Forming question tags

Hello, my wonderful students!

Today, we're going to learn about something very useful in English called question tags. They help us confirm information or ask for agreement.

What are question tags?

A question tag is a short question added to the end of a statement. It's like saying 'right?' or 'isn't it so?' at the end of what you just said.

For example, if I say 'You are a student', I can add a tag to make it 'You are a student, aren't you?'

How to form them: The Golden Rule

The main rule for forming question tags is simple: if the statement is positive, the tag is negative. If the statement is negative, the tag is positive.

Let's break this down with examples.

Positive Statement, Negative Tag

Tunde likes jollof rice, doesn't he?

Aisha is going to the market, isn't she?

You live in Lagos, don't you?

They were playing football, weren't they?

Chidi will travel tomorrow, won't he?

Negative Statement, Positive Tag

You are not a doctor, are you?

She doesn't speak Yoruba, does she?

We haven't met before, have we?

They couldn't finish the work, could they?

It wasn't raining in Kano, was it?

Always remember to use the same auxiliary verb (or 'do/does/did') as in the main statement, and the correct pronoun.