🇬🇧 TALKING TO BABIES AND KIDS #1 👶
Hello my friends. So, this is the 1st post in a small series where I want to teach you some very native ways of talking to your babies and small kids in English. With the growing trend of parents wanting to raise their kids on English, there are some serious gaps... which I shall fill. 😎 Each post will deal with a specific area. Today's one is a something not even CPE students use....
👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 QUESTION TAGS FOR SWEETNESS 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
✅ Points to remember:
👶 Question Tags are culturally specific and very difficult for learners to use properly which is why they're practically never used.
🧒 When question tags with babies/small kids (can be with VYL/YL) are used, it is to sound sweet as if you expect the child to agree with you.
👶 The tone (baby speak) is what makes you sound soft but when using the question tag, intonation does NOT go up (unlike a question) but the auxiliary is stressed instead.
🧒 Where I use 'darling' in the examples below, you can swap that for any 'puppy name' you wish to use with your child.
✅ Examples you can use:
👉🏻 You're such a good girl/boy, AREN'T you my darling?
👉🏻 You're absolutely gorgeous, AREN'T you, my darling?
👉🏻 Oh such a teeny-tiny little lady/princess, AREN'T you my love?
👉🏻 You're such a handsome little man, AREN'T you my boy?
👉🏻 Wow! You have finished every drop, HAVEN'T you my darling?
👉🏻 Oh, someone has filled their nappy, HAVEN'T they my darling?
👉🏻 It seems there is some evilness in that nappy, ISN'T there?
👉🏻 It looks like someone wants to sleep, DON'T they my darling?
✅✅ You can even double-up to sound sweeter (no textbook will ever teach you this) The 2nd question tag is stressed even more and as we say it, we get physically closer and more emotional:
👉🏻 You're so clever, AREN'T you my darling? AREN'T you?
👉🏻 My little girl/boy is absolutely famished, ISN'T she/he? ISN'T she/he?
👉🏻 My daughter is the most beautiful girl in the world, ISN'T she? ISN'T she? Yes, she is! Yes, she is!
❓👫 You can write some of your own examples in the comment section below.... CAN'T you? CAN'T you? Yes, you can Russians! Yes, you can! 🤗
🕺 Next post: Using 3rd person to be sweet
❗ Before some of you descend into hissy-fits for me having written in the intro: to raise your kids ON English, not in English, it means: to raise your kids ON breast milk, formula, ON a strict diet of meat etc. English can be used in this context too. So, now you know, no wetting yourselves.
