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Lesson 37B1

Question Tags

पुष्टिवाचक प्रश्न (Question Tags)

English tacks a small mirrored question onto the end of a statement to seek agreement — Hindi does something similar with a single, unchanging tag like ना or है ना, without needing to rebuild anything from the sentence itself.

Grammar Comparison

Grammar Comparison

The tag flips positive to negative and mirrors the auxiliary; Hindi just adds ना / है ना

English

You're coming, aren't you? / You aren't coming, are you? (the tag always flips the statement's polarity)

Hindi (English explanations)

तुम आ रहे हो, है ना? / तुम नहीं आ रहे, है ना? (वही है ना जुड़ता है, चाहे वाक्य सकारात्मक हो या नकारात्मक)

Hindi adds a small fixed tag — ना, है ना, or क्या — to the end of a statement to invite agreement, and this same tag works regardless of whether the statement itself is positive or negative. English's tag is more mechanical and changes every time: it rebuilds a mini-question from the statement's own auxiliary verb (are, is, can, will) and always flips the polarity — a positive statement takes a negative tag (You're coming, aren't you?) and a negative one takes a positive tag (You aren't coming, are you?). Where Hindi reuses one all-purpose tag everywhere, English requires matching the tag's auxiliary and pronoun to the main clause each time.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

You're coming, aren't you?yor KUM-ing arnt yoo
Hindi (English explanations)
तुम आ रहे हो, है ना?tum ā rahe ho, hai nā?
She isn't here, is she?shee IZ-int heer iz shee
Hindi (English explanations)
वह यहाँ नहीं है, है ना?vah yahāñ nahīñ hai, hai nā?
You can swim, can't you?yoo kan swim kant yoo
Hindi (English explanations)
तुम्हें तैरना आता है, है ना?tumheñ tairnā ātā hai, hai nā?