Do you know what the matter was?

[carolgreen876]

Hi,

Do you know what the matter was?
Do you know what was the matter?

Why is the first wrong?

Thank you

[Duckduck (Contributor)]

Hi,

Do you know what the matter was?
Do you know what was the matter?

Why is the first wrong?

Thank you

Hi carolgreen876!

A little Oops, the first one is actually correct, it's the second one that is incorrect.

The sentence is a so-called indirect question which doesn't have an NP-Aux inversion like a normal question.

Cheers
Duckduck