There's a meeting scheduled for this afternoon. You're busy with other work and don't really want to go. You're not sure whether attendance is required at this meeting. When a coworker asks if you're going, you ask this.
Do you know if it's mandatory?
Do you know if (clause)?
In casual spoken English, people often ask, "Do you know if ___?" For example:
Do you know if you're having a boy or girl?
Do you know if he's awake?
In formal English for writing and for situations where you don't know people well, you usually use "whether" instead of "if":
Do they know whether the child is a boy or a girl?
(something) is mandatory
When you say that something "is mandatory", it means that you have to do it. Examples of things that are "mandatory" include:
- a mandatory meeting
- mandatory reading (books you have to read for a class)
- mandatory retirement (making people retire when they reach a certain age)
- mandatory military service (men in some countries have to serve in the military for a few years)
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