Usage of か I keep encountering


Maybe I'm an idiot, but no matter how much I Google I can't seem to grasp the
concept of か being used mid-sentence. I've already run into it a number of
times. Like here:

> アメリカやヨーロッパなど６つの国は、イランが核兵器をつくろうとしているのではない **か** と考えて、経済制裁を続けていました。

I believe this roughly means...

> Six countries within the Americas and Europe, thinking that **perhaps** Iran
> shouldn't be trying to create nuclear weapons, continued with economic
> sanctions.

From what I understand, か here indicates an embedded question. Like in
English, "I know **what** you mean." It can also indicate uncertainty with the
speaker in conversation. This comes from a news article though (admittedly for
kids, haha), so I'm thinking I'm incorrect in assuming that last part.

Also, I've seen it here in this sentence:

> 夏にちょうどいい名前だね、と何回言われたこと **か** 真夏はバレエの準備をしていた。

My attempt is roughly...

> Manatsu, who was told her name was perfect for summer **how** many times,
> was practicing ballet.

I guess what I'm asking is whether or not I have this thinking right. If I
don't, please correct me and try to put it in super simple terms because I
feel like I'm not going to get it otherwise. I've been struggling with this
for awhile, hah.




There are a few situations one would use か mid-sentence. For example:

1) 私は電車 **か** バスで行く。(I will go either by train **or** bus)

2) ぼくがだれ **か** 知ってるか。(Do you know **who I am**?)

In the first example, you can use か if you are deciding between two things. In
the second example, in answer to part of your question, yes, you can use it as
an embedded question.

