TAG QUESTIONS

QUESTION TAGS

                           

J. Herrera is the mayor of Soledad, isn´t he?   Carlos Vives sings vallenato, doesn´t he?

                     Yes, he is                                                               Yes, he does

                                              

                                     Esteban Chaves doesn´t play soccer, does he?      
                                         No he doesn´t.   He practices cycling  

  You haven´t seen Mary, have you?   No, I haven´t                                 

Does he? and have you? are questions tags (= mini questions that we often put on the end of a sentence spoken English).

Question tag is a question added at the end of a sentence. Speakers use tag questions mainly to make sure their information is correct or to seek agreement.

In question tags, we use an auxiliary verb (have/was/will etc). We use do/does/did for the present and past simple.

Karen plays the piano, doesn´t she?     "Well, yes, but not very well."

Positive sentence   +   negative tag

You didn´t lock the door, did you?  " No, I forgot"

Negative sentence     +       positive tag


AFFIRMATIVE                                                 NEGATIVE                                  ANSWER
  SENTENCE                                                 TAG QUESTION                           EXPECTED

Alexander is a good teacher,                               isn´t he?                                 Yes, he is

Mary likes mathematics,                                    doesn´t she?                      Yes, she does

Fabiola and Lila work in the same school          don´t they?                          Yes, they do


  NEGATIVE                                                AFFIRMATIVE                           ANSWER
  SENTENCE                                               TAG QUESTION                       EXPECTED

Mady is not a tennis player,                               is she?                                 No, she isn´t
Duperlis doesn´t like maths                             does she?                         No, she doesn´t
Martha and Ivon don´t work as nurses            do they?                              No, they don´t


The tag pronoun for this and that is IT.

The tag question for these and those is THEY.


This / that is your classroom, isn´t it?

These / those are your notebooks, aren´t they?


Formal English                                                       Common

I am late, am I not?                                              I am late, aren´t I?


After let´s... the tag question is ... shall we?

Let´s go to Panorama, shall we?

After the imperative ( Do / Don´t... etc) the tag is usually ... will you?

Open the door, will you?                                    Don´t be late, will you?


Tag question