My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! Indirect questions for polite requests at the baggage desk

Q: What are indirect questions?

Indirect questions put a question inside a polite opening , such as Could you tell me…? , Do you know…? or I'd like to know… , and they use statement order after it: Could you tell me where my suitcase is? They sound softer than Where's my suitcase? , so travelers use them with agents, clerks and other strangers. The B1 lesson My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! on edio.ai teaches them at a baggage desk.

Q: How do you form indirect questions?

Follow one order: opening + question word + subject + verb . When will it come? becomes Can you tell me when it will come? For a yes/no question, add if or whether : Do you know if it has arrived? Drop do , does and did and put the tense in the verb: Do you know when the plane landed? The scheme in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! shows this for every person.

Q: What are some examples of indirect questions?

These come from Darius's visit to the baggage desk in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! , a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Could you tell me where my suitcase is? Do you know how it got there? Can you tell me when it will come back? Do you know if I have to come back to claim it? One of them ends with a period : I'd like to know where I can buy a toothbrush.

Q: What's the difference between direct and indirect questions?

A direct question uses question order and often do , does or did : What time does the desk open? An indirect question adds an opening and switches to statement order: Do you know what time the desk opens? Both are correct. The indirect one is softer, so it suits a desk or a phone call, while friends just ask directly: Where's my charger?

Q: Is it "Could you tell me where is my bag?" or "Could you tell me where my bag is?"

It's Could you tell me where my bag is? , because the subject comes before the verb. Three more traps follow the same rule: Do you know if it arrives today? , not Do you know does it arrive today? ; Can you tell me when it left? , not when did it leave? ; Do you know if it has arrived? , not if has it arrived? A sort in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! gives the wrong ones their own column.

Q: What airport vocabulary helps with a lost bag?

Start with the words from the carousel to the desk : a checked bag travels under the plane, a carry-on comes into the cabin, and bags come out on the carousel . If yours is delayed , you report it and later claim it. A layover is a stop between two flights; Darius's bag took the wrong plane at his. My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! adds toiletries , charger and contents , with pictures and audio.

Q: How do I teach indirect questions to B1 students?

Begin with a real problem that needs a stranger's help , such as a lost bag, and collect the direct questions a traveler would ask. Then wrap each one in an opening and move the verb: Where is it? → Could you tell me where it is? My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! on edio.ai follows that path from a desk dialogue to the scheme, five drills and a chat at the desk.

Q: What's a good game for practicing indirect questions?

A wheel of travel problems keeps everyone talking: each slice sets a scene, such as You lost your bag tag. Ask the agent how you can claim your bag now. , and the student who spins asks polite questions while a partner plays the agent. For a quick round, say a direct question aloud and let teams race to make it polite.

Q: What's good homework for practicing indirect questions?

Good homework has students rewrite direct questions , so they practice the word order on their own: Where is the nearest drugstore? → Could you tell me where the nearest drugstore is? In My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! on edio.ai, all ten homework tasks check themselves, from a lost-bag report with gaps to Darius's answer to a listener, where students choose if over does .

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches indirect questions for polite requests through lost luggage and an Alabama store that sells what airlines couldn't return.

Grammar: A polite opening + a question word or if / whether + subject + verb, with no do, does or did: Could you tell me where my bag is?
Topic: Lost and delayed bags, from the carousel to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, with words such as layover, carry-on and claim.
Activities: Episode notes to read, a baggage-desk dialogue and a listener's message to hear, five self-checking drills, a chat at the desk, a question sort and a wheel of role-plays.

What's inside

Chapter 1Warm-up: Where's my bag?
- PictureUnlock
- Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
- Study the words: lost luggageVocabularyTry it
- Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock
Chapter 2The store of lost suitcases
- Look at the photo: a store full of lost thingsPictureUnlock
- Read the episode notesArticleUnlock
- Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 3Hello, baggage service!
- Listen to Darius and TiffanyListeningTry it
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
- Listen to the Listener's TakeListeningUnlock
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
Chapter 4Grammar: Could you tell me where it is?
- Study the scheme: polite questionsGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
- Fill in the table: make the questions politeFill in the tableUnlock
- Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 5Your turn at the desk
- Choose the right replies: at the baggage deskChatTry it
- Sort the questions into the correct columnsSort into columnsUnlock
- Spin the wheel and act it outSpin the wheelUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
- Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
- Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the matching pairsMemory gameUnlock
- Choose the correct option: polite questionsChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: make polite questionsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: questions about the storeQuizUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: a lost-bag reportDrag and dropUnlock
- Put the words in the correct order: Darius's questionsUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the correct option: Darius's answer to WhitneyChoose the optionUnlock

