Tag Questions Examples: Past, Present and Future

In this post, you will find all the information that you need to understand what tag questions are.

Question tags are the short questions that we put on the end of sentences particularly in spoken English.

#1	She had another baby, didn’t she?
#2	She went to college, didn’t she?

Now, let’s check some information and example so you can make tag questions correctly

Table of Contents

Tag Questions: Structure and Rules
Question Tags with Present Tenses
Question Tags with Past Tenses
Questions Tags with Future Tenses
Question Tags: Special Points
Examples of Tag Questions
Tag Questions Video by WoodWard English
Tag Questions Video by MMMEnglish
Tag Questions Exercises

Tag Questions: Structure and Rules

The basic structure of a tag question is:

A negative statement is followed by a positive question tag.

Negative Statement	Positive Tag
You aren’t 12 years old	Are you?

A positive statement is followed by a negative question tag.

Positive Statement	Negative Tag
You are 12 years old	Aren’t you?

Tag questions are made using different tenses in English so let’s check example with some of them.

Question Tags with Present Tenses

There are lots of different question tags but the rules are not difficult to learn.

Tenses	Question Tag
Simple Present	You have money, don’t you?
Simple Present	She has money, doesn’t she?
Verb to be	She is beautiful, isn’t she?
Present Progressive	She is cleaning, isn’t she?
Present Progressive	You aren’t coming, are you?
Present Perfect	You have done this, haven’t you?
Present Perfect	She hasn’t called you, has she?

Question Tags with Past Tenses

These are questions tags with past tenses:

Tenses	Question Tag
Simple Past	You had money, didn’t you?
Simple Past	She had money, didn’t she?
Verb to be	She was beautiful, wasn’t she?
Past Progressive	She was cleaning, wasn’t she?
Past Progressive	You weren’t cleaning, weren’t you?
Past Perfect	You had done this, had you?
Present Perfect	She hadn’t called you, hadshe?

Questions Tags with Future Tenses

These are questions tags with future tenses

Tense	Questions Tags
Future with will	You will come, won’t you?
Future with will	He won’t study, Will he?
Future Continuous	He won’t be studying tonight, will he?
Future Continuous	He will be studying, will he?

Question Tags: Special Points

Although the negative word not is not in the sentence, the sentence can be negative. Then we use the positive question tag.

He never plays soccer	Doesn’t he?
She never runs with us	Doesn’t she?

Use will/would with imperatives

Turn off the fan	Will you?
Pass me the salt	Would you?

If the main clause verb is I am, then the negative tag form is aren’t I:

Sorry, I’m late again	aren’t I?
I am a little red	Aren’t I?

We can use right and yeah in very informal situations instead of question tags:

So, you’re not coming with us tonight	*right*?
They’ll be here about 4.30	*yeah*?

We use shall after Let’s.

Let’s take the next bus	shall we?
Let’s grab some lunch	shall we?
Let’s go to to the beach	shall we?

Examples of Tag Questions

These are some examples of tag questions in different contexts:

It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?
You didn’t do your homework, did you?
You don’t like me, do you?
You haven’t seen Sascha, have you?
You think you’re clever, don’t you?
You have a car, don’t you?
She can’t swim, can she?
She was crying, wasn’t she?
He does look like his father, doesn’t he?
He hasn’t arrived yet, has he?
You want to come with me, don’t you?
You can swim, can’t you?
You don’t know where the boss is, do you?
This meal is horrible, isn’t it?
That film was fantastic, wasn’t it?
You have a Ferrari, don’t you?
She had a great time, didn’t she?
You used to work here, didn’t you?
You’re moving to Brazil, are you?
He used to have long hair, didn’t he?

Tag Questions Video by WoodWard English

This is a pretty good video created by Woodward English that explains what tag questions are

Tag Questions Video by MMMEnglish

Another good video that you can watch on YouTube to understand more about tag questions was posted by mmmEnglish

Tag Questions Explained by Emma from the mmm English YouTube channel

Tag Questions Exercises

These are some tag questions exercises that you can use to reinforce what you know about this topic

These are some tag questions files that can help you learn more about this topoc