A contrastive analysis of negative
questions in English and Vietnamese
University of Education
English department
Instructor: Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ
Student: Lê Thị Ánh Dung
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
Abtract
English is not the most widely spoken language in the world in terms of the
number of native speakers - there are many more Chinese speakers than
native English speakers. However, it cannot be denied that English is the most
widespread language in the world. The importance of English is not just in how
many people speak it but in what it is used for. English is the major language of
news and information in the world. It is the language of business and
government even in some countries where it is a minority language.
In communicative process in English as well as in other languages,
questions play an important role in our daily life. We are not able to keep
communicating going on well without asking questions. We ask in order to
learn new things, exchange information, ideas, feeling and knowledge. On the
other hand, we sometimes ask questions not only for the above purposes but
for confirmation, refusal irony or reply avoidance. It is undeniable that
questions can not be missed in communication. There are a lot of types of
question in English but in this paper I would like to go deep into negative
questions in order to get more understanding of this type of questions inorder
to use it flexibly and fluently. The contrastive analysis of English and
Vietnamese negative questions also reveals the similarities and differences in
both languages. At the end of this paper, I try to draw out some implications for
learning and teaching English in a hope to help those who are interested in this
subject.
1
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
I. Negative forms in English and Vietnamese and non-assertive
forms in English
1. Negative forms in English and Vietnamese:
a. In English:
* Negative determiner:
In English, besides inserting not, there are other words which have a
negative meaning such as no+phrase; pronoun: no one, nobody, nothing…
E.g.: There’s no money in my pocket. ≈ (There is not any money in my
pocket).
Here, we have no as negative determiner and it is one of the negative items in
English with different function.
 No as a pronoun:
E.g.: I saw no one in the room ≈ (I didn’t see anyone in the room).
 No as a determiner: (happens both singular and plural).
E.g.1: There are no students in the class ≈ (There are not any students in
the class).
E.g.2: There is no money in my pocket ≈ (There is not any money in my
pocket).
We also use none and neither (of) to replace for pronouns and determiners:
E.g.1: None of them was absent.
E.g.2: We wanted to meet them, but there were none arrived.
E.g.3: Neither of them are dentists.
E.g.4: Neither class is opened.
2
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
Furthermore, negative words are various. Except for words above, there are
some negative items such as: nowhere (adverb of place); never (adverb of
time); no longer/ no more; neither….nor.
E.g.1: I have never seen such a tall man.
E.g.2: She is no longer a good student.
E.g.3: Jack neither arrived nor phoned me.
* Words with negative meaning:
In English, there are some adverbs bearing the negative in meaning and
behaviour such as: seldom, rarely, barely, scarcely, although they do not
appear negative in form. Like “never”, an adverb of frequency, when they are
put at initial position, the subject-operator inversion is required for the
emphasis.
E.g.1: I have never seen such a tall man → Never have I seen such a tall
man.
E.g.2: He hardly travels anymore → Hardly has he travel anymore.
In addition, some verbs have negative meaning and make up negative
sentences without using negative words, which is used to distinguish other
verbs having negative meaning by adding negative prefixes, namely dis, in, im,
un, etc. These verbs are perceived as containing “negator” in it, including, “fail”,
“stop”, “prevent”, “abstain from”, “avoid”, “deny”, “hesitate”, etc…
E.g.1: I have failed to sign a long-term contract.
≈ (We haven’t signed a long term contract)
E.g.2: The bad weather prevented us from going out.
≈ (We couldn’t go out because of the bad weather)
Apart form it, some verbs imply negative meaning because they are antonyms
of the positive verbs.
3
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
E.g.: forget = not remember; refuse = not accept; prohibit = not allow;
oppose = not support
Like negative verb, there are some prepositions related to position and
direction, expressing negative meaning. They include: away from, off, out of,
etc. Preposition phrases have implied negative meaning which requires nonassertive forms including: without, against, instead of, beyond, etc. There are
also adjectives that have negative meaning like: hard, difficult (not easy), etc.
English negation is various and copious, it integrates into every aspect of
language-negative items, negative pronouns, determiners or implied-negative
of notional words. The structure of negative clause is made by many negative
elements other negator “not”.
b. In Vietnamese:
“Not” is equivalent to “không” in Vietnamese, both show their negative
when used. The position of “not” and “không” in English and Vietnamese
negative sentence is often similar, they are both placed before the verbs.
However, in negative questions, they are different. “Không” in Vietnamese is
not placed before the subject meanwhile “not” can be place before or after
subject (negative full form and negative short form) in English.
E.g.1: Cô ấy không xinh à? (Isn’t she beautiful?)
E.g.2: Bạn không nhớ họ sao? (Do you not remember them?)
E.g.3: Tại sao cậu lại không mở cửa sổ ra nhỉ? (Why don’t you open the
windows?)
Vietnamese speakers never use “không” before subject as English. “Không”
can be only placed before verbs in Yes/ No questions when it has to go with
“phải là”.
E.g.: Không phải là mày đã yêu hắn ta đấy chứ? (Didn’t you love him?)
