Videó leirat – question tags

Hiya,
As this video is about the tone of question tags, it would be nice to start with an easy definition wouldn’t it, say?
What the heck is a question tag? Let’s figure it out.
Okay, a question tag is a short ending that turns a statement into a question.
For example:
You didn’t go to school today, did you?
Know that “did you” at the end turns the whole sentence into a question. So we are expecting an answer there: no I didn’t now.

When it comes to tones, there are two ways:
You didn’t go to school today, did you? – falling
You didn’t go to school today, did you? – rising
Not surprisingly they are not the same. Let’s figure out what they really communicate. Shall we? When they turn falls we are not really asking you just invite the listener to agree with you. If you say:
You didn’t go to school today, did you?
You expressed that you know that I didn’t go to school, but you want me to respond: yeah you’re right oh no I didn’t.

Here are some more examples like that, please repeat after me:

Nice day isn’t it?
You don’t like fish do you?
She often comes late doesn’t she?
He’s a bit of a loser isn’t he?
They can’t read music can they?
You like gold don’t you?

Great, however question tags can express real questions. If so the tone rises you didn’t go to
school today did you? this is a real question and I expect a yes or no answer:

Yes I did. Well no, I didn’t. Or any other similar responses.

Please repeat after me, remember, we are asking real questions now:

You don’t fancy fish do you
She often comes late doesn’t she
They can’t read music can they
She wasn’t at home yesterday was she
You like go don’t you
She might come to the party might she

Great, now go practice, see you soon!