Sentence Structure & Word Order

Tag Questions (You’re French, aren’t you?)

1 min read

Tag questions are short questions added to the end of a statement to check information or confirm something. They’re common in everyday conversation and often used to invite agreement.

How do tag questions work?

They follow this basic rule:

Positive statement → Negative tag
You're French, aren’t you?
Negative statement → Positive tag
You aren’t tired, are you?

Tag questions are formed with an auxiliary verb (be, do, have, will, etc.) and a pronoun that matches the subject. If the main sentence has no auxiliary verb, we use do/does/did.

She likes coffee, doesn’t she?
They didn’t call, did they?
We were late, weren’t we?

Special case: “I am”

With “I am,” the tag is usually aren’t I (not “amn't I”):

I’m right, aren’t I?

💡 Tip

Think: flip it + match it.
If your statement is positive → flip to a negative tag.
If your statement is negative → flip to a positive tag.
Then: match the subject with a pronoun + correct helping verb.

Test your knowledge 📝

Question 1 sur 8Score: 0/8

You’re from Canada, ___?

Discover the app: Shaky English

Join 100,000 people who are improving their English skills on the Shaky English app

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Sentence Structure & Word Order

Tag Questions (You’re French, aren’t you?)

1 min read

Tag questions are short questions added to the end of a statement to check information or confirm something. They’re common in everyday conversation and often used to invite agreement.

How do tag questions work?

They follow this basic rule:

Positive statement → Negative tag
You're French, aren’t you?
Negative statement → Positive tag
You aren’t tired, are you?

Tag questions are formed with an auxiliary verb (be, do, have, will, etc.) and a pronoun that matches the subject. If the main sentence has no auxiliary verb, we use do/does/did.

She likes coffee, doesn’t she?
They didn’t call, did they?
We were late, weren’t we?

Special case: “I am”

With “I am,” the tag is usually aren’t I (not “amn't I”):

I’m right, aren’t I?

💡 Tip

Think: flip it + match it.
If your statement is positive → flip to a negative tag.
If your statement is negative → flip to a positive tag.
Then: match the subject with a pronoun + correct helping verb.

Test your knowledge 📝

Question 1 sur 8Score: 0/8

You’re from Canada, ___?

Discover the app: Shaky English

Join 100,000 people who are improving their English skills on the Shaky English app

Other similar rules

Common mistakes

Conditional Forms (Zero, First, Second, Third)

Agreement rules

Using “wish” + correct tense

Common confusions

Raise vs. Rise

Conjugation

Too vs. Enough

Common mistakes

Modal Verbs for Advice (should, ought to, had better)

Common mistakes

The Subjunctive in English

Common confusions

Like vs. Such as

Common confusions