Can you tag someone in an Instagram Story if they have a private account?

Yes, you can tag someone in an Instagram Story even if they have a private account, but there are some limitations:

1. **They need to approve your follow request:** Since their account is private, they have to approve your follow request before you can tag them in your story. If they haven't accepted your follow request, you won't be able to tag them.

2. **They can choose not to be tagged:** Even if they follow you back and have accepted your follow request, they have the option to prevent people from tagging them in stories. They can adjust this setting in their account privacy settings.

If they've accepted your follow request and haven't disabled the ability to be tagged in stories, you should be able to tag them as you would any other user. Just follow the usual steps for tagging someone in an Instagram Story, and their username should appear in the search results when you type it in the mention sticker.