Question tags
Adding short tags like isn't it? and do you? to the end of a sentence.
A question tag is a short question added to the end of a statement to check information or to ask the listener to agree, such as 'You are a student, aren't you?'. The basic rule of polarity is that a positive statement takes a negative tag, and a negative statement takes a positive tag. The tag repeats the auxiliary (helping) verb from the main sentence — be, have, will, can, etc. — followed by a pronoun that matches the subject (Tom is here, isn't he?). If the statement has no auxiliary, we use a form of 'do' that matches the tense: present simple uses do/does and past simple uses did (You like tea, don't you?; She came early, didn't she?). Negative tags are almost always written as contractions (isn't, don't, won't). A few special cases are worth remembering: 'I am' takes the tag 'aren't I?', and the sentence 'Let's go' takes 'shall we?'. For example: 'They didn't finish the homework, did they?' — a negative statement, so the tag is the positive 'did they?'.
Key terms
| Statement | Tag | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Positive statement | Negative tag | It is cold, isn't it? |
| Negative statement | Positive tag | It isn't cold, is it? |
| Statement verb | Tag auxiliary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| be (am/is/are/was/were) | isn't / aren't (was/were forms) | She is here, isn't she? |
| Present Simple (no auxiliary) | don't / doesn't | You like tea, don't you? |
| Past Simple (no auxiliary) | didn't | He left, didn't he? |
| have/has done (present perfect) | haven't / hasn't | She has finished, hasn't she? |
| will | won't | Tom will come, won't he? |
| can | can't | They can swim, can't they? |
| I am | aren't I | I am right, aren't I? |
- 1Find the auxiliary: The verb is 'are playing' (present continuous), so the auxiliary is 'are'.
- 2Flip the polarity: The statement is positive, so the tag must be negative: 'aren't'.
- 3Match the pronoun: The subject 'they' stays as 'they'.
- 4Answer: They are playing football, aren't they?
- 1Find the auxiliary: 'went' is past simple with no auxiliary, so we use the 'do' substitute for the past: 'did'.
- 2Flip the polarity: The statement is positive, so the tag must be negative: 'didn't'.
- 3Match the pronoun: The subject 'you' stays as 'you'.
- 4Answer: You went home early, didn't you?
Don't keep the same polarity. A positive statement needs a negative tag and a negative statement needs a positive tag: 'It is cold, isn't it?' but 'She isn't here, is she?'.
If the main verb is an ordinary verb like 'like', 'work' or 'want', use a 'do' tag, not 'be': 'You like tea, don't you?' (not 'aren't you'), and 'She wants a bike, doesn't she?' (not 'isn't she').
Use the subject pronoun, not the object pronoun or the full noun: 'They can swim, can't they?' (not 'can't them'), and 'Tom will come, won't he?' (not 'won't Tom').
Watch negative-meaning words. 'Nobody', 'nothing', 'never' and 'hardly ever' make the statement negative, so they take a positive tag: 'Nobody phoned, did they?'; 'You have never been to London, have you?'.
Learn the special tags: 'I am right, aren't I?' (there is no 'amn't' in standard English) and 'Let's go, shall we?'.
Rules
- 1A positive statement takes a negative tag; a negative statement takes a positive tag (It is cold, isn't it? / It isn't cold, is it?).
- 2The tag repeats the auxiliary verb (be, have, will, can) plus a matching subject pronoun (She can swim, can't she?).
- 3If there is no auxiliary, use do/does for the present simple and did for the past simple (You work here, don't you?; He left, didn't he?).
- 4Negative tags use contractions (isn't, aren't, don't, won't, can't).
- 5Remember the special tags: 'I am …, aren't I?' and 'Let's …, shall we?'.
Practice
15 easy · 15 medium · 15 hard
10 random questions per test