Las preguntas coletilla

En ingls es frecuente terminar las frases con otra frase corta, de signo contrario, la cual tiene la intencin de
pedir la opinin o buscar la aprobacin del interlocutor: son las llamadas question tags (preguntas coletillas).
Estas frases equivalen a: verdad?, no es verdad?, no?, no es as? en serio?

Ejemplos:
You eat meat, dont you? (Comes carne, verdad?)
She doesnt like to dance, does she? (No le gusta bailar, no?)
Alex and Sergio are friends, arent they? (Alex y Sergio son amigos, no?)

Para formar esta pregunta corta utilizaremos el auxiliar de la frase principal y su sujeto pero de signo contrario.
Si no tuviera auxiliar entonces utilizaramos el auxiliar to do.
Si la oracin es afirmativa, la pregunta coletilla es negativa y viceversa.

Ejemplos:

Oraciones afirmativas
Your brother is older than you, isnt he? (Tu hermano es mayor que t, no es as?)
You can help me, cant you? (Puedes ayudarme, verdad?)
John is getting married, isnt he? (John se casar, verdad?)
You worked yesterday, didnt you? (Trabajaste ayer, no?)
Sarah likes ice cream, doesnt she? (A Sarah le gusta el helado, no?)

Oraciones negativas
Youre not from here, are you? (No eres de aqu, no?)
Kates not American, is she? (Kate no es americana, verdad?)
Peter never liked Susan, did he? (A Peter nunca le gust Susan, verdad?)
They didnt go to class yesterday, did they? (No fueron a la clase ayer, verdad?)
You cant dance, can you? (No puedes bailar, no?)

Nota: Ten cuidado con los verbos to have y to have got.

Ejemplos:
To have got:
Theyve got a dog, havent they? (Tienen un perro, no?)

To have:
They have a dog, dont they? (Tienen un perro, no?)
Excepcin: Con el verbo to be en la primera persona de oraciones negativas, se usa arent en la pregunta
coletilla.
Ejemplos:
I am not wrong, am I?
I am wrong, arent I?

http://www.curso-ingles.com/aprender/cursos/nivel-intermedio/questions/question-tags

Pasado simple del verbo "be" (was / were)

I was a good student, wasn't I?

(Fui un buen alumno, o no?)

Roger Taylor wasn't the lead singer in Queen, was he?

(Roger Taylor no era el cantante principal de "Queen", o s?)

Mike and Daniel were business partners, weren't they?

(Mike y Daniel fueron socios de negocios, cierto?)

Pasado continuo (was / were)

Mary was not using the computer, was she?

(Mary no estaba usando la computadora, o s?)

You and I were having fun, weren't we?

(Tu y yo nos estbamos divirtiendo, verdad?)

The dog wasn't sleeping on the bed, was it?

(El perro no estaba durmiendo sobre la cama, o s?)

Pasado simple (did)

Sofia played soccer on Sunday, didn't she?

(Sofa jug futbol el domingo, no es as?)

Mr. Garcia didn't send the information for the exam, did he?
(El Sr. Garcia no envi la informacin para el examen, cierto?)

The students wore the official uniform, didn't they?

(Los estudiantes vistieron el uniforme oficial, o no?)

Pasado perfecto (had)

Susan hadn't travelled to Europe before, had she?

(Susana no haba viajado a Europa antes, o s?)
Peter had done the homework by 7:00 pm, hadn't he?
(Peter haba hecho la tarea hacia las 7:00 pm, no es as?)

Lucy and her husband hadn't watched that movie, had they?
(Lucy y su esposo no haban visto esa pelcula, o s?)

Pasado perfecto continuo (had)

You had been paying the monthly fee for the music service, hadn't you?
(Tu habas estado pagando la cuota mensual por el servicio de msica, cierto?)

She hadn't been training enough this week, had she?

(Ella no haba estado entrenando suficiente esta semana, o s?)

They had been planning this vacation for years, hadn't they?
(Ellos haban estado planeando estas vacaciones durante aos, o no?)

Tag questions
 Ahmad Nazri from Malaysia writes:

When should we use question tags:

have they? / has he?

did she? / does it? / do they?
are we? / is he?

Roger Woodham replies:

A tag question is a question we can add to the end of a

statement.

The basic rules for forming the two-word tag questions are as
follows:

* the subject in the statement matches the subject in the tag

* the auxiliary verb or verb to be in the statement matches the
verb used in the tag
* if the statement is positive, the tag is usually negative and
vice versa

Compare the following:

You've posted my letters, haven't you?

You won't forget to check my emails, will you?

You're sad that I'm going, aren't you?

You aren't going to cry when I leave, are you?

When present and past simple tenses appear in positive

statements, normally no auxiliary verb is used, but we use the
auxiliaries does, do or did in the tag. In negative statements
in the present or past simple, the auxiliaries doesn't, don't or
didn't are, of course, already present. Compare the following:

You play tennis on Thursdays usually, don't you?

And Jack plays with you, doesn't he?

You didn't play last Thursday, did you?

When we use the there is structure, there is reflected in the

tag:

There's nothing wrong, is there?

There weren't any problems when you talked to Jack,

were there?
Something / nobody /etc

When no one, somebody, something, etc is the subject in the

statement, we use it in the tag to refer to something or nothing and
they in the tag to refer to e.g. someone or nobody:

Something happened at Jack's house, didn't it?

No one phoned, did they?

Somebody wanted to borrow Jack's bike, didn't they? Who

was it?

When to use tag questions

We use tag questions, Ahmad, to check information or to ask

for agreement. If we use a rising intonation in the tag, we do
not know or are not quite sure of the answer. If we use a
falling intonation in the tag, we are seeking the agreement
of the person we are talking to.

We can reply to tag questions either with simple yes/no

answers (negative tags normally expect a yes answer and
positive tags normally expect a no answer) or by using yes/no
+ auxiliary verb.

In these examples, use a rising intonation in the tag. It is a

genuine question. You are not sure what the answer will be.

You haven't seen my tennis shoes, have you? ~ No, I'm

sorry. I haven't.

I couldn't borrow yours by any chance, could I? ~ No.

They wouldn't fit you.

In these examples, use a falling intonation in the tag. You are

simply seeking agreement.

It's been a lovely day today, hasn't it? ~ Yes, it has.

Gorgeous.

It was a lovely wedding, wasn't it? ~ Wonderful!

I thought Sue looking stunning in her wedding dress,

didn't she? ~ Yes, she did. Absolutely stunning.

It's a shame the day is over, isn't it? ~ Yes, it is.

tag questions - special features

positive statement - positive tag

We sometimes use a positive tag with a positive statement

when we want to express surprise or particular interest:

I shall be staying at my favourite hotel - the five-star

hotel in Windsor. ~ Oh, you've stayed there before,
have you?

And I'm having supper there with the Australian tennis

ace, Lleyton Hewitt. ~ Oh, so you know Lleyton Hewitt,
do you?

imperative sentences and let's

After imperatives, we sometimes add will you? or won't

you? when we want people to follow our advice:

Don't stay there long, will you?

And do take care, won't you?

After let's we sometimes add shall we? when we are making a

suggestion:

Let's have buttered scones with strawberry jam for tea,

shall we?

Omission of pronoun subject and auxiliary verb

In very informal speech, we sometimes leave out pronoun

subjects, auxiliary verbs and verb to be in the statement.
Compare the following:

Awful weather, isn't it? (= It's awful weather, isn't

it?)

Keeping well, are you? (=You're keeping well, are

you?)

Nobody at home, is there? (=There's nobody at

home, is there?)