A direct question can be awkward, you don’t want to come across as too personal or curious. You can get around the situation with an indirect question. But which techniques are there for formulating an indirect question and why a direct question is sometimes unavoidable is explained by Andreas Patrzek.

Two former colleagues of a large publishing company meet by chance before the start of a specialist lecture in the aisle from the coffee buffet. You’ll start talking right away.

Klaus: “Nice to meet you here, I wanted to ask you something anyway.”

Jan: “Okay, what?”

Klaus: “Do you know if Dr. Mühlhans from Sales is flying to the Media Messe in Brussels in three weeks?”

Jan: “No, but why don’t you ask him yourself?

Klaus: “That doesn’t really concern me and I find the question too direct?”

Jan: “OK, then just ask indirectly”

Klaus: “Sorry, are you kidding me?”

Jan: “No, seriously, technically ask him an indirect question. OK, pay attention .…”

At that moment, the lecture bell rings, the beginning of the lecture is near, and since the two former colleagues are sitting separately in the lecture room, the conversation breaks off here.

So let’s anticipate what Jan Klaus is likely to say about two months later in the next presentation and provide some background.

Andreas Patrzek, graduate psychologist and business economist, is one of the leading experts in the field of questioning techniques. He heads QUESTICON, an institute for interviewing and questioning techniques. He leads seminars, gives lectures and writes books. His favorite topic “Questions are not for cowards”.

In contrast to direct questions “Dr. Mühlhans, are you actually flying to the Media Messe in Brussels in three weeks?” the indirect questions do not address the facts directly. They mask the “actual” intention of the questioner, so to speak, and try to get the desired answer via detours.

What are possible causes or backgrounds for indirect questions:

What is the best way to formulate or construct indirect questions? There are many possibilities that differ both in the wording of the question and in the placement within a statement, the choice of words, voice leading, etc.

With regard to the basic formulation, the following techniques can be distinguished:

Here, too, there are a number of other procedures and techniques.

Nevertheless, the more sophisticated and tricky the procedure, the more embarrassing it is when

So: think carefully about whether and how you want to ask indirectly, or rather bite into the sweet and sour question apple and ask a clever “direct question”…