Question tags

When you use it

A question tag is a short question attached to the end of a statement: It is cold today, isn't it? You use it when you already believe something and want the other person to confirm it, or simply to invite them into the conversation. Tags belong to speech and informal writing. In a formal email you would ask a full question instead.

How it is formed

The tag repeats the auxiliary verb (or be) from the statement and adds a subject pronoun. A positive statement takes a negative tag; a negative statement takes a positive tag. If the statement has no auxiliary, the tag uses do, does or did, exactly as questions and negatives do.

A few statements do not follow the pattern mechanically.

Intonation carries the meaning. With a falling voice the tag is not really a question: you expect the listener to agree. With a rising voice you are genuinely unsure and want an answer. The written form is the same in both cases, so in text the context has to do the work.

Examples

• It is late, isn't it?
• You live near the station, don't you?
• Anna works on Saturdays, doesn't she?
• We went there last year, didn't we?
• Tom can't drive, can he?
• You haven't seen my keys, have you?
• The meeting has already finished, hasn't it?
• Let's order pizza, shall we?

When you answer a tag, answer the fact, not the grammar. You don't eat meat, do you? If you do not eat meat, the answer is No, I don't. If you do eat meat, the answer is Yes, I do. The word yes always means the positive version of the statement is true, and no always means the negative version is true.

Common mistakes

• ✗ You are a student, yes?
  ✓ You are a student, aren't you?
  Ukrainian and Russian have one universal tag for every sentence: так?, да?, правда?, чи не так?. English has no universal tag; the tag must copy the verb and subject of the statement, so it changes from sentence to sentence.
• ✗ She lives in Kyiv, isn't she?
  ✓ She lives in Kyiv, doesn't she?
  Learners often treat isn't it or isn't she as the English version of не так ли. It works only after is. A present simple verb hides its auxiliary, so the tag has to bring do or does back.
• ✗ You don't like coffee, don't you?
  ✓ You don't like coffee, do you?
  The tag always flips: positive statement, negative tag; negative statement, positive tag. A negative statement with a negative tag is not a question in English and can sound like a threat.
• ✗ You haven't paid yet, have you? — Yes. (meaning "yes, I haven't")
  ✓ You haven't paid yet, have you? — No, I haven't.
  In Russian Да, не заплатил is natural, because да agrees with the speaker. In English yes and no refer only to the fact: yes means you have paid, no means you have not. Answering with a full short form (No, I haven't) avoids the confusion.
• ✗ Tom is here, is not he?
  ✓ Tom is here, isn't he?
  Negative tags are contracted. The uncontracted form exists (is he not?), but it is formal or old-fashioned and the word order is different, so it is safer to learn the contracted tags as fixed units.

Try it