Learn English – “How long have you been working?” vs. “How long you have been working?”

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I think "How long have you been working?" and "How long you have been working?" are both questions, so, could you tell me what is the difference between them?

Best Answer

How long have you been working?

*How long you have been working?

The former is grammatical; it's a direct or normal question.

The latter has not been formed properly. If you omit the question mark, you can form an indirect question in indirect (reported) speech as follows:

He asked me how long I had been working.

To be more polite and formal, you can also form an indirect question in the following way:

Could you tell me how long you have been working?