Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ed]

The sentence "you work hard" is followed by the tag question "don't you?"

how about if the sentence is "you must work hard"

Is the tag question "don't you?" or "mustn't you"



or -------------------

[tall_dave]

[edwardcatflap]

Grammatically it should be 'mustn't you' but the context is strange as by using 'must' in this way you are making a deduction about someone and then asking them for confirmation that your deduction is correct. However by then adding 'mustn't you' you are asking them to make a deduction themselves about something they presumably know. So functionally 'don't you' would be more suitable as you are then asking them to say whether something is true or not, instead of requiring a deduction. Complicated. As far as what people actually say I'd suggest they either say 'you work hard don't you' or just 'you must work hard.'

[Globutron]

I'd be happier to just say 'You must work hard' without the 'mustn't you', and have the tone of voice say it all.

Though if I had to choose, Mustn't you? works for me.

[tall_dave]

[ed]

yesterday afternoon a Korean teacher asked me this question and it's been busting my brain since

[jugbandjames]

It's "mustn't you" but it may sound weird because you don't really say that contraction very often in many dialects of American English. We'll usually use shouldn't when we could use mustn't as in "You shouldn't take that street" instead of "You mustn't take that street." If you substitute a different aux verb it sounds more natural, like:

"You should work hard, shouldn't you?"
"You could work hard, couldn't you?"

I'm guessing you're American since it sounds weird to you too.

[tall_dave]

[ed]

thanks everyone. I'll let the korean teacher know then get it out of my head with with a few beer tonight

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

[surfinROK]

Something nobody else has mentioned...

It depends on the context. "Must" is a modal verb. It can be used for different purposes. Must can express certainty (epistemic) or necessity (deontic).

"You must work hard, don't you?"

"You must work hard, mustn't you?"

These sentences can both be correct depending on the context. The former is correct if one is expressing that it is certain that the subject ("you") has a strong work ethic.

The latter is correct if the the speaker is stating that it is a necessity or obligation to work hard. Again, depending on the context, the subject "you" in this case may be an individual (singular "you") or a group (plural "you").

Hope that helps. Cheers.

These websites give clarification:
Easy reference: http://www.englishpage.com/modals/must.html
Complex reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_verb

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

[Globutron]

[jugbandjames]

[surfinROK]

Hi jugbandjames,

You do have a valid point, which others did point out earlier, in that Americans are not likely to use "mustn't" as a tag question. It's very British, eh? I mentioned epistemic because it relates to a possible definition of the word must. Let's look at the original question again: