吗 ma (a question denominator, used as a modal particle to denote questions - untranslatable). Another pattern is to combine affirmation and negation, as can be done in Chinese, for example as 對不對 duì bù duì (Correct or not?); or Vietnamese đúng không? (Correct, no?). Some languages have words whose only function is as a question tag. In Scots and certain dialects of English, eh? functions this way. French has hein?, Southern German dialects have gell? (derived from a verb meaning to be valid) and Brazilian Portuguese has né? (actually a colloquial contraction of não é, literally isn't it, while é?, pronounced much like English eh?, would have a different intended meaning, that of English right?), Hungarian uses "ugye?". Grammatically regular forms In several languages, the tag question is built around the standard interrogative form. In English and the Celtic languages, this interrogative agrees with the verb in the main clause, whereas in other languages the structure has fossilised into a fixed form, such as the French n'est-ce pas ? (literally "isn't it?"). Grammatically productive tag forms Grammatically productive tag forms are formed in the same way as simple questions, referring back to the verb in the main clause and agreeing in time and person (where the language has such agreement). The tag may include a pronoun, such as in English, or may not, as is the case in Scottish Gaelic. If the rules of forming interrogatives require it, the verb in the tag may be an auxiliary, as in English. Punctuation In most languages, a tag question is set off from the sentence by a comma(,). In Spanish, where the beginnings of questions are marked with an inverted question mark, it is only the tag, not the whole sentence, which is placed within the question bracket: Estás cansado, ¿verdad? (You're tired, aren't you?). In English English tag questions, when they have the grammatical form of a question, are atypically complex, because they vary according to at least three factors: the choice of auxiliary, the negation and the intonation pattern. This is unique among the Germanic languages, but the Celtic languages operate in a very similar way. For the theory that English has borrowed its system of tag questions from Brittonic, see Brittonicisms in English. Auxiliary The English tag question is made up of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun. The auxiliary must agree with the tense, aspect and modality