Negative Questions

Level B2 · Questions & Auxiliaries

Negative questions (Don't you like it? Isn't she coming?) rarely just ask for neutral information — they usually signal that the speaker expects a 'yes', is surprised, or is inviting agreement. Compare: Do you like it? (a neutral question) with Don't you like it? (I assumed you did — I'm surprised, or checking).

Negative questions form like any other question, with the negative auxiliary inverted before the subject:

• Contracted form (the everyday default): Don't you want some? Isn't he here yet? Won't they come?
• Full, uncontracted form: auxiliary + subject + not — Do you not want some? — grammatically correct but formal/literary; almost always contracted in speech.
• Common jobs for a negative question: checking something surprising (Didn't you get my message?), a polite suggestion (Why don't we eat out tonight?), a complaint (Can't you be quiet?), inviting agreement (Isn't it a beautiful day?).

Answering a negative question always tracks the real fact, never the negative wording of the question itself: Don't you like coffee? — Yes, I do (= I like it) or No, I don't (= I don't like it). English never flips yes/no to 'agree' with a negative question the way many other languages do — the answer is always about what's actually true.

The most common mistake is answering as if yes/no agreed with the negative form rather than the fact — saying No to mean 'yes, I do like it' causes real confusion in English, where No always means the negative is true. A second frequent error: stacking a second negative onto the full form — Don't you not like it? is wrong; a question is either Don't you like it? or the formal Do you not like it?, never both negatives at once.

Look for a negative auxiliary (don't, isn't, won't, haven't...) inverted before the subject at the start of a question, a tone of surprise, expectation, complaint, or polite suggestion, and remember that the yes/no answer always reports the real fact, not agreement with the question's negative wording.

Practice

Forming Negative Questions · Answering Negative Questions & Mixed Practice