A Question Inside a Statement

Level 5

Use fejn, meta, or another question expression for a detail; jekk can introduce whether-content.

How It Works

After a predicate of knowing or asking, a question word introduces the requested detail. Each verb agrees with its own subject. Maltese does not require English subject–auxiliary inversion. Negating knowledge does not itself negate the embedded event.

Naf fejn taħdem Nina. means ‘I know where Nina works’. Compare Ma nafux meta se tasal Rita., ‘We do not know when Rita will arrive’: only knowing is denied. In Staqsejt jekk Mark wasalx., ‘I asked whether Mark arrived’, the suffix marks interrogative content rather than negative arrival.

In this asking construction, jekk is optional. Other environments, including a whether-complement after dwar, require it. Nonverbal polar complements use an interrogative copular form such as hux. With ‘ever’, interrogative -x attaches to qatt, producing qattx. Explicit positive–negative alternatives can leave the affirmative verb unsuffixed; this exception does not remove interrogative marking from ordinary polar complements.

Examples (3)

  1. Naf fejn taħdem Nina.

    I know where Nina works.

    Fejn introduces the known location.

  2. Ma nafux meta se tasal Rita.

    We do not know when Rita will arrive.

    Negative knowledge contains affirmative future content.

  3. Staqsejt jekk Mark wasalx.

    I asked whether Mark arrived.

    Wasalx carries non-negative interrogative marking.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

A Question Inside a StatementLevel 5

Learn This First

Introduce question content inside knowing or asking, keeping outer and embedded polarity separate. Teach interrogative -x, host changes with ever, and environment-sensitive jekk as constructional distinctions rather than English inversion.

Words in This Pattern

fejnmeta