A tag question is a statement, comma, and then a question. For example, “you are hungry,
aren't you?” Or, “you don't like my singing, do you?” That is an example of a tag question,
and I have seen many non-native speakers, many English learners don't use tags, and that is a
big mistake if you want to be more like a native speaker. If you want to improve your English
you have to start using tags, and your English teacher, and your friends, and your colleagues
will be so impressed with you if you use tag questions. So, what is a tag question? It is
when you think information is correct and you use it at the end of a sentence.
For example, I go to watch a new movie a new batman movie and
before I go into the movie, my friend comes out of the movie theater and I asked my friend
is; “the new batman movie is good, isn't it? So, I start with a normal sentence, I say
“the batman movie is good.” Is good and now, I want some more information. I think I’m correct,
but I want some more information, “isn't it.” “The batman movie is good, isn't it?” “You like
your mom's cooking, don't you?” So, you've got the sentence, and then at the end you have a
tag question. Native speakers use them all the time. There are two parts. There's the statement,
and then you have the tag the statements. And tags should be the same tense. So you can, you can say,
“I or you ate a burger, don't you?” Can't do that but if it's it has to be the same tense,
“you ate a burger, didn't you?” See I think the information is correct, so I’m just asking a tag.
Remember, this is not a normal question. This is more to get a yes or no confirmation. I want you
to say yes or no, but it is also a fantastic way to start a conversation. So for example,
I meet someone at a coffee shop and I say, “oh you like coffee, don't you?” And now the person
can say, “yes, I like coffee because it has a great taste.” Or they can say, “actually no,
I don't like coffee because it keeps me awake at night.” Okay, so a tag question is very
useful to get a yes or no response, or to start a conversation. Okay does everybody understand,
is that okay? Let's look at when to use tags. I’m going to teach you all about tags now.
So, when to use tags if you want to know some basic information? You know you can ask a yes
or no question. “Do you speak Chinese?” So, they can say “yes I do / no I don't.” You can also ask
a WH- question. “How often do you speak Chinese? Who do you speak Chinese with?” But if you think
something is true, but you're not 100 sure, you can ask a tag question. “You speak Chinese,
don't you?” Okay so you can ask a normal question yes or no. “”Do you speak Chinese? You can ask a
WH-question, “how often do you speak Chinese?” Or you can use a tag, “you speak Chinese, don't you?”
And they can say, yes, I do or no I don't. Okay so very important, tags are so useful, oh sorry
there we go. Now, how do we use tags? How do we use tags so if a statement is positive?
The tag should be negative. “You've seen the new star wars movie, haven't you?” So,
you've seen, you have seen is positive, the tag will be negative. You've seen, um you,
uh you enjoyed. “You enjoyed Eric's live stream, didn't you?” Right so, the first part is positive
and then the tag is negative. Or if the statement is negative, the tag is positive. “You
haven't eaten dinner yet, have you?” You are hungry, oh sorry, “you aren't hungry,
are you? You didn't sleep, did you? So that is, if the statement is negative,
the tag is positive. Right so, this is very good. Do you guys like this? I think this is useful to
know. What do you guys think? Now before we spoke about auxiliary. Remember auxiliary is a helping
verb. So, if you have a statement that uses an auxiliary, use the opposite auxiliary in the tag.
For example, “the building was built last year, wasn't it?” “The car wasn't in the garage,
was it?” Garage, sorry I need to say it that was British accent the car wasn't in the garage. The
garage was it. How will you go to the pot. “You will go to the party, won't you?” “It has taken
a long time to plan the party, hasn't it?” “It's hot today, isn't it?” And you can see
it’s positive. It's hot today and then isn't it is negative. So, that is with an auxiliary.
Now let's look at a tag without an auxiliary. If there is no auxiliary in the statement,
you should use the form of the verb “to do,” that matches the tense in the statement
in the tag. “You like pizza, don't you?” “His uncle works in the airport, doesn't he?”
“You went to Bermuda last year, didn't you?” So, you can say a present tense is, “he works
in the airport, doesn't he?” If it is past tense, “you went to Japan last year, didn't you?” That's
past tense. We haven't studied tag questions yet have we? So, we can see it is the same form okay.