Sentence types - Zinstypen

Questions with a question tag - Aanhangselvragen

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Question tags are very common in English: they are expressions like aren't you?, do they?, which follow statements and turn them into questions.

Dutch statements can also be turned into questions by attaching so-called question tags at the end.The type of statement determines the type of question tag: an affirmative statement is usually followed by a tag which prompts an affirmative answer. Likewise, a negative statement is followed by a tag which requires a negative answer.

However, there is also a 'neutral' question tag which prompts an affirmative answer when following an affirmative statement and a negative answer when following a negative statement. This is the tag hè? It is by far the most common question tag in Dutch, especially in the spoken language.

Question tag following either kind of statment:

hè?

Jij houdt van voetbal, hè?
You like football, don't you?

Jij houdt niet van voetbal, hè?
You don't like football, do you?

Question tags following affirmative statements (prompting affirmative replies):

niet(waar)?

Jullie studeren Nederlands, nietwaar?
You study Dutch, don't you?

is het niet?

Jij houdt van voetbal, is het niet?
You love footbal, don't you?

toch?

In België spreken ze Nederlands, Frans en Duits, toch?
In Belgium they speak Dutch, French and German, don't they?

Apart from toch, the question tags following positive statements are fairly formal.

Question tags following negative statements (prompting negative replies):

wel?

Jullie gaan dit jaar niet op vakantie, wel?
You are not going on holiday this year, are you?

is het wel?

Jij houdt niet van voetbal, is het wel?
You don't like football, do you?

The question tags following negative statements are fairly dated.

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