Question Tags

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Question Tags

Positive/negative statements

If the sentence is positive, the question tag has to be negative: (John is a teacher, isn’t he?)

But if the sentence is negative, the question tag has to be positive: (You haven’t met him, have you?)

With auxiliary or modal verbs

The question tag has to take the same verb as the main sentence. If this is an auxiliary verb (BE, HAVE, DO) or a MODAL VERB then the question tag is made with this verb:

They’ve gone to London for a few days, haven’t they?

Mary had met him before, hadn’t he?

This car isn’t working, is it?

You won’t tell anyone, will you?

They couldn’t hear me, could they?

Without auxiliary verbs

If the sentence does not have an auxiliary verb, the question tag uses the appropriate form of DO:

You said that, didn’t you?

You don’t like me, do you?

He eats meat, doesn’t he?

With the structure LET’S… we should use the positive question tag SHALL WE?

Let’s go to the cinema, shall we?

With an imperative in the main sentence we should use the positive question tag WILL YOU?

Give me a hand with the washing up, will you?

NOTE: The question tag for I am is aren’t I?: (I’m the fastest, aren’t I?)