While the English tag is related to whatever came in the sentence before it, it’s a whole thing that language learners struggle with. For example:<\/p>\n
You won the prize, didn’t you?<\/p>\n
You’ve seen that movie, haven’t you?<\/p>\n
It is raining today, isn’t it?<\/p>\n
You’re taking the trip, aren’t you?<\/p>\n
You’ll be there, won’t you?<\/p>\n
You haven’t done it yet, have you?<\/p>\n
They can be quite versatile and have different uses, as is described well in this post by Collins Dictionary<\/a>. So let’s see how we would do what sentence tags do in English in the German language!<\/p>\n Mein Deutsch ist richtig gut, oder? (Photo by Ludovic Migneault<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n Now, the Collins Dictionary post points out that tone matters, as is clear from their example:<\/p>\n Falling tone: statement So like I said, we don’t really do tags in German, so to translate this, we have to use other tools. The falling tone statement could be rephrased as “So, she’s gone out” with a matching tone. And that has a matching translation in German:<\/p>\n Also, sie ist rausgegangen.<\/em><\/p>\n The rising tone is actively asking for a response – and that is the classic tag. In German, we do that like this:<\/p>\n Sie ist rausgegangen, oder?<\/em><\/p>\n (literally: She’s gone out, or?)<\/p>\n Oder\u00a0<\/em>is definitely the most common tag in German, and, like in English,\u00a0it is a shorthand. Oder <\/em>asks for an alternative – just like the tag. This is a question, or is it not a question?\u00a0Oder\u00a0<\/em>does the same thing, but we just stuck with\u00a0oder<\/em>, just like English stuck with isn’t it<\/em>. Sometimes, people also say\u00a0oder nicht\u00a0<\/em>(or not)? at the end of a sentence, but that’s optional, unlike with the English tag.<\/p>\n If we used the full sentence, without a shorthand, it would look like this: dies ist eine Frage, oder ist das nicht so<\/em>? (this is a question, or is that not the case?).<\/p>\n By the way, we do this rising tone in German, which you can hear in the audio file further below.<\/p>\n As I described in a previous post<\/a>, this super common way of asking confirmation is what some Germans translate literally to English! Funny, or?<\/p>\n Photo by Jon Tyson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n However, I’d be lying if I said that\u00a0oder?\u00a0<\/em>is the only tag alternative Germans use. Here’s a few:<\/p>\n Sie ist rausgegangen, ne?<\/em><\/p>\n (She’s gone out, no? (free translation, “ne” doesn’t mean anything))<\/p>\n Du kommst r\u00fcber, richtig?<\/em><\/p>\n (You’re coming over, right? (yep, that’s a literal translation!))<\/p>\n Das kannst du machen, nicht?<\/em><\/p>\n (You can do that, no? (often, the nicht<\/em> is pronounced more like nich<\/em>))<\/p>\n Ach, Fragen hast du noch, was?<\/em><\/p>\n (Ah, so questions you still have, huh? (was\u00a0<\/em>means “what”, and this one is a bit more confrontational, not as friendly))<\/p>\nTone: Falling or rising tone matters!<\/strong><\/h1>\n
![\"Tags](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/10\/ludovic-migneault-5xbCj_VWKcs-unsplash-766x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nShe\u2019s gone out, hasn\u2019t she?
\nRising tone: question
\nShe\u2019s gone out, hasn\u2019t she?<\/p><\/blockquote>\nOther German Sentence Tags<\/strong><\/h1>\n
![\"German](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/06\/jon-tyson-hhq1Lxtuwd8-unsplash-1024x729.jpg\")