Reported Questions With dacă

Reported Yes/No Questions

Level 3

In Romanian, dacă is the equivalent of 'if' or 'whether' when reporting a question that has a yes or no answer. It connects a main verb (like a întreba - to ask) to the question being reported.

How It Works

Use dacă for an indirect yes/no question: M-a întrebat dacă vin (He/she asked whether I was coming). Here dacă means 'if/whether', not a condition.

Reporting verbs: The construction follows expressions such as a întreba (ask), a nu ști (not know), and a se întreba (wonder).

Word order: Romanian does not apply an English question-to-statement inversion rule. Subjects can occur before or after the verb according to context: dacă el vine and dacă vine și el are both possible.

Tense: Choose the intended time relation, without mechanical backshift. M-a întrebat dacă am fost acolo and M-a întrebat dacă fusesem acolo are both grammatical; the pluperfect explicitly places the visit before a past reference point.

Other questions: Retain the question word for a content question: M-a întrebat unde locuiesc. Do not add dacă when you mean 'where'.

Examples (4)

  1. M-a întrebat dacă am terminat tema.

    He/she asked me if I finished the homework.

    Word by Word: Me-has asked if I-have finished theme-the.

    Here, 'dacă' introduces the reported version of the question 'Did you finish the homework?' using the compound perfect.

  2. Nu sunt sigur dacă vor ajunge la timp.

    I am not sure whether they will arrive on time.

    Word by Word: Not I-am sure if they-will arrive at time.

    After 'nu sunt sigur', 'dacă' functions as 'whether' to express uncertainty about a binary outcome.

  3. Mă întrebam dacă m-ați putea ajuta.

    I was wondering if you could help me.

    Word by Word: Myself I-was-wondering if me-you-could help.

    This uses the conditional mood ('ați putea') within the 'dacă' clause to make a polite request.

  4. Vreau să aflu dacă vine și el.

    I want to find out if he is coming too.

    Word by Word: I-want to find-out if comes also he.

    Notice the present tense 'vine' is used to report the current status of his coming.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'că' instead of 'dacă' for questions.

    M-a întrebat că vin la petrecere.
    M-a întrebat dacă vin la petrecere.

    'Că' is used for reporting statements (that), while 'dacă' must be used for reporting questions (if/whether).

How It Connects

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

Reported Questions With dacăLevel 3Reported Yes/No Questions

Learn This First

To report a yes/no question in Romanian, you need to understand how reported speech functions generally (using introductory verbs like 'a întreba') and how the particle 'dacă' (if/whether) acts as the bridge between the main clause and the embedded question.

Words in This Pattern

dacă