Negative Questions – Preguntas negativas en INGLES

Curso gratuito en línea para aprender inglés GRATIS – Negative Questions / Preguntas en forma negativa – USOS y ESTRUCTURA – LECCION 31 GRAMATICA

Today we are going to talk about questions. When do we use negative questions? How do we form them? What are the differences between normal questions and negative questions. We will discuss all these points.

Play

Hoy repasaremos las preguntas en negative “negative questions” y veremos juntos cuando lo usamos y como es que se forman estas preguntas.

Negative questions

Structure:

To form negative questions we simply add n’t (not) after the auxiliary

Negative Questions
Aren’t you married?Don’t you know English? PRESENT SIMPLE
Isn’t Juan working? PRESENT CONTINUOUS
Wasn’t Felipe sick?Didn’t Mary study for the test? PAST SIMPLE
Haven’t you sent the email PRESENT PERFECT
Aren’t you going to the doctor tomorrow? FUTURE

 USE of negative questions

Compare the following questions

–          Are you sick?

This is a normal information question. I want to know if the person is sick in general.

–          Aren’t you sick?

In this case you have the idea that the person is sick. For example, let’s suppose that Mario arrived late to work and said he was sick. Later that afternoon you see him drinking a cold beer. You say “Hey Mario, aren’t you sick?”

We use the negative questions:  

  • To show surprise :
    Didn’t you send the email? Why? That was so important.
  • To show doubt; to check information
    Aren’t you the Carlos? Don’t you teach English on-line? Wow! Nice to meet you.
    Doesn’t she work for City Bank. I think I know her
  • When you expect the listener to agree
    Isn’t it a great day. It is so sunny and the sky is blue.
    Doesn’t this food tase delicious? Yummy Yummy.

 En conclusión vemos que para formas los “negative questions” simplemente añadimos el “not” despues del “auxiliary”. Es es bastante sencillo pero la importancia esta es saber es que situaciones se usan. COmo vimos lo usamos para expresar sorpresa, cuando tenemos una duda y queremos corraborar información y finalmente lo usamos cuando esperamos que la otra persona este de acuerdo  con nosotros. Recuerden de practicar esta forma y de no olvidarse de los usos.

Extra Resources and Exercises:

  • POWERPOINT EXPLANATION: This is a nice presentation by Kristi Reyes about negative questions.

Negative Questions (Ejercicio para completar)

http://club.telepolis.com/englishweb/negativeinterrog.html