[English] Is it correct to put “no” (or ''right'',''yes'') at the end of a question?

[James29]

This is very common in my opinion and it is totally correct... and very useful too! I use it all the time when I am talking with people and I have to ask them questions and I don't want them to blabber on and on... or avoid answering the question. It is a good way to get the person to simply answer "yes", "no" or "correct" when you want them to give you that sort of short/fast answer. It is a very common interviewing technique. It works well with naughty kids too!

[Cainntear]

Plain old "...yes?" and "...no?" are dangerous. If you don't make yourself sound foreign, you may well come across as being rather pushy and rude.

The only simple question tag that sounds neutral is "right?" -- otherwise go for the more complicated "isn't it?"/"aren't they?"/"will you?"/"can't you?"/"do you?" type that repeats the verb of the main sentence. It's worth learning to do this, as I find that students who learn to do it are much better at handling questions, negatives etc.

[StringerBell]

Yes - but only if you want to sound like an Italian or Spaniard speaking English.

I'm a native English speaker and I say this kind of thing all time!

But what do I know, right?

[Iversen]

This restaurant has the nicest staff, no?
2015 was the year that Cleveland finally won a championship, right?

To me those 'yes' or 'no' or 'right' tags are possible, but they have have a snappy and assertive tone to them which you don't find in the corresponding expressions in for instance Spanish - or in other words, they sound like the speaker is antecipating the answer from the other person and might be at least surprised and possibly offended if the answer wasn't the expected one. If you granted the other person the right to have another opinion you would use some other formulation (like for instance "isn't is (so)?")

As for "nicest staff" I wouldn't be surprised to hear it (even without a direct comparison involving some other restaurant with less nice staff), but it sounds somewhat affected and superficial to me.

But I'm not a native Anglophone so don't trust me- yes/no/right ?

[Chung]

This restaurant has the nicest staff, no?

2015 was the year that Cleveland finally won a championship, right?

I don't know if Spanish just completely corrupted this section of my brain because structures like these are very common in Spanish

This restaurant has the nicest staff, no?
2015 was the year that Cleveland finally won a championship, right?

To me those 'yes' or 'no' or 'right' tags are possible, but they have have a snappy and assertive tone to them which you don't find in the corresponding expressions in for instance Spanish - or in other words, they sound like the speaker is antecipating the answer from the other person and might be at least surprised and possibly offended if the answer wasn't the expected one. If you granted the other person the right to have another opinion you would use some other formulation (like for instance "isn't is (so)?")

As for "nicest staff" I wouldn't be surprised to hear it (even without a direct comparison involving some other restaurant with less nice staff), but it sounds somewhat affected and superficial to me.

But I'm not a native Anglophone so don't trust me- yes/no/right ?

I fully agree.

Using tag questions in English can sometimes come off badly or signal a certain insecurity to the audience especially if they're perceived to be used too often. You could be forgiven around here if you were known to be a non-native speaker, but that'd work best if it were clear that'd be the case. I'd tell you to use them sparingly, and even then try to use slightly longer versions as mentioned by Cainntear (e.g. "isn't it?" "hasn't s/he?" etc.).

The most grating examples for me are when they're used so often that they shift from signalling a way to prevent a misunderstanding to a rhetorical question. Encountering youthful/millenial-like amirite? after describing something banal makes me gnash my teeth. I wonder why someone is still fishing for my agreement with his/her statement since the truth of what was expressed should have been evident. On the other hand, I may quickly realize that the statement is dubious (if not wrong) from the get-go and so would feel insulted that I'm then being nudged to go against my judgement with that tag question. It's a little bit like people (especially politicians) who sometimes tack on "...and rightly so" to a sentence or like to start sentences with "Clearly..." or "Obviously...". The attempt at emphasis or confirmation can come off as patronizing.

On a related note, have you ever noticed how often Trump uses the tag question "...OK?" at his rallies? It's as if he's trying to emphasize the truthfulness of his statement but instead comes off to me like some unsure teenager with that "...OK?".

[golyplot]

I might end a question with "right?" when speaking colloquially, but yes/no tagging sounds strange to me.

As far as "the nicest staff", I wouldn't say it myself, but I wouldn't consider it to be incorrect either. I agree with the person who said it sounded affected.

[Beli Tsar]

To me those 'yes' or 'no' or 'right' tags are possible, but they have have a snappy and assertive tone to them which you don't find in the corresponding expressions in for instance Spanish - or in other words, they sound like the speaker is antecipating the answer from the other person and might be at least surprised and possibly offended if the answer wasn't the expected one. If you granted the other person the right to have another opinion you would use some other formulation (like for instance "isn't is (so)?") ?

Native English speaker (and professional editor) here:
this is absolutely right. There's nothing technically wrong with this usage - ending a question with 'no' could sound a bit foreign, especially if said with a bit of flamboyance, but it could equally sound completely native, somewhat posh, depending on tone. It is certainly colloquial - you wouldn't write it, or use it in public speaking, except perhaps in joking self-deprecation.

It will almost always sound rude or pushy. In English it is polite not to assert your opinions that strongly!

Even if we usually do, on forums at least...