Question Tags
Level B1 · Questions & Auxiliaries
A question tag is a short question added to the end of a statement, mainly to check something or invite agreement, not to ask something genuinely unknown: You're coming, aren't you? doesn't really doubt that you're coming — it's checking. The tag always uses an auxiliary or modal plus a pronoun, never a full repeated verb.
Build the tag by flipping the statement's polarity and matching its auxiliary:
- Positive statement → negative tag: You're coming, aren't you? She likes tea, doesn't she?
- Negative statement → positive tag: You aren't coming, are you? She doesn't like tea, does she?
- The tag repeats whichever auxiliary the statement already has (be, have, or a modal): She's finished, hasn't she? They can swim, can't they? If the statement has no auxiliary at all (a plain present or past simple verb), the tag borrows do/does/did: You live here, don't you? He left early, didn't he?
- I am has the irregular tag aren't I, not amn't I: I'm right, aren't I?
The most common mistake is matching the tag's polarity to the statement instead of flipping it — You're coming, are you? sounds like genuine surprise or suspicion, not the normal checking tag, which needs the opposite polarity: aren't you? A second frequent error is inventing a new auxiliary instead of reusing the statement's own one — He can drive, does he? is wrong; the statement already has can, so the tag must reuse it: can't he?
Look for a short auxiliary + pronoun stuck onto the end of a statement, opposite in polarity to the main clause — positive statement, negative tag, or the reverse. Check which auxiliary the statement itself already has (be, have, a modal) and match it; only reach for do/does/did if the statement has no auxiliary of its own.