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Speaker 1: Hey, let me ask you a question. You've studied English before,

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haven't you, And you've probably heard of tag questions or

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negative questions before, right, Well, isn't this going to be

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an interesting lesson for you?

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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This is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight eighty eight. Tag

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questions for sounding more natural in English. Hey, thanks for

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tuning in and welcome back to the Happy English Podcast.

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So here's the deal. In everyday conversation, native speakers love

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to use short questions at the end of a se

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like it's a nice day, isn't it. You've met Sarah,

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haven't you? You're not leaving yet, are you. These are

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called tag questions, and they're really a natural part of

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spoken English. Maybe you've heard these before, but you're not

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one hundred percent sure how or when to use them.

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Don't worry, a lot of English learners feel the same way.

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So today I'll show you how these work and how

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you can use them to sound more like a native speaker.

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So let's jump in and get you sounding even more

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natural when you speak English. Tag questions are all about

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the intonation, and that intonation is falling when you're making

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an observation. We usually use tag questions with falling intonation

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to make a comment, not to ask a real question.

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It's like you're saying, we both know this is that's true? Right?

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Imagine this scene. You're heading out for lunch with a

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friend or a coworker and it's sunny in twenty two

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degrees celsius. She says, how it's a beautiful day, isn't it.

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She's not really asking you, She's just making an observation

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and inviting you to agree, probably because she thinks you

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will agree. This kind of tag question shows up all

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the time when people want to connect, Like when you

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go to a friend's house for lunch, you can say

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Jane makes awesome pizza, doesn't she? Or at the coffee shop,

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this coffee is really strong, isn't it? And maybe you're

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thinking about the information in this lesson. It's useful, isn't

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it Again? That's falling into nation The voice drops at

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the end. It's technically not a question, it's a friendly comment,

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and we use this English when we're pretty sure the

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person we're talking to has the same idea or opinion,

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like nice day, isn't it Now? Let's flip that around.

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We usually use tag questions with rising information when we

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ask for confirmation. When we're not sure about something and

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we want to confirm information, we use a tag question

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with rising intonation. In other words, your voice goes up

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at the end like a question. Here's a real example.

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I was at a party this weekend and I saw

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a guy I had met about a year ago. I

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wasn't sure, but I thought he told me he was

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from France, So I said, so, Luke, you're from France.

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Aren't you see what I did? I had an idea,

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but I wanted to check if it was right. Here

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are a few more like that. You can play the guitar,

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can't you? Or at the office, Ted hasn't called, has he?

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These are true questions, so again rising intonation. Try it out,

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and now that you know that, let's take it to

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the next level. In everyday American English, instead of saying

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the full tag question, we often just say right, like

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Jane makes awesome pizza right, or at the coffee shop,

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this coffee is really strong. Right, So I could have

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asked Luke, so you're from France? Right? You can play

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the guitar? Right? Okay? And here's one more casual tag

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we use sometimes no no. This is more common when

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the sentence is positive, like Jenny likes to bake no,

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or Luke is from France. No, or this and is interesting. No.

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This is language you probably won't see in textbooks, but

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we use it all the time in conversation. All right,

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let's do a quick recap. We use tag questions with

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falling intonation to make a comment It's a nice day,

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isn't it. We use tag questions with rising intonation to

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confirm information like you're coming tomorrow, aren't you? And in

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casual English, you can just use rite or no, we've

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met before? Right, you like jazz? No. So here's your

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challenge this week. Try adding these tag questions to your conversations.

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Ask your friend you've been there before, right, Or say

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to your coworker this project is going well. No. Trust me.

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When you use tag questions naturally, people will notice how

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smooth and confident in your English sounds. And hey, if

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you want to practice English from this lesson and all

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of my podcasts with me and a group of other

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awesome English learners. Come check out my podcast Learner's Study Group.

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We meet once a week and go over the language

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from these podcast lessons together. It's a great way to

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build confidence and improve your speaking. Just check the link.

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We are listening to this podcast right now, or visit

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Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast episode eight eighty

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eight from more info and thanks for listening, and remember,

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learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,

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and I'm here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit my Happy English. Show your support for Happy English

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by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy, Happy English.