He had gone out, hadn’t he? vs He had gone out, didn’t he?

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. The first phrase, 'he had gone out, hadn't he?', is used in British English to form a tag question. The second phrase, 'he had gone out, didn't he?', is used in American English for the same purpose. The choice between 'hadn't he' and 'didn't he' depends on the regional variation of English being used.

Last updated: April 01, 2024 • 886 views

He had gone out, hadn’t he?

This phrase is correct and commonly used in British English to form a tag question.

This phrase is used in British English to confirm information or seek agreement. It is a tag question that reflects the tense of the main clause.

Show examples from the web [+]

Already in the morning he had gone out without saying anything to me.
One night he had gone out drinking... and had found his mother in his godfather's arms.
He was an unemployed workman, his wife earned a living cleaning staircases around their neighbourhood, and he had gone out to buy some bread to have for breakfast with his four children.
When we were on the field trip, I thought he was like us and trying to escape, so I told him we were planning it, but that was before I knew he had gone out there to join the gnomes.
I had gone out to bring the cows in.
I thought Miss Ives had gone out.
Julia had gone out... on the water alone.
The pizzazz had gone out of our lives.
Your lamp had gone out before the blaze began.
I had gone out to tend the goats.
Diana asked if someone had gone out last night.
So Jeff went out, and he stayed out long enough to make them believe he had gone back to the office.
Ginger and I had gone out a few times.
It was like being in a car where the steering had gone out of control and you were going towards the edge of a cliff.
I didn't want to go home until me mam had gone out with her boyfriend.
It was as if the light had gone out in our house.
Thomas and Eliot had gone out to play in the woods down by Hanger's Pond.
If I come in the normal way you... would have told Sellers to say that you had gone out or abroad or something.
This was the first time that anyone had gone out and asked ordinary people how they thought and felt.
because the men had gone out to hunt dinosaurs.

He had gone out, didn’t he?

This phrase is correct and commonly used in American English to form a tag question.

This phrase is used in American English to confirm information or seek agreement. It is a tag question that reflects the tense of the main clause.

Show examples from the web [+]

Already in the morning he had gone out without saying anything to me.
One night he had gone out drinking... and had found his mother in his godfather's arms.
He was an unemployed workman, his wife earned a living cleaning staircases around their neighbourhood, and he had gone out to buy some bread to have for breakfast with his four children.
When we were on the field trip, I thought he was like us and trying to escape, so I told him we were planning it, but that was before I knew he had gone out there to join the gnomes.
I had gone out to bring the cows in.
I thought Miss Ives had gone out.
Julia had gone out... on the water alone.
The pizzazz had gone out of our lives.
Your lamp had gone out before the blaze began.
I had gone out to tend the goats.
Diana asked if someone had gone out last night.
So Jeff went out, and he stayed out long enough to make them believe he had gone back to the office.
Ginger and I had gone out a few times.
It was like being in a car where the steering had gone out of control and you were going towards the edge of a cliff.
I didn't want to go home until me mam had gone out with her boyfriend.
It was as if the light had gone out in our house.
Thomas and Eliot had gone out to play in the woods down by Hanger's Pond.
If I come in the normal way you... would have told Sellers to say that you had gone out or abroad or something.
This was the first time that anyone had gone out and asked ordinary people how they thought and felt.
because the men had gone out to hunt dinosaurs.

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

He had gone out, hadn’t he? vs He had gone out, didn’t he?