Question tags

Rules

• Rule 1: Positive → negative, negative → positive

  A positive sentence has a negative tag, and a negative sentence has a positive tag. Repeat the helping verb (is, are, can, will, have, should …).

  Pattern: positive, negative tag? · negative, positive tag?

  Example: Your brother is in seventh grade, isn't he?

  Example: We haven't met before, have we?

• Rule 2: No helping verb → do / does / did

  Positive present and past simple sentences have no visible helping verb, so use do / does / did in the tag.

  Pattern: V → don't? · V-s → doesn't? · V2 → didn't?

  Example: Your dog loves bananas, doesn't it?

  Example: You watched the match, didn't you?

• Rule 3: Always a pronoun

  Tags use pronouns: Tom → he, the movie → it, my parents → they. this / that → it, everyone / nobody → they, There is … → there.

  Pattern: helping verb + pronoun?

  Example: That was a great concert, wasn't it?

  Example: There are twelve months in a year, aren't there?

• Rule 4: Special cases

  I'm … → aren't I? · Let's … → shall we? (in everyday American English, *Let's go, okay?* is also very common) · Commands → will you? · never, nobody, nothing, hardly make the sentence negative → positive tag.

  Pattern: I'm … aren't I? · Let's … shall we? · command … will you?

  Example: Let's take a photo, shall we?

  Example: Nobody saw the fox, did they?

Common mistakes

• You like apples, isn't it? → You like apples, don't you?

  The tag must match the verb and subject.

• Ali is late, isn't Ali? → Ali is late, isn't he?

  Use a pronoun in the tag.

• She never eats fish, doesn't she? → She never eats fish, does she?

  never is negative → positive tag.