Open the file below, replacing “default” if necessary with the sites server block you want to do setting:

$ sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Replace:

try_files $uri $uri/ =404;

With:

try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;

If using a subfolder (say /wordpress), you’ll have to add an extra location /wordpress/ block to your configuration file :

location /wordpress/ { try_files $uri $uri/ /wordpress/index.php?$args; }

Finally, restart nginx:

$ sudo systemctl restart nginx

References:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/enabling-nginx-mod_rewrite
https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/recipes/wordpress/