Airport vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

checked bag
carousel
layover
delayed
toiletries
charger
contents
armor
charity

Grammar: indirect questions for polite requests

An indirect question wraps a direct one in a polite opening, which makes it softer at a desk, in a store or on the phone. After the opening, the question turns into statement order: Where is my bag? becomes Could you tell me where my bag is? With a suitcase on its way to Honolulu, learners move the verb after the subject, use if or whether and choose the right final mark.

Could you tell me where my bag is?

A polite opening + a question word (or if / whether) + subject + verb. No do, does or did after the opening.

From direct to polite

Put an opening such as Could you tell me, Can you tell me or Do you know before the question word, then the subject comes before the verb: When will it come? becomes Can you tell me when it will come? Modals stay: where I should report it.

Direct question	Polite question
Where is my bag?	Could you tell me where my bag is?
When will it come?	Can you tell me when it will come?
What time does the desk open?	I'd like to know what time the desk opens.
When did the plane land?	Do you know when the plane landed?
Has it arrived?	Do you know if it has arrived?
Can I claim it here?	Could you tell me whether I can claim it here?
Where should I report it?	Can you tell me where I should report it?

No do, does or did after the opening

Do, does and did drop out, and the verb carries the tense and the -s itself: When does she finish? becomes Do you know when she finishes?, and Where did we park? becomes Do you know where we parked?

Who	Direct question	Polite question
I	Where do I pay?	Could you tell me where I pay?
you	Where do you keep lost bags?	Could you tell me where you keep lost bags?
he	Where does he work?	Do you know where he works?
she	When does she finish?	Do you know when she finishes?
it	When does it leave?	Can you tell me when it leaves?
we	Where did we park?	Do you know where we parked?
they	When did they call?	Do you know when they called?

Yes/no questions take if or whether

A question with no question word needs if or whether after the opening, and here they mean the same: Has it arrived? becomes Do you know if it has arrived? Never keep the question order after if: Do you know if has it arrived? is wrong.

Yes/no questions: if or whether

A question with no question word (Has it arrived? Can I claim it?) takes if or whether after the opening. They mean the same here: Do you know if it has arrived? Could you tell me whether I can claim it? Not: Do you know has it arrived? Not: Do you know if has it arrived?

A question mark or a period?

The opening decides the last mark. Could you tell me… and Do you know… are questions, so they end with a question mark, but a statement opening ends with a period: I'd like to know what time the desk opens.

A question opening ➜ ?

Could you tell me where the desk is?
Can you tell me when it will come?
Do you know if it has arrived?

A statement opening ➜ .

I'd like to know what time the desk opens.
I don't know where my bag is.
I'll ask if it's in Hawaii.

When to use polite questions

Use them with people you don't know: an agent at a desk, a clerk in a store, someone on the phone. With friends, a direct question is fine: Where's my charger? The order stays the same every time: opening, question word, subject, verb.

When do we use them?

Polite questions sound softer, so we use them with people we don't know: at a desk, in a store, on the phone. With friends, a direct question is fine: Where's my charger? The order is always the same: opening + question word + subject + verb: Could you tell me | where | my bag | is?

At the baggage desk

Could you tell me where my suitcase is?
Do you know how it got there?
Can you tell me when it will come back?
Do you know if I have to come back to claim it?
I'd like to know where I can buy a toothbrush.
I'm afraid I don't know if it went to the beach!

Common mistakes

Could you tell me where is my bag?
Could you tell me where my bag is?
subject + verb after the question word
Do you know does it arrive today?
Do you know if it arrives today?
a yes/no question: if or whether, no does
Can you tell me when did it leave?
Can you tell me when it left?
no did: use the past form
Do you know if has it arrived?
Do you know if it has arrived?
if + subject + verb

More lessons on this grammar: Questions lessons and exercises

Try the indirect questions exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

What's in the lesson

18 auto-checked exercises
6 games
1 article
1 grammar scheme
1 set of word cards
2 audio clips
2 pictures
2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

ask for information politely with Could you tell me…?, Can you tell me…? and Do you know…?: Could you tell me where my suitcase is?
turn yes/no questions into polite ones with if or whether: Do you know if I have to come back to claim it?
drop do, does and did after the opening and keep the tense in the verb: Can you tell me when the plane landed?, not when did the plane land
end I'd like to know… with a period and handle a lost-bag problem at a baggage desk: I'd like to know where I can buy a toothbrush.

