# yes (in response to a negative question)



## linguist786

In your language, do you have a word which means "Yes", but to a _negative_ question? For example:

"Do you not have a computer?"
"I _do_!" 
(That's the nearest we can get to it in English!)

In French, they would say "*si*", in German "*doch*", in Arabic "*بلى*" (*balaa*)

I don't think there is one in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati. (correct me if there is!)


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## Miguelillo 87

In Spanish you cannot say yes to a negative question 
¿No tienes computadora verdad?
No ,no tengo
It's the translation of your pharase.


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## MingRaymond

In Mandarin and Cantonese,
we will say
你不想去？／你唔想去？ (Don't you want to go?)
是的，我不想去。／係，我唔想去。(Yes, I don't want to go)

We will first answer the question. In this example, because I don't want to go. I will say 'Yes' first and then add 'I don't want to go'. If I want to go, I will say 不是／唔係 (No), 我想去(I want to go).

Ming


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## Zanos

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> In Spanish you cannot say yes to a negative question
> ¿No tienes computadora verdad?
> No ,no tengo
> It's the translation of your pharase.



And what do you say if you DO have a "computadora"?


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## ukuca

In Turkish it's possible to answer "yes" to a negative question, for example:
*- Zili sen çalmadın mı?* (Didn't you ring the bell?)
*> Evet, ben çaldım* (=Yes, I did.)
> *Hayır, ben çalmadım.* (=No, I didn't)
or;
- *Evde değil misin? *(=Aren't you at home?)
> *Evet, evdeyim.* (=Yes, I'm home.)
> *Hayır, evde değilim.* (=No, I'm not at home)
It's a little bit confusing at the beginning but later you get used to it


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## jealindgar

Zanos said:
			
		

> And what do you say if you DO have a "computadora"?



pues siguiendo el hilo de mi compañero, si la pregunta es la misma...
*¿No tienes computadora verdad?* 
y la respuesta es que sí la tengo, sería
*Sí, sí tengo* (bueno, o simplemente sí)


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## Honour

afaik in french they use *si* to reply a negative question with an affirmative answer. Otherwise they use *non* or *oui*

tu n'as pas un ordinateur ?
*si*, j'en ai un.
*non*, je n'en ai pas un.

as tu un ordinateur?
*oui*, j'en ai un.
*non, *je n'en ai pas un.

NB: corrigez mes fautes svp

Edit: i haven't seen the bottom lines of the first post, anyway, the examples may be helpful.


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## Tisia

The Persian case:

(To) ba ma nami'ai?    -_you don't come with us?_
Chera, miam.            - _yes I come._ 
though 'Chera' means 'why', but for giving a positive answer to a negative question, we mostly use 'chera' for 'yes'.

but: 
(To) ba ma mi'ai?    - _do you come with us?_
Aré, (miam).          - _yes (I come)_

Regards
Tisia


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## gorilla

In Hungarian it is "de" or "de igen":

Becsuktad az ajtót? -- Be. OR Igen. = Lit: In-closed-you the door? -- In. OR Yes.
Nem csuktad be az ajtót? -- *De*. OR *De igen*. =Lit. Not closed-you in the door? -- ~I did.


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## dahut

In Norwegian "jo".

Har du _*ikke*_ datamaskin? Don't you have a computer?
*Jo*, det har jeg. Yes, I do.


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## panjabigator

linguist786 said:
			
		

> I don't think there is one in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati. (correct me if there is!)


tere paas computer nahii hai?
haaN, hai!

is that what you mean?


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## linguist786

Well ye lol, kind of. That just shows there's no "special" word for it. "haan" means yes _anyway_. (Even in a positive question)


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## panjabigator

Telugu has two different words for no (I think)...maybe Shaloo can explain!


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## karuna

In Latvian you cannot give a yes or no answer to such questions as "You do not have a computer?". Instead you can give a short answer with a verb *nav *(do not have) or *ir *(I have). You can 
_
– Vai tev nav datora? _(You do not have a computer?).
_– Jā, man nav _(Yes, I don't have) is the same as _Nē, man nav _(No, I don't have) therefore _jā _or _nē _is omited in most cases, despite what they teach in school about polite speach in full sentences.