4
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
In English “not” can be contracted to “n’t” and added to the operators but
“không” in Vietnamese is not contracted at all. In Vietnamese negative
questions, “không” usually go with “à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/ chớ/
chứ gì/ được sao/ được ư/ đấy chứ/ phải không” which occur in final
position to form questions. Sometimes “không” can also combine with “phải/
phải là” in presubject position is used on with “à/ sao/ hay sao/ là gì/ đó sao”
in final position.
E.g.1: Cậu không uống cà phê phải không? (Don’t you drink coffee?)
So, in Vietnamese we have to use “không” with other particles to form
questions but it is not necessary in English. However, to some extend “không”
differ from “not” when it used in negative polarity question.
E.g.1: Họ biết cô ta không? (neutral polarity)
Do they know her?
E.g.2: Họ không biết cô ta à? (negative polarity) Don’t they know her?
In the (e.g.1), “không” is a negative particle used for Yes/ No question.
The most common marker of lexical or sentential negation in Vietnamese
is “không”, when it appears in final position, where it indicates a question, other
negative elements with near-parallel distribution and function include (more
literary) “chẳng” “chả” (‘no, not’) and “chưa” (‘not yet’). Sometimes in order to
emphasize the negative aspects, the word “hề” is added after “không”, “chẳng”,
“chả”, “chưa” However, there are some differences between “không” and
“chưa”. According to Diep Quang Ban (1987), “chưa”, is related to time and
regarded as “incompleted negation” while “không” refers to “completed
negation”. Besides, in conversational language some negative words that imply
impoliteness like “đếch”, “cóc” are also used.
E.g.1: Cô ấy chưa đến à? (Hasn’t she come yet?)
E.g.2: Tại sao em không làm bài tập? (Why haven’t you done your
homework?)
5
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
E.g.3: Tại sao em lại chưa làm bài tập? (Why didn’t you do your
homework?)
In (e.g.1) we must use “chưa”, but in (e.g.2 and e.g.3) “không” is acceptable in
both situations.
2. Non – assertive forms in English:
Non-assertive forms are items having no negative meaning but mostly used
in negative, not in affirmative. These forms include “any” series opposite to
“some” and other items such as determiners, adverbs, or pronouns…These
forms usually go with negator “not” or other phrase structures containing
negative meaning, which distinguishes real negation using negative items “no”
and “never”. English negation is diversified by using both negative items and
non-assertive forms because there are consequently two negative equivalents
of each positive sentence.
E.g.: We have some lunch.
=> a. We have not any lunch.
=> b. We have no lunch.
As example above, it is noted that there are always two negative sentences
equivalent to affirmative, one employs non-assertive form and the other uses
negative item. Both of them are negative and close paraphrases. The second
sentence looks like an affirmative since it has no “not” or “n’t” following
operator, but they have a negative element; the determiner “no”. The first
sentence is obviously a negative sentence, but its effect is less strongly
negative than the second. It seems that an ordinary negative sentence is
weaker than the one in which the negative making is part of another word or
phrase.
6
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
II. Negative questions
1. What is a negative question?
Negative questions differ in meaning from normal questions only in that the
speaker expresses an implied assumption or hope for which he is requesting
affirmation or denial. For example, if someone asks you "Is it hot today?", we
can understand that that person actually does not know if the weather is hot or
not (maybe he/she hasn't been outside yet today) and is asking you to provide
information. However, when someone asks you with a negative question, "Isn't
it hot today?", we can figure out that he/she thinks the weather is hot and
expect you to agree.
Negative questions is also used to check information. Maybe you see
someone at a party who looks really familiar and you feel like talking to them.
You think you have met them before. You can ask, “Have we met somewhere
before?” or “Haven’t we met somewhere before?”. The meaning is the same,
but which one you use depends on how sure you are. If you are very sure, use
the negative (you expect them to answer yes). If you are less sure use the
regular form.
2. The semantic and pragmatic approach to English negative
questions:
There are many linguistics exploring the semantics and pragmatics of
negative questions. That is a systematic ambiguity in negative questions, such
as:
E.g.: Isn’t there a vegetarian restaurant around here?
The ambiguity in these is remarkably hard to keep hold of, and the following
elaboration may be helpful.
7
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
Situation 1: Kathleen and Jeff have just come from Chicago on the
Greyhouse bus to visit Bob in Ithaca.
Bob: You guys must be starving. You want to get something to eat?
Kathleen: Yeah, isn’t there a vegetarian restaurant around hereMoosewood, or something like that.
Bob: Gee, you’ve heard of Moosewood all the way out in Chicago, huh?
Ok, let’s go there.
Kathleen uses the negative question “isn’t there a vegetarian restaurant around
here” to ask for confirmation of something she believes to be true. Compare
this to the following case:
Situation 2: Bob is visiting Kathleen and Jeff in Chicago while attending a
meeting.
Bob: I’d like to take you guys out to dinner while I’m here, we’d have time
to go somewhere around here before the evening session tonight, don’t
you think?
