The quick answer

A question tag is a short question at the end of a sentence. It asks the listener to agree or to confirm something you think is true: You are coming, aren't you? A positive statement takes a negative tag, and a negative statement takes a positive tag.

The rule

The tag copies the auxiliary of the main sentence: She has left, hasn't she? If the statement has no auxiliary, use do, does or did: You play tennis, don't you? They left early, didn't they? The pronoun in the tag replaces the subject: The bus is late, isn't it? After a negative word like never or nobody, the tag is positive: Nobody called, did they?

Two special forms: I am takes aren't I (I am invited, aren't I?), and Let's takes shall we.

Form

Examples

• You have read the email, haven't you?
• She is not coming to dinner, is she?
• They moved to Madrid last year, didn't they?
• We can park here, can't we?
• Nobody answered the phone, did they?

Common mistakes

• ❌ You speak Spanish, isn't it? → ✅ You speak Spanish, don't you? Turkish (değil mi), Spanish (¿verdad?) and Arabic use one universal tag; English copies the auxiliary of each sentence.
• ❌ He arrived late, doesn't he? → ✅ He arrived late, didn't he? A past simple statement always takes did in the tag.
• ❌ They are late, are they? → ✅ They are late, aren't they? A positive statement flips to a negative tag.
• ❌ Nothing happened, didn't it? → ✅ Nothing happened, did it? Nothing is a negative word, so the tag stays positive.