Tag Questions - Complete Guide for Spanish Speakers

🎯 Why This Matters

Maintaining conversation, politeness.

Learning Outcome

Small talk mastery.

🇪🇸 The Challenge

Complexity. Spanish just uses '¿no?' or '¿verdad?' for everything. English requires matching the auxiliary and swapping polarity (isn't it? do you?).

🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 No universal tag in English

Problem: Spanish uses '¿no?' or '¿verdad?' for everything

Watch out: Saying 'You like pizza, no?' instead of 'don't you?'

✅ Fix: English tags must MATCH the auxiliary and FLIP the polarity

🧠 Mental Note: Find the auxiliary. Flip positive/negative. Add subject pronoun.

❌ 'She speaks French, no?' → ✅ 'She speaks French, doesn't she?'

🇪🇸 Same universal tag problem

Problem: Castilian Spanish also uses '¿no?/¿verdad?' universally

Watch out: Using 'no?' or 'right?' for all English tags

✅ Fix: Learn the pattern: same auxiliary, opposite polarity, matching pronoun

IS → isn't he/she/it? DO → don't you/I/we/they? CAN → can't...?

🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)

The Mirror Tag

Tag questions MIRROR the main sentence with OPPOSITE polarity: 🔄 THE MIRROR RULE: POSITIVE statement → NEGATIVE tag: - You ARE coming, AREN'T you? - She LIKES pizza, DOESN'T she? - They WENT home, DIDN'T they? NEGATIVE statement → POSITIVE tag: - You AREN'T tired, ARE you? - He DOESN'T work, DOES he? - They DIDN'T call, DID they? MATCH THE AUXILIARY: - IS → isn't/is? - CAN → can't/can? - WILL → won't/will? - DO/DOES/DID → don't/doesn't/didn't? Spanish: '¿no?' = English: many options! - You like it, DON'T you? - She's here, ISN'T she? - They can come, CAN'T they?

Positive → negative tag. Negative → positive tag. Same auxiliary, opposite polarity.

🗣️ Pronunciation Guide

How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:

Intonation matters!

Spanish Habit: Flat intonation on tags

English Reality: Rising = real question. Falling = expecting agreement.

Examples:

Nice day, ISN'T it? ↗ (real question)
Nice day, ISN'T it. ↘ (expecting 'yes')

Practice: Rise for uncertainty. Fall for confirmation. Same words, different meaning!

📖 How It Works

Correspondence table and dialogue practice.

Learning Strategy

Teacher Recommendation: Teacher recommended

Time Investment: 3 hours

🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)

These words/phrases appear with this structure:

English	Spanish	Example
...isn't it?	¿no? / ¿verdad?	It's cold, isn't it?
...don't you?	¿no? / ¿verdad?	You like pizza, don't you?
...didn't they?	¿no? / ¿verdad?	They went home, didn't they?
...won't you?	¿no? / ¿verdad?	You'll come, won't you?
...can't she?	¿no? / ¿verdad?	She can swim, can't she?

💬 Real Examples

Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:

Example 1: Positive to negative tag

✅ CORRECT: "You speak Spanish, don't you?"

🇪🇸 Translation: "Hablas español, ¿no?"

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "You speak Spanish, no?"

Why wrong? English needs auxiliary + pronoun: DON'T YOU? (not just 'no')

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Spanish '¿no?' is universal. English tags must match the sentence!

Speak (no auxiliary) → use DO: don't you?

Example 2: With 'be' verb

✅ CORRECT: "She's happy, isn't she?"

🇪🇸 Translation: "Ella está feliz, ¿verdad?"

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "She's happy, doesn't she?"

Why wrong? Main verb is IS (she's = she is), so tag must be ISN'T, not doesn't

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Match the auxiliary! IS → isn't. DOES → doesn't. Different!

She IS → ISN'T she? He CAN → CAN'T he? They WILL → WON'T they?

Example 3: Negative to positive tag

✅ CORRECT: "You haven't finished, have you?"

🇪🇸 Translation: "No has terminado, ¿verdad?"

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "You haven't finished, haven't you?"

Why wrong? Negative statement needs POSITIVE tag: have you? (not haven't you)

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Flip the polarity! Haven't → have. Don't → do. Can't → can.

This 'negative → positive' pattern expects agreement with the negative.

✏️ Practice Exercises

Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!

All set? Let's reinforce what you learned.

Start Interactive Exercises

🚀 What to Study Next

More in "Questions"

Questions

Low