The indirect speech of "Do they live here?" is "I asked if they lived there."
Here's a breakdown of the change:
- Direct Speech: The original statement or question as spoken.
- Indirect Speech: Reporting what was said or asked, usually with a reporting verb like "said," "asked," or "told."
To change a question into indirect speech, you typically need to:
- Change the tense: The tense of the verb in the question usually changes to reflect the past tense.
- Change the pronouns: If necessary, change pronouns to reflect the perspective of the speaker.
- Add a conjunction: Use a conjunction like "if" or "whether" to introduce the question.
In this case, the original question is in the present tense ("Do they live here?"). In indirect speech, it becomes past tense ("lived"). The pronoun "they" remains the same, but the location "here" changes to "there" to reflect the perspective of the speaker.
Therefore, the indirect speech of "Do they live here?" is "I asked if they lived there."