Kathleen: I guess, but there’s not really any place to go in Hyde Park.
Bob: Oh, really, isn’t there a vegetarian restaurant around here?
Kathleen: No, about all we can get is hamburgers and souvlaki.
Bob uses the negative question here for a very different reason: he had
previously assumed the truth of the proposition there is a vegetarian restaurant
around here, but has now inferred from what Kathleen says that this
proposition is actually false, and is using the negative questions to check this
new inference.
8
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
III. Negative questions in English and Vietnamese
1. Negative Yes/No questions:
A yes–no question, formally known as a polar question, is a question whose
expected answer is either”yes” or “no”. Formally, they present an exclusive
disjunction, a pair of alternatives of which only one is acceptable. In English,
such questions can be formed in both positive and negative forms.
Negative Yes/No question can appear in a post subject position in its full
form not, or in pre-subject position in its clinic-contracted form n’t. In other
word, it has either contracted forms or uncontracted forms (negative full form
and negative short form). The negator full form is rather formal while the short
form is usually preferred in informal spoken English.
Uncontracted form
Contracted form
Auxiliary + S + not + …. ?
Auxiliary + n’t + S + C …...?
Did John not eat?
Didn’t John eat?
Do you not buy that book?
Don’t you buy that book?
In Vietnamese yes-no questions are usually formed by adding the
negators: “không”, “chưa”, “chẳng” or “chả” which are normally place after
the subject and before the predicate in combination with “à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/
chứ/…” which occur in final position. Sometimes “chẳng phải/ không phải/
chả phải…” in presubject position is used in combination with “à/ sao/ hay
sao/ là gì/ đó sao” in final position. “Chẳng lẽ (nào)/ (có) lẽ nào/ có đúng là”
in pre-subject position can be used in combination with negators “không/
chẳng/ chưa/ chả” before the predicate.
Examples:
9
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
 S + “không”/ “chưa”/ “chẳng”/ “chả” + …..+ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/
gì/ hay sao/chớ/ chứ gì/ được sao/ được ư/ phải không/ đấy chứ ?
E.g.1: Anh không lạnh à?
E.g.2:Con không làm bài tập à?
 Chẳng phải/ không phải/ chả phải/phải chăng/ chẳng phải là / không
phải là / chả phải là + S +…+ à/ sao/ hay sao/ là gì/ đó sao?
E.g.1: Chẳng phải anh nói anh đã từng đến đó là gì?
E.g.2: Không phải tại con thì tại ai?
 Chẳng lẽ (nào)/(có) lẽ nào/ có đúng là + S+ “không”/ “chưa”/
“chẳng”/ “chả” +…..+ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ được
sao/ được ư/ đấy chứ ?
E.g.1: Chẵng lẽ nào ông ấy lại đối xử với tôi như thế?
E.g.2: Có đúng là cậu được đề bạt lên chức trưởng phòng không?
The answer depends on the situation.
E.g.: Em không ngủ được à? –> Vâng, em không ngủ được.
Another difference is also the way of answering which cause learners to
make mistakes when they encounter negative questions. In English, answering
yes or no rely on the fact but in Vietnamese negative particles require yes.
E.g.: Cậu không làm được việc này à? -> Dạ em không.
(Can’t you do it? -> No, I can’t.)
It should be noted that there is no universally accepted contraction for
am not. In spoken English, ‘am I not?’ is often contracted to ‘aren't I?’.
However, although the expression ‘aren't I?’ is considered acceptable in
informal English, it is not considered to be grammatically correct in formal
English. In formal English, no contraction should be used for am I not.
10
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
In several negative Yes/ No questions, the negative particles and the
non assertive form can combine to produce a negative form (any, anything,
anyone, ever, etc.) it can be replaced by a structure with a nuclear negator
(no, nothing, no one, none, never, etc.) in which the predicator remains
positive in form (without not) and non-assertive words are replaced by nuclear
negator in the same positions. This form of negative questions is rendered into
Vietnamese in the same way as the form with not plus non-assertive words.
E.g.1: Haven’t you ever been to HCM Cậu chưa bao giờ tới thành phố
city?
HCM sao?
= Have you never been to HCM city?
E.g.2:
Didn’t
anybody
attend
the Không /Chẳng có ai tham dự buổi
họp cả hay sao?
meeting?
= Did nobody attend the meeting?
Yes/ No questions expressed by interrogative structures can be oriented
according to the kind of answer the speaker expects and are said to have
neutral, positive or negative orientation. Negative Yes/No interrogative without
non-assertive or assertive forms can be used with a negative orientation, he
or she assumes that the answer also negative.
E.g1: Aren’t you going to study Tối nay anh không học chứ gì/ sao?
tonight?
(speaker assumes the answer is no –
the listener is not going to study
tonight)
E.g.2: Won’t he teach her how to Anh sẽ không dạy cô ấy lái xe chứ?
drive?
