Question tags

When we are having a conversation, we often use question tags to include others, to ask their opinion or ask whether they agree or not.

In German, we can do this easily by adding oder?, nicht wahr? or gell? at the end of the sentence.

In English, it's not that simple — but if you follow these rules and practise, you'll soon get the hang of it!

When we form questions in English, we need a helping verb, and it's the same when we form question tags.

We normally use a negative question tag after a positive sentence:

• "You went out last night, didn't you?"
• "Henry can swim, can't he?"
• "They've been here before, haven't they?"

And we normally use a positive question tag after a negative sentence:

• "Anne wasn't there, was she?"
• "She didn't tell him, did she?"
• "Kim doesn't work there anymore, does she?"

Now try the exercise on the next page.

Dagmar Taylor