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## Whodunit

I don't think that there's such a special word for "doch"/"si" in Czech. They use "*ano*" (= and), too. However, there's a German word (allerdings!) that can express the same, but with more emphasis. This would be "*ovšem*" in Czech.


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## linguist786

Really? (Allerdings?) Can you give an example?


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## Whodunit

It's mostly used after the affirmative "doch":

A: Wo ist meine Federmappe? Hast du sie mir noch nicht wiedergegeben?
B: Doch, *allerdings*, das habe ich. Du musst sie verschlampert haben.

_A: Where's my pencil case? Haven't you given it back to me yet?
B: Yes, I do have. You must have lost it._


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## linguist786

Very good! Thanks for the example. Makes things clearer 
I didn't know it could be used like that.


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## kvajak

Deutsch: doch
Norsk: jo
Chinese: mostly no adverb like "yes" and "no" for the answer. Often people asks negative question with a sentence. i.e. “你不去吗？”--“去啊，怎么不去？”(literal English translation:"won't u go?" "go, why not?")


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## Flaminius

Japanese:

Q; Kompuutaa, motte masen yone? 
"(I expect) you don't have a computer?"

A1; Iie, motte masu-yo.  In case the speaker is in possession of one.
A2; Hai, motte imasen.   In case he does not have one.

Iie is, "No" and Hai is, "Yes."  The Yes/No answer is given to the verasity of the expectation of the interlocuter.


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## Maja

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> In Spanish you cannot say yes to a negative question
> ¿No tienes computadora verdad?
> No ,no tengo
> It's the translation of your pharase.


Same in Serbian. Double, or sometimes even triple negation is allowed. 
So if smo says : 
"*Zar nemaš kompjuter?*"(Don't you have a computer?)
The answer would be:
"*Ne, nemam*" (No I don't), or just "*Ne*" (No).


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## optimistique

In Dutch you would say *'jawel'*, which is a composition of the words '_ja_' (yes), and the adverb '_wel_', about which I had started a thread some time ago
. You could also just say '*wel'.*

If you say '*ja*' to a negative question, then there's only confusion, because people still don't know what you mean ('yes, I don't have one' or 'yes, I do have one'???). It's usual to say '_Nee_' (No), in the first case (No, I don't have one - Nee, ik heb er geen) or 'Jawel' in the second (Jawel, ik heb er wel een).

'Ja' is always a wrong answer (but as you can tell from my comment, it still appears sometimes, by native speakers!). Although personnally I'm of the opinion that people shouldn't ask unnecessary negative questions  (at least not in Dutch).


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## aurette

We have that in Romanian too:

Nu ai calculator? Don't you have a computer?
*Ba da!* Yes, i do/ Si que j'en ai un.

*ba *is a used in some parts of the country to say *no*. 
example: -L-ai vazut? Have you seen him? -Ba! No! 
(this is rather used in the villages, not in standard Romanian)


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## ceann-feachd

It's so much simpler in Gaelic. Where there are no direct words for yes or no.

*Nach eil thu a' dol a dh'Alba?
*Are you not going to Scotland?

To which, the possible answers would be.
*Tha. *(Positive form of verb)
Yes, I am.


or *Chan eil* (Negative form of verb)
No, I'm not.

Something like...

*Nach faod mi dol?
*May I not go?

_Nach faod_ was the verb used to ask the question, negative interrogative form. 
You can answer with

*Faodaidh* (positive form)
Yes, you may.

Or *Chan fhaod* (negative form)
No, you may not.

A lot fewer opportunities for confusion when it all boils down.


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## mytwolangs

WOW flood of different langs!

In English, the "si" has no real translation the way it does in french (to contradict a negative question)

In English, we tend to change tone instead of use a differnt word - 

"You don't have a computer" 
"Yes I DO" (politely though and emphasizing the cotradicting word like "do")

"Do you have a computer?" 
"Yes I do" All words with equal emphasis.

Because English sometimes lacks words that say French may have, our language tends to convey by emphasizing certain words to change context. 

Another example - When someone tells you good news - 
"That is GREAT"
When someone tells bad news - 
"THAT is great" (meaning it actually sucks.)


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