Lesson 3 is the third lesson of Travel smart, unit 1 of English B1.1 · Stories That Travel. It reworks the questions of A1.2 lesson 10 and A2.1 lessons 6 and 7, with does and did, and the present perfect of lessons 1 and 2 returns inside them: Do you know if it has arrived? Lesson 4 closes the unit with be used to and get used to. A missing bag puts a traveler at a desk with a stranger, just when polite questions matter.

Open boxes about lost things start the lesson, then twelve words, from claim and report to carousel and armor, with pictures and audio. Students read the show's episode notes on where unclaimed bags go, with true-or-false statements and a quiz, then hear Darius at the baggage desk with Tiffany, an agent, and a message from Whitney in Hawaii; both are AI-voiced. Five self-checking drills follow the scheme, among them a table that turns direct questions into polite ones. The desk task runs in three steps: a chat with Tiffany, a sort of direct, polite and wrong questions, and a wheel of role-plays.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, a word gap-fill and a memory game, then a choice of polite forms, gaps that rewrite direct questions, a quiz of questions about the store, a lost-bag report, Darius's questions to put in order and his answer to Whitney.

Grammar:: indirect questions · polite requests · Could you tell me…? · Do you know if / whether…?
Topic:: lost luggage · airports · Unclaimed Baggage Center · Scottsboro, Alabama · travel problems · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

Start with a rude-or-polite test: say Where's my bag? in a flat voice, then Could you tell me where my bag is? with a smile, and ask which one a tired agent would rather hear.
Before the episode notes, ask students to guess what happens to a bag nobody claims. They read to check, then ask each other polite questions about the store: Do you know when it began?
Mark the swap on the board with two arrows: is my bag → my bag is, did it leave → it left. Students say each direct question from the dialogue, then its polite twin.
Let the wheel set up role-plays in pairs: one student is the agent and the other has the problem on the slice. Swap after each spin, and listen for if after Do you know.

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The whole course: English B1.1 · Stories That Travel

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, each built around a true story. Riley, Jade and Darius make a podcast in Kansas City about true American stories, and each lesson tells one, from a seaplane airport in Alaska to the Marfa Lights of West Texas. Learners compare the present perfect with the past simple, use future forms, modals and quantifiers, and give their own opinions. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

Unit 1 Travel smart
the present perfect vs the past simple, for and since, indirect questions, be used to and get used to
1. Lesson 1Would you visit an airport just for fun?Present perfect vs past simple
2. Lesson 2Would you sleep in a 300-year-old inn?For and since with the present perfect
3. Lesson 3 · you're hereMy suitcase has gone to Honolulu!Indirect questions for polite requests
4. Lesson 4Can you practice a flight?Be used to and get used to
Unit 2 Dream jobs, new jobs
will have to and won't be allowed to, the present perfect continuous, simple vs continuous, would vs used to
Unit 3 Space and discovery
it's + adjective + to, What's it like to…?, future forms compared, future time clauses, too and enough + to
Unit 4 Life online
the more…, the more…, be supposed to, ought to and had better, let, make and allow
Unit 5 Screen and page
-ed and -ing adjectives, gradable and extreme adjectives, present tenses for a plot, articles for things in general
Unit 6 Green living
few and a few, little and a little, all, most, some and none, each and every, fewer and less
Unit 7 Sporting moments
could, was able to and managed to, for, during and while, present tenses for live commentary, question tags
Unit 8 Mysteries and lost worlds
both… and, either… or and neither… nor, uncountable nouns, how sure we are about the future, unless, as long as and in case

Questions about this lesson

What are indirect questions?

Indirect questions put a question inside a polite opening, such as Could you tell me…?, Do you know…? or I'd like to know…, and they use statement order after it: Could you tell me where my suitcase is? They sound softer than Where's my suitcase?, so travelers use them with agents, clerks and other strangers. The B1 lesson My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! on edio.ai teaches them at a baggage desk.