(speaker assumes the answer is no-
11
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
he won’t teach her how to drive)
Negative Yes/No interrogative without non-assertive or assertive forms
can also be used with a positive orientation, when the speaker is expecting
or hoping for the answer “Yes”.
E.g.1: Didn’t someone call last night?
Tối qua không có ai gọi đến ư? (Tôi nghĩ
là có)
E.g.2: Hasn’t the boat left already?
Thuyền rời bến rồi à/ ư ?
E.g.3: Don’t you remember that girl we Anh không nhớ cô gái mà chúng ta gặp
ở New York sao/ à ?
met in New York?
The functions of English negative Yes/No questions have been
discussed a lot. Sometimes we use negative questions with “be” and “do” for
emphasis, especially with descriptions. These kinds of questions are
“exclamatory questions” with these, the speaker expects agreement instead of
a negative answer
E.g.1: Wasn’t that a lovely play?
Vở kịch ấy mà không hay ư/ sao?
(speaker expects the listener to agree- (which means: Đó là một vở kịch thật
Yes, it was a lovely play)
hay!
or: Vở kịch hay đến thế còn gì!)
E.g2: Doesn’t the bribe look beautiful?
Cô dâu trông vậy mà không xinh ư?
(speaker expects the listener to agree- (which means: Cô dâu trông xinh nhỉ/
Yes, the bribe looks beautiful)
quá!
or: Cô dâu xinh quá còn gì nữa!
12
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
Uncontracted forms are normally used in formal questions when we
require special emphasis to express anger, surprise, etc. And in rhetorical
questions, not requiring an answer.
E.g1: Can you not stop asking me for money?
E.g2: Will you not apologize for me?
Contracted forms are used when speaker is expecting the answer “Yes”,
it’s also used to express surprise, disbelief, annoyance or sarcasm.
E.g1: Don’t you spend your holiday in France?
E.g2: Can’t you shut the door behind you?
Also they are used for invitation and exclamation.
E.g1: Won’t you come in for a few minutes?
E.g2: Isn’t it a lovely day?
Negative Yes/ No questions can express feelings surprised and
suggestions lobbying, criticizing others, admirers or invitation.
E.g.1:
Haven’t
you
done
your Mày vẫn chưa làm bài tập về
homework? (the deadline is close)
(You
have
homework?
not
The
done
nhà à/ hay sao?
your (Tao cũng đến lạy mày!)
deadline
(Surprised)
is
approaching!)
E.g.2: Don’t you think we should try Cậu không nghĩ là chúng ta (Recommendation
again? (We may not win this time)
nên thử lại à/ sao?
(You don’t think we should try one (Sao cậu không nghĩ là chúng
more time? Perhaps this time we ta nên thử lại nhỉ?)
will win.)
Anh không giúp tôi sao?=Anh
E.g.3. Won’t you help me? (=Please hãy giúp tôi nhé
help me)
13
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
E.g.4: Wouldn’t it be better to find Liệu tìm ra chuyện gì xảy ra
trước tiên có tốt hơn không?
out what has happened first?
(First identify what happened is not
(Lobbying)
a good point?)
E.g.5: Can’t you see that your work Cậu không thấy là công việc
của cậu dưới mức yêu cầu à?
is below standard?
(Do you not know that your work
(Criticism)
substandard)
E.g.6: Isn’t this a wonderful concert? Đây là buổi hòa nhạc tuyệt vời (Amazing)
đấy chứ?
(This concert is wonderful)
E.g.7: Won’t you come in for a few Anh sẽ vào trong một lát chứ?
(Invitation)
Anh không vào được một chút
minutes?
hay sao? (Thôi vào đi!Tôi thực
sự muốn anh vào)
2. Negative Tag- questions:
A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed
by a mini-question. The whole sentence is a "tag question", and the miniquestion at the end is called a "question tag".
We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for confirmation. They
mean something like: "Am I right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very common
in English.
The basic structure is:
Positive statement,
negative tag?
+
-
14
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
Snow is white,
isn't it?
Negative statement,
positive tag?
-
+
You don't like me,
do you?
Examples with positive statements:
positive statement [+]
negative tag [-]
notes:
personal
subject auxiliary
main
auxiliary not
verb
pronoun
(same as
subject)
You
are
coming,
are
n't
you?
We
have
finished,
have
n't
we?
You
do
like
coffee,
do
n't
you?
like
coffee,
do
n't
you?
You
They
will
help,
wo
n't
they?
I
can
come,
can
't
I?
We
must
go,
must
n't
we?
15
You
(do)
like...
won't = will
not
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
He
should
You
try
harder,
should
are
English, are
n't
he?
n't
you?
no auxiliary
for
main
verb
John
was
there,
was
n't
he?
present
be
&
past
Examples with negative statements:
Negative statement [-]
positive tag [+]
personal
main
subject auxiliary
auxiliary
verb
pronoun
(same
subject)
It
is
n't
raining,
is
it?
We
have
never seen
that,
have
we?
You
do
n't
like
coffee,
do
you?
They
will
not
help,
will
they?
They
wo
n't
report
us,
will
they?
