Learn English – “Can you tell me where is the bank?” or “where the bank is.”

grammarsubject-verb-inversion

Can you tell me which of the following sentences is grammatical?

"Could you tell me where the bank is, please?"
"Could you tell me where is the bank, please?"

And please, explain why. Thank you in advance.

Best Answer

The second one is not strictly grammatical, for the reason that it repeats the interrogation of the sentence.

I can say Where is the bank? or Could you tell me where the bank is, please?.

Both of those are questions. But if I say Could you tell me where is the bank, I am placing a double interrogation, in the forms of Could you and where is. So it tends to sound awkward in English.

Having said that, it is a mistake that non-native speakers frequently make. I have particularly noticed it in the speech of other Europeans. Because it is a small error, and everyone understands you, people will not normally correct you. That may be one reason why the mistake persists.

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