I have a question about the following sentence:
お母さんが、八百屋で長いこと、何を買うか決まらず迷っています。
Is it possible to replace "か" with "のか" without misunderstanding in this sentence? Namely,
お母さんが、八百屋で長いこと、何を買うのか決まらず迷っています。
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This の is called "explanatory-no". Its basic role is to provide an explanation for the current background context. When it's used with the question marker か, のか seeks clarification or explanation for the current context.
- Explanatory のだ （んだ）
- Question Markers: か and の
- What is the meaning of ～んです/～のだ/etc?
- How is the "のです" working here?
As described in the second link, の can form a casual question even without か, although in this case か is required since it's in an embedded question.
That said, in this specific case, I think both sentences are almost completely interchangeable, with or without の. Maybe the latter sounds slightly more emphatic or emotional.
On the other hand, の is almost mandatory in the following context:
お母さんは八百屋で30分も買い物をしていた。何を買ったのか知りたい。
This is a typical case where の is used to seek clarification.