I
can
never do
it right,
can
I?
We
must
n't
her,
must
we?
tell
16
as
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
He
should
n't
drive
so fast,
You
are
n't
John
was
not there,
should
English, are
was
he?
you?
he?
Statements with negative adverbs:
Adverbs never, rarely, seldom, hardly, barely and scarcely have a
negative sense. Even though they are in a positive statement, the feeling of the
statement is negative. We treat statements with these words like negative
statements, so the question tag is normally positive. Examples:
 He never came again, did he?
 She rarely comes, does she?
 You hardly ever come late, do you?
 I barely know you, do I?
 You can scarcely expect her to know that, can you?
Some more special cases:
I am right, aren't I?
aren't I (not amn’t I)
You have to go, don't you?
you (do) have to go...
I have been answering,
haven't I?
use first auxiliary
Nothing came in the post, treat statements with nothing, nobody etc like
did it?
negative statements
Let's go, shall we?
let's = let us
17
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
He'd better do it, hadn't
he?
he had better (no auxiliary)
Here are some mixed examples:
 But you don't really love her, do you?
 This will work, won't it?
 Well, I couldn't help it, could I?
 But you'll tell me if she calls, won't you?
 We'd never have known, would we?
 The weather's bad, isn't it?
 You won't be late, will you?
 Nobody knows, do they?
Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help,
starting with a negative statement. This is quite a friendly/polite way of making
a request. For example, instead of saying "Where is the police station?" (not
very polite), or "Do you know where the police station is?" (slightly more polite),
we could say: "You wouldn't know where the police station is, would you?".
More examples:
 You don't know of any good jobs, do you?
 You couldn't help me with my homework, could you?
 You haven't got $10 to lend me, have you?
Question tags with imperatives
Sometimes we use question tags with imperatives (invitations, orders),
but the sentence remains an imperative and does not require a direct answer.
We use won't for invitations. We use can, can't, will, would for orders.
18
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
imperative + question
notes:
tag
invitation Take a seat, won't you?
Polite
Help me, can you?
quite friendly
quite
Help me, can't you?
order
friendly
(some
irritation?)
Close the door, would
you?
Do it now, will you?
quite polite
less polite
with
Don't forget, will you?
negative
imperatives
only will is possible
Same-way question tags
Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or
negative-positive, it is sometimes possible to use a positive-positive or
negative-negative structure. We use same-way question tags to express
interest, surprise, anger etc, and not to make real questions. Examples:
 So you're having a baby, are you? That's wonderful!
 She wants to marry him, does she? Some chance!
 So you think that's amusing, do you? Think again.
Negative-negative tag questions usually sound rather hostile:
 So you don't like my looks, don't you?
19
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
In Vietnamese, the fixed expression can be substituted by “(có) đúng
không”, “(có) phải không”, “không phải”, “không đúng” combining with
particles like à/ cơ à/ hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư/ vậy sao.
Nevertheless, it is not necessary to pay much attention to whether the
statement in affirmative or negative form, or the subject. The only thing needs
focusing is the item added. Which item should be used is dependent upon the
purposes of the speakers.
 Items like có phải không, đúng không, hả, nhỉ, etc are used
when asking for information or confirmations.
E.g.1: Father has come home, hasn’t he? (Ba về rồi hả?)
E.g.2: Father hasn’t come home, has he? (Ba chưa về ư?)
E.g. 3: This is your bag, isn’t it? (Đây là cặp của bạn phải không?)
 Items like được không, được chứ, etc are usually used for
imperative purpose.
E.g.: Shut up, can’t you? (Câm miệng lại được không?)
This type of the question also expresses speaker’s doubt or emotive
value by adding có phải, phải chăng, có đúng, chắc hẳn preceding the
statement or “sao” at the end.
E.g.1: You met Mr.Vũ yesterday, didn’t you?
(Có phải hôm qua bạn gặp thầy Vũ?)
E.g.2: Marry marries James, doesn’t she?
(Mary cưới James không phải vậy sao?)
Intonation
We can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of
our voice. With rising intonation, it sounds like a real question. But if our
20
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn't require a real
answer:
intonation
You don't know where my wallet is, do you? / rising
It's a beautiful view,
isn't it?
real question
\ falling not a real question
In the other hand, it cannot be based on the intonation patterns of
Vietnamese translation equivalence because Vietnamese people have flat
intonation. It should be dependent upon the items added to the statement as
mentioned earlier, or upon the facial expressions and the context the question
are in.
E.g.: So you have missed the bus again, haven’t you?
(Vây ra em lại trễ xe buýt nữa hả?)
The suggested context of these questions is that they are the teacher’s
response to a pupil’s confession of being late. This use lends to sarcasm.
Answers to tag questions
How do we answer a tag question? Often, we just say Yes or No.
Sometimes we may repeat the tag and reverse it (..., do they? =>Yes, they do).
Be very careful about answering tag questions. In some languages, an
opposite system of answering is used, and non-native English speakers
sometimes answer in the wrong way. This can lead to a lot of confusion!
