How to form negative questions and use tag questions in French?

French negative structures can also be used in questions by using negative statements, inverted word order with negation expressions, interrogative pronouns with negation expressions, or even negative tag questionsNo definition set for tag questionsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. In this post, we are going to focus on how to ask negative questions, as well as how to respond to them, both negatively and positively. But how often do you ask negative questions? Honestly, probably not that often. Still, you may ask something like, “Isn’t Marie upstairs?” However, in French, you will usually express it slightly differently from English. Would you like to find out how? Let’s get started!

There are different word orders that you can use when asking negative questions, depending on the type of French question you want to use: statement word order, inverted word order, and word order using interrogative pronouns.

However, regardless of what word order you use, the negation generally surrounds the verb in simple tenses and surrounds the auxiliaryNo definition set for auxiliaryLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in compound tensesNo definition set for compound tensesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. Let’s look at negation in each question structure:

If someone asks you a negative question in French, you must answer “yes” with the French response si and not oui.

Oui is, however, used to respond to affirmative questions. You can see the difference in the response in the two dialogues below:

Tag questions are little phrases that you can add to the end of an affirmative sentence to make it a question, often because you’re asking for confirmation. In French, the main tag questions are n'est-ce pas ?, non, si, hein, ou quoi, ah bon, and déjà.

Some of these tag questions are negative, such as n'est-ce pas ? and non, but all French tag questions are invariable.

Let’s state something crucial here: English question tags such as “did you?,” “is he?,” or “would you?” can’t be translated into French! Let’s see what the equivalent of English question tags would be in French!

When asking negative questions and using tag questions in French, keep the following points in mind:

• Regardless of the types of questions you ask, the negation goes:

  • around the verb for simple tenses

  • around the auxiliary for compound tenses

• In speaking, people sometimes double the noun of their negative question by:

  • adding a subject pronoun when the noun is the subject of the sentence

  • adding a definite article when the noun is the object of the sentence

• If you are being asked a negative question and you want to answer “yes,” remember to say si in French!

• You can use the tags n’est-ce pas ? or non ? at the end of a statement to turn it into a question.

How about you practice your knowledge of French negative questions (p. 4) and tag question skills with our exercises (p. 5)?