis?_ (see En, maar, of, want, dus). A small bonus: because _jij_ now comes before the verb, the verb keeps its _-t_. _Werk jij morgen?_ turns into _Lotte vraagt of jij morgen werkt._ ([Werk jij?](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/jij-inversion) explains why the _-t_ disappears in direct questions.) Remember: the main sentence has already done the asking. Think of what follows as a box: _of_ or the question word is the lid on top, and the verb sits at the bottom. ## Watch out - Not: _Weet jij als de winkel open is?_ Say: _Weet jij of de winkel open is?_ (for whether, Dutch uses _of_, not _als_) - Not: _Ik weet niet waar woont hij._ Say: _Ik weet niet waar hij woont._ (subject first, verb last inside the sentence) - Not: _Mijn baas vraagt of werk jij morgen._ Say: _Mijn baas vraagt of jij morgen werkt._ (no question order after _of_, and the _-t_ comes back) - Not: _Weet jij hoe laat de apotheek gaat open?_ Say: _Weet jij hoe laat de apotheek opengaat?_ (a separable verb joins up again at the end) ## Quick check 1. Choose the right word: _Weet jij ... de bibliotheek vandaag open is?_ (_als_ or _of_) 2. Fix the word order: _Ik weet niet waar is het station._ 3. Turn this into an indirect question that starts with _Kunt u me vertellen_: _Hoe laat vertrekt de laatste trein?_ 4. Choose the right verb form: _Weet Lotte al of jij zaterdag ...?_ (_werk_ or _werkt_) ## Answers 1. _of_: it is a yes or no question inside the sentence. 2. _Ik weet niet waar het station is._ After _waar_, the verb goes to the end. 3. _Kunt u me vertellen hoe laat de laatste trein vertrekt?_ The question words stay at the front, the verb moves to the end. 4. _werkt_: _jij_ comes before the verb here, so the _-t_ stays. ## Use it today Next time you call the GP or visit _de gemeente_, ask one question indirectly, starting with _Weet u of_ or _Kunt u me vertellen_. Tonight, write three sentences about things you do not know yet, such as _Ik weet nog niet of ik zaterdag tijd heb._ ## Questions learners ask **How do you say "do you know if" in Dutch?** Use "Weet jij of" (or "Weet u of" in formal situations) and put the verb at the end: "Weet jij of de supermarkt vandaag open is?" Avoid "als" here, because it means if in conditions such as "als het regent", not whether. **Does the verb go to the end in Dutch indirect questions?** Yes. An indirect question is a subordinate clause, so after "of" or the question word the subject usually follows and the verbs go to the end: "Ik weet niet waar hij woont." **What is the difference between of and als in Dutch?** "Of" means whether ("Ik weet niet of hij komt") and also or ("koffie of thee"), while "als" means if in a condition ("Als het regent, blijf ik thuis"). Using "als" for whether is a common learner mistake and is not standard Dutch. From the Dutch Fluency Grammar: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.