Answer a tag question according to the truth of the situation. Your answer
reflects the real facts, not (necessarily) the question.
21
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
For example, everyone knows that snow is white. Look at these questions, and
the correct answers:
tag question
Snow is white,
isn't it?
correct
answer
Yes (it is).
The answer is the same
in both cases - because
Snow isn't white,
is it?
Yes it is!
snow IS WHITE!
Notice the change
of stress when the
answerer does not
Snow is black,
isn't it?
No it isn't!
agree
The answer is the same
with
the
questioner.
in both cases - because
Snow isn't black,
is it?
No (it isn't).
snow IS NOT BLACK!
Meanwhile, when Vietnamese say “Đúng / Ừ / etc.” (Yes) to the
translation equivalence, they agree with the statement; when they say “Không /
Không phải / Đâu có / etc.” (No), they disagree with the statement. For
example:
A: Mary xinh lắm phải không? (Mary is beautiful, isn’t she?)
B: Ừ. (Yes, she is beautiful)
Đâu có. (No, she isn’t beautiful)
And:
A: Mary đâu có xinh phải không? (Mary isn’t beautiful, is she?)
B: Ừ. (Yes, she isn’t beautiful)
Không phải. (No, she is beautiful)
22
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
3. Negative Wh- questions:
Wh-questions are another common kind of question. They are also called
information questions because the answer to the question requires more than
just a Yes- or- No answer. In English, most Wh-questions begin with words that
start with the letters “Wh”, and they usually end with falling intonation. Negative
Wh-questions can be formed by putting Wh-element before a negative operator
“not” followed by a subject. Or like negative Yes/No questions negator “not”
can be put in a post-subject position in its full form or pre-subject position in its
short form.
Structure:
 Q-word + auxiliary + not + S + V + O?
 Q-word + auxiliary + S + not + V + O?
E.g.1: What do you not like to eat?
E.g.2: What don’t you like to eat?
In Vietnamese, this type of questions is formed with interrogative
pronouns such as: ai (who/ whom), của ai (whose), gì (what), cái nào (which),
khi nào (when), đâu, ở đâu (where), như thế nào, bằng cách nào (how),
sao, vì sao, tại sao, thế nào (why), bao nhiêu (how much, how many), bao
lâu (how long)… In Vietnamese questions, interrogative pronouns are located
in the place of the word, which it replaces. It is not necessary to invert it to the
beginning of the sentence like in English. In some cases, the interrogative
pronoun is inverted to the beginning of the sentence, or the word, which the
interrogative pronoun replaces, is also inverted to the beginning of the
sentence to emphasize. Therefore, when making negative questions, people
23
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
usually add negative words: không, chẳng, chả … and modal articles: cơ à/
hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư…
Structure:
 Q-word + S + không /chẳng/ chả +V+ O+ (particle)?
 S + không /chẳng/ chả +V+ O+ Q-word +(particle)?
E.g.1: Ở đâu bán hàng xách tay tin cậy hả chị?
E.g.2: Bạn không nhớ đã gặp anh ta khi nào hả?
Negative question with “who”, “what”, “which”….etc. are only used for
requesting information.
E.g.1: What can’t you forget?
Điều gì mà cậu không thể quên?
E.g.2: Which book doesn’t he want to Anh ấy không muốn đọc quyển sách
read?
nào?
E.g.3: Who isn’t the member of class Ai không phải là thành viên của lớp
4A
4A?
Meanwhile, it has much more sense than other questions when going
with “why”. This kind of question can be rendered into Vietnamese by putting
Q-element “tại sao”, “vì sao( mà)”, “tại làm sao”, “tại vì sao” “thế nào
(mà)”, “bởi vì sao”, “sao mà”, “là sao”, “là thế nào” these words can
combine with “vì, do, tại, bởi” to show reasons. And in Vietnamese questions,
we usually use particles “nhỉ, hả, sao, ư, ạ” at the end of the questions to
show the relationship between the speaker and the addressee or to express
our attitude towards something.
E.g.1: Why didn’t you go to Vì sao cậu không đi làm?
work?
Tại sao cậu không đi làm?
Bởi vì sao cậu không đi làm?
Sao mà cậu vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo
E.g.2: Why haven’t you finished cáo?
24
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
the report yet?
Vì sao mà anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản
báo cáo?
Thế nào mà anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản
báo cáo?
Vì thế nào mà anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành
bản báo cáo?
Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là
vì sao?
Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là
thế nào?
Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là
sao nhỉ?
Anh vẫn chưa hoàn thành bản báo cáo là
sao ạ?
As you can see from above examples, in English questions wh- words often
have to come initially, however, in Vietnamese ones, it is not necessary to
invert interrogative words to the beginning or at the end of the questions.
Besides, “why” in negative question can be used to express surprise or
complaint:
E.g.1: Why don’t they give her Vì sao họ không cho cô ấy đi nhờ Surprise
a lift?
nhỉ?
/Họ không cho cô ấy đi nhờ là Complaint
E.g.2: Why can’t
quiet?
you be sao?
