Tag Questions in English

Tag questions are a normal part of everyday English conversation. In this lesson, I teach you how to recognize tag questions, so that you are not confused when you hear one, and how to improve your English conversation skills by using tag questions effectively.

Hey! This is Alex and welcome to this lesson on Tag Questions. This lesson is particularly useful if you are now trying to improve your English speaking ability.

First of all what is the tag question. We use it essentially for three different reasons. First of all  if you want to comment any situation. Secondly if you want to get more information from someone or if you want to check information that you would believe to be true. For example we have the statements. First of all tag question is composed  of  two parts as well, the full statement:

That is Henry’s car

 

It is a full sentence and the tag. So how you make the tag is you look at the form of the verb to be here.

That is Henry’s car

 

This is in the affirmative, in the positive.  The tag switches to negative. So negative of “is” is “isn’t”, all right? So

That is Henry’s car, isn’t it?

 

So in this case what we were doing is ever checking the information that you would believe to be true . You think that is Henry’s car, but to check that you would say:

That is Henry’s car, isn’t it?

 

You are not  one hundred percent certain of this. You check the information or trying to get the information.

The second example here is:

It wasn’t a nice day yesterday.

So we have “wasn’t” first of all which is past and it is also negative. So the positive seems to have the negative first, the tag has to be positive.

 

It wasn’t a nice day yesterday, was it?

So in this case: are we checking information, or are we getting information, or are we just commenting on a situation?

Well,  this will be more of a comment on a situation.

Now, how we differentiate when we are  commenting on a situation vs. when we are trying to get information is how we, where we put the emphasis or the stress on the last word, or on the last part of the tag question. So for example,

That is Henry’s car, isn’t it?

So you see my voice rises at the end, as if I am asking a question, I am checking information or I am getting information.

It wasn’t a nice day yesterday, was it?

My voice went down at the end. It wasn’t “was it?”.

It wasn’t a nice day yesterday, was it?

 

It means you are not sure, you don’t know the weather of nice day , all right?

So what you want to do you just want to comment that it was a nice day or it wasn’t a nice day. Your voice will go down at the end:

It wasn’t a nice day yesterday, was it?

Ok, let’s do the last two here.

 

You haven’t seen my key’s

So we have “haven’t” again negative, past participle,  “my keys”

You haven’t seen my key’s , have you?

 

 

Here you are trying get information, right? Your voice will go up at the end. Once more, you are trying check or not check the information. Yes, you are trying to check the information. I apologize.

The last one :

You are from Viet Nam, aren’t you?

 

It depends how you put the emphases.

Ok, so again if you try to just  comment on the situation make sure you voice goes down at the end. If you are trying to make a comment on a situation or get information from someone make sure that your voice goes up at the end. So this example: You are from Viet Nam, aren’t you?

If I say You are from Viet Nam, aren’t you? , I am trying to get the information from the person, right? If I say: “You are from Viet Nam, aren’t you?” at the end . You are trying to confirm something that you already believe to be true. You are commenting that they are from Viet Nam. I’ll be right back with an exemption that actually deals with this.

Let’s look at one more rule that involves the verb “do” and “have”.  You have noticed two sentences up here. The first one says:

 

You have driven here before, haven’t you?

The second one says:

He has a car, doesn’t he?

 

So you might be thinking this one has “have” and ends with “haven’t” , right? You have the affirmative meaning the tag has to be negative. The negative form of  the verb which is “have” – “haven’t” make sense.

Here you have :

He has a car, doesn’t he?

You have “has”  the negative should be “hasn’t” , right? So you might be thinking :

He has a car, hasn’t he?

 

It is not the verb supposed to be. No, you use the verb “do” and I’ll tell you why.

Here you are using the present perfect tense:

 

You have driven

 

so you have “have” plus the past participle “have + driven”. When you are using the present perfect you keep the rules that I’ve told you guys which is: that is the affirmative changed to the negative.

First sentence said:

You have driven here before, haven’t you? there will be “have you” right?

So if you have the present perfect – “haven’t”.

If you have the simply the simple present:

He has a car. There is now past participle here.

The tag has to be the verb “do”: “doesn’t he”

 

He has a car, doesn’t he?