How do you form indirect questions?

Follow one order: opening + question word + subject + verb. When will it come? becomes Can you tell me when it will come? For a yes/no question, add if or whether: Do you know if it has arrived? Drop do, does and did and put the tense in the verb: Do you know when the plane landed? The scheme in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! shows this for every person.

What are some examples of indirect questions?

These come from Darius's visit to the baggage desk in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu!, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Could you tell me where my suitcase is? Do you know how it got there? Can you tell me when it will come back? Do you know if I have to come back to claim it? One of them ends with a period: I'd like to know where I can buy a toothbrush.

What's the difference between direct and indirect questions?

A direct question uses question order and often do, does or did: What time does the desk open? An indirect question adds an opening and switches to statement order: Do you know what time the desk opens? Both are correct. The indirect one is softer, so it suits a desk or a phone call, while friends just ask directly: Where's my charger?

Is it "Could you tell me where is my bag?" or "Could you tell me where my bag is?"

It's Could you tell me where my bag is?, because the subject comes before the verb. Three more traps follow the same rule: Do you know if it arrives today?, not Do you know does it arrive today?; Can you tell me when it left?, not when did it leave?; Do you know if it has arrived?, not if has it arrived? A sort in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! gives the wrong ones their own column.

What happens to lost luggage that nobody claims?

An airline searches for a missing bag for about 90 days; after that, it counts as unclaimed, and airlines can sell it to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. The store sorts what's inside to resell, repurpose or recycle, and some things go to charity. Its story began in 1970 with bags from a bus line, and the store's timeline gives 1978 for its first airline contract.

What airport vocabulary helps with a lost bag?

Start with the words from the carousel to the desk: a checked bag travels under the plane, a carry-on comes into the cabin, and bags come out on the carousel. If yours is delayed, you report it and later claim it. A layover is a stop between two flights; Darius's bag took the wrong plane at his. My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! adds toiletries, charger and contents, with pictures and audio.

How do I teach indirect questions to B1 students?

Begin with a real problem that needs a stranger's help, such as a lost bag, and collect the direct questions a traveler would ask. Then wrap each one in an opening and move the verb: Where is it? → Could you tell me where it is? My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! on edio.ai follows that path from a desk dialogue to the scheme, five drills and a chat at the desk.

What's a good game for practicing indirect questions?

A wheel of travel problems keeps everyone talking: each slice sets a scene, such as You lost your bag tag. Ask the agent how you can claim your bag now., and the student who spins asks polite questions while a partner plays the agent. For a quick round, say a direct question aloud and let teams race to make it polite.

What's good homework for practicing indirect questions?

Good homework has students rewrite direct questions, so they practice the word order on their own: Where is the nearest drugstore? → Could you tell me where the nearest drugstore is? In My suitcase has gone to Honolulu! on edio.ai, all ten homework tasks check themselves, from a lost-bag report with gaps to Darius's answer to a listener, where students choose if over does.

How do you practice indirect questions one-to-one?

Play a phone call to a help desk: the teacher answers as the agent, and the student has three things to find out, such as where a bag is, when it will come and if it can be delivered. Then swap roles. The chat in My suitcase has gone to Honolulu!, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, needs no partner: the student picks the polite question at each turn.

Are there interactive exercises for indirect questions?

Yes. This page plays three parts of My suitcase has gone to Honolulu!, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Darius's talk with Tiffany at the baggage desk, a gap-fill that builds polite questions from the words in brackets, and a chat in which the student asks about a bag left in Denver. Every gap and reply gets checked on the spot. The other parts need an account.

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About this lesson

What's inside

Airport vocabulary

Grammar: indirect questions for polite requests

From direct to polite

No do, does or did after the opening

Yes/no questions take if or whether

A question mark or a period?

When to use polite questions

At the baggage desk

Common mistakes

Try the indirect questions exercises

What's in the lesson

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

Teaching tips

Teach the whole lesson in edio

Start a free trial

Open the lesson

Teach it live or as homework

The whole course: English B1.1 · Stories That Travel

Unit 1 Travel smart

Unit 2 Dream jobs, new jobs

Unit 3 Space and discovery

Unit 4 Life online

Unit 5 Screen and page

Unit 6 Green living

Unit 7 Sporting moments

Unit 8 Mysteries and lost worlds

Questions about this lesson

Teach this lesson with your students