Tại sao mày lại không yên lặng
được nhỉ?
25
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
“Why don’t”/ “why doesn’t”/ “why not” + S + bare infinitive can express
suggestion or advice:
E.g.1: Why don’t you go there by taxi?
Sao bạn không đi taxi đến đó?
(implied: You should go there by taxi)
E.g.2: Why don’t we take a break Sao bây giờ chúng ta không nghỉ giải
lao đi nhỉ?
now?
(implies: Let’s take a break now)
“Why didn’t” conveys criticism, showing that what work should have done but
it didn’t:
E.g: Why didn’t you apply for that Sao mày không xin làm việc đó?
job?
Tại sao mày không xin làm việc đó?
(you should have applied for that (Lẽ ra mày đã phải nộp đơn xin làm việc
job)
đó rồi)
We can see that in both languages, Vietnamese and English Q- words are
the main elements in questions and other are pre- suppositions. Contexts play
important roles in questions because they can limit the content of Q-words. But
in English questions, wh- words always come first, on the other hand in
Vietnamese ones, they can come first, jump in the middle or come at the end of
the questions. (However, in some situations, the different positions of
interrogative pronouns in Vietnamese are accepted according to traditional
grammar which focuses on structure, the modern or funtional grammar that
focuses on meaning sometimes does not accept it). One English question word
may refer to more than one Vietnamese question word (Why- “tại sao”, “vì sao(
mà)”, “tại làm sao”, “tại vì sao” “thế nào (mà)”, “bởi vì sao”, “sao mà”, “là sao”,
“là thế nào”, “do đâu”, “vì đâu”, “vì cái gì”). In English questions, auxiliaries are
obligatory, but they are not in Vietnamese ones. Furthermore, there is subjectverb agreement in English questions while it is not necessary in Vietnamese
26
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
ones because Vietnamese verbs have no inflection. In English questions, time
expression are very necessary, they are closely related to verb forms (tenses)
whereas, in Vietnamese they are optional according to the context. In
Vietnamese questions, modal particles “ạ, hử, hả, nhỉ, ấy, đó, thế..” are often
used to express the familiarity and different attitude between the speaker and
the addressee. In Vietnamese questions, people tend to use modal particles in
the final position of the sentence. In English, however, they can use intonation
and stress to express attitude in the way that Vietnamese use end particles.
They also have intonation and stress patterns for meaning and questions etc.
According to some traditional grammar views, in English questions, correct
grammar and order of the words are very important, on the contrary, in
Vietnamese ones meaning is more important than grammar.
4. Negative alternative questions:
An alternative question is a question that presents two or more possible
answers and presupposes that only one is true. In form, alternative questions
are similar to yes/no interrogatives, in starting with the finite operator and not
containing a question word. Alternative questions offer two or more options for
responses. Alternative questions, like Yes/No questions, ask on the whole idea
expressed by the clauses as options. A positive Yes/No question can be
converted into an alternative question by adding or not or a matching of a
negative clause:
E.g.1: Are you coming or aren’t you coming?
E.g.2: Are you coming or not?
The first form is not common. The example above might be used if the speaker
was impatient because the addressee was hesitating too long. Even so, the
form that has undergone conjunction reduction would be more likely:
27
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
→ Are you coming or aren’t you?
However, sometimes alternative questions may be concentrated on part of the
whole clause.
E.g.3: Did Sandy want Coke or iced tea?
It is well known that interrogatives such as (3) are ambiguous between two
interpretations, polar question (yes/ no question) interpretation and alternative
question interpretation. When it is interpreted as a polar question, what Bill
asked Sandy is whether or not she wanted one of the two drinks. In this case,
Bill is indifferent as to which of the two drinks Sandy wants. When it is
interpreted as an alternative question, what Bill asked is whether Sandy
wanted Coke or Sandy wanted iced tea. In actual utterance, different
intonations disambiguate the two readings.
When we turn to negative questions, we often add “not” after subject.
Structure:
 Negative Yes/ No question, a OR b?
 Negative wh- question, a OR b?
E.g.1: Did John not drink coffee or tea?
E.g.2: Which car wouldn’t you like, the black one or the white one?
Alternative question gives more than one alternative choice already
presented in the question. The Vietnamese usually use one of the connections
like: hay, hay là, hoặc before the last alternative in this kind of sentence.
When making negative, some negative words like: không, chẳng, chả is
added:
Structure:
 S + không /chẳng/ chả +…… +a hay/ hay là/ hoặc b?
 Q-word + S + không /chẳng/ chả +V+ a + hay/ hay là/ hoặc b?
28
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
 S + không /chẳng/ chả +…….+ Q-word, a+ hay/ hay là/ hoặc b?
E.g.1: Anh không thích cái xe màu đỏ hay màu vàng?
E.g.2: Cái áo nào chị không thích, áo cổ chữ V hay cổ lọ?
E.g3: Cậu không thích học bơi hay học võ?
IV. Implication for teaching and learning
1. Common mistakes made by students in learning negative
English questions:
 Students don’t often use negative questions and don’t know in which
situation they can use English negative questions.
They think they can only use negative questions to seek for agreement or to
check information.
 They make mistake in distinguishing the negative tag question and
positive tag question and how to respond correctly.
 They put “auxiliary + not” after subject (wrong word order) in negative
wh-questions and alternative ones.
E.g.: “What he doesn’t like?” instead of “What doesn’t he like?”
or “Why you didn’t come to work last week?”
instead of “Why didn’t you come to work last week?”
 The biggest mistake is subject- verb concord.
E.g.: “She like coffee, don’t she?” instead of “She likes coffee, doesn’t she?”
2. Some suggestions to correct common mistakes:
Learning a foreign language is very difficult because of its complication let
alone mastering it. Therefore, students should be motivated from the
beginning. How to make students feel free to learn can be a hard quest but it’s
29
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
the point. Teachers should pay attention to teaching language in use instead of
for exam. Only when learners see the importance and usefulness of what they
explore and be comfortable, they know the way to it themselves.
Each country has their own cultures so the way they speak is different from
people in foreign countries, especially the way of using and asking questions.
Language learners tend to transfer their forms and meanings and their
distribution of forms and meaning of their native language to the foreign and
tend to make questions as in their native language that leads to a lot of
mistakes. However making mistakes is very common in the learning process.
Teachers used to be very afraid of their students making mistakes. They tried
to make their students remember correct forms by heart and use language
accurately. However, it is now widely agreed that language is no longer learnt
by this method. It has been proved that learners have to experience mistakes,
obtain the rules by themselves, try them out naturally in everyday
communicative activities. Therefore, first and foremost thing language teachers
should bear in mind is that making mistakes is natural and unavoidable and
should not be worried about the mistakes made by students. On the other
hand, mistakes can make us recognize what they have and have not learnt.
Also, from these mistakes we can figure out reasons for these problems and
think of the most suitable method to help them achieve their own targets.
Generally, during the process of learning English, Vietnamese learners may
face with some problems and difficulties when dealing with English negative
questions. Teachers should pay particular attention to structural, usage
similarities and differences. Students must be aware of the structures of each
type of questions and know how to use English negative questions for different
purposes, not only for asking information. After giving them the usage and
formations of negative questions, teachers should draw students’ attention to
30
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
differences between two languages in a suitable way so that students can have
a clear distinction between two negative question systems and use them
correctly
As a rule, a lot of practice is certainly needed for students to master in using
negative English questions. Teacher can give students some lists of questions
for students to be familiar with the special questions so that they can know the
way to respond and use correct intonation. Moreover, creating chances for
learners to study real life situations can be a very good help. When students
have much time interract with their friends in class, they can handle the
conversation more smoothly, avoid being confused, embarrassed in real life.
During these oral practice they can cause a lot of mistakes but once again
mistakes is inevitable and helpful. It is a must that teachers should help and let
students correct themselves. Learning by themselves, students can remember
longer and better.
However, in order to achieve the success, it is necessary to have attempts
of both teachers and learners. Teachers have to sefl-improve constantly to be
sourceful and active fecilitators. Likewise, students must do their best to learn
and try to read a lot of books to know much more about the target language
English, particularly negative questions. Teaching and learning process needs
both hands of teacher and learn. Without one of the two, the studying progress
is unsuccessful and ineffective.
In conclusion, question is the complicated and diversified aspect. This
makes the learners often get confused, be in trouble when using or respond to
the questions. However, question is a common linguistic feature, plays an
important role and is used widely in both literature and daily communication. I
personally think a contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese
negative questions will be helpful for both teachers and learners. With the
31
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
information in this paper, hope that students can lessen their difficulties in
learning English and language teachers can find some more ways to apply for
their English teaching.
V. Reference
1. Books:
 Le, Quang Thiem. (2004). Nghiên cứu đối chiếu các ngôn ngữ. Hanoi:
Hanoi National University Publisher.
 Diep, Quang Ban. (2005). Ngu phap tieng Viet. HCM City: Education
Publishing House.
 Sally Wehmeier. (2005). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary-7th
Edition. UK: Oxford University Press.
 Swan, Michael. (2000). Basic English Usage. The UK: Oxford University
Press.
2. Websites:
 http://vietnamese-learning.com/92/vietnamese-negative-questions
 http://www.mautailieu.com/m83/negative-questions-english-vietnamesecontrastive-analysis-505.html
 http://en.allexperts.com/q/English-Second-Language-1815/Englishnegative-questions-1.htm
 http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/19011-respondingnegative-questions.html
 http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/usage/negative-forms.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative_word
32
Negative questions in Enlish and Vietnamese
Lê Thị Ánh Dung
 http://www.globaledu.com.vn/vietnam/show_page.php?pageID=grammar
Online&IDGrm=NP1106573203&IDGrmSub=&type=CB&nop=1
 http://vietnamese-grammar.group.shef.ac.uk/index.php
33