How to say Yes in Chinese

By Felipe / Last updated October 22, 2024

What are usually the first words you learn in a new language? "Hello", "thank you", "yes", and "no" are surely among them. Many people who know nothing about Chinese still know how to say the first two: 你好 (nǐhǎo) and 谢谢/謝謝 (xièxiè).

But what about the last two: "Yes" and "no"? Ready to get your mind blown? Chinese does not have a direct equivalent for "yes" and "no". But then how do you say "yes" and "no" in Chinese?

Today, let's have a look at how you can say "yes" in Chinese without actually saying "yes". If you want to know how to say "no", check out this blog post.

Rephrasing the question

I could just throw 10 different ways to say "yes" in Chinese at you, but let's approach this a bit more systematically. Even English has many ways to say "yes", depending on the context. For example, "yes", "sure", "of course", and "absolutely" are all affirmative responses.

So the correct question is not "how do you say 'yes' in Chinese?" but rather "how do you express affirmation in Chinese?". Let go of the urge to directly translate "yes" and instead focus on expressing the general idea of agreement or confirmation.

Repeat the verb in question

In many situations, you can simply repeat the verb in the question to express affirmation. Let's look at a few examples:

• Are you American? - Am.

  你是美国人吗/你是美國人嗎？(nǐ shì měiguó rén ma?) - 是 (shì)

• Do you like coffee? - Like.

  你喜欢咖啡吗/你喜歡咖啡嗎？(nǐ xǐhuan kāfēi ma?) - 喜欢/喜歡 (xǐhuan)

• Are you at home? - Am.

  你在家吗/你在家嗎？(nǐ zài jiā ma?) - 在 (zài)

• Is it raining? - Raining.

  下雨了吗/下雨了嗎？(xià yǔ le ma?) - 下雨了 (xià yǔ le)

• Do you want to go? - Want.

  你要去吗/你要去嗎？(nǐ yào qù ma?) - 要 (yào)

• Can I come in? - Can.

  我可以进来吗/我可以進來嗎？(wǒ kěyǐ jìnlái ma?) - 可以 (kěyǐ)

• Have you been to China before? - Been.

  你去过中国吗/你去過中國嗎？(nǐ qùguò zhōngguó ma?) - 去过/去過 (qùguò)

Repeat the adjective in question

If the question is about an adjective and does not contain a verb, you can repeat the adjective to express affirmation, usually with an added 很 (hěn) before the adjective.

• Is it cold outside? - Cold.

  外面冷吗/外面冷嗎？(wàimiàn lěng ma?) - 很冷 (hěn lěng)

• Is the metro station far from here? - Far.

  地铁站离这里远吗/地鐵站離這裡遠嗎？(dìtiě zhàn lí zhèlǐ yuǎn ma?) - 很远/遠 (hěn yuǎn)

• Is the food at that restaurant tasty? - Tasty.

  那家餐厅好吃吗/那家餐廳好吃嗎？(nà jiā cāntīng hǎochī ma?) - 很好吃 (hěn hǎochī)

Confirm that something is correct

If the question is about a fact, you can use 对 (duì) to confirm that it is correct. This also works to simply agree with a factual statement. (In Taiwan, you can say 对啊/對啊 (duì a) to sound like a local. They'll love it.)

对/對 literally means "correct". You can also use 没错/沒錯 (méi cuò), which literally means "not wrong". (For some reason you can't say 没对/沒對 (méi duì) to mean "not right" though.)

You might respond with 对/對 or 没错/沒錯 to the following:

• Is this your book? - Correct.

  这是你的书吗/這是你的書嗎？(zhè shì nǐ de shū ma?) - 对/對 (duì)

• It's raining. - Not wrong.

  下雨了/下雨了 (xià yǔ le) - 没错/沒錯 (méi cuò)

• Do we start the meeting at 3 pm? - Correct.

  我们3点开会吗/我們3點開會嗎？(wǒmen sān diǎn kāihuì ma?) - 对/對 (duì)

Agree to doing something

There are a couple of ways to agree to doing something:

• 好 (hǎo) - good, okay

  There are variations of this to express how much you want to do something

  • 好吧 (hǎo ba) - reluctantly
  • 好的 (hǎo de) - neutral
  • 好啊 (hǎo a) - enthusiastically

• 可以 (kěyǐ) - can, okay

• 行 (xíng) - okay, sure

• 没问题/沒問題 (méi wèntí) - no problem

These are often used to agree to a request or proposal. Examples could be:

• Can you help me? - Can.

  你可以帮我吗/你可以幫我嗎？(nǐ kěyǐ bāng wǒ ma?) - 可以 (kěyǐ)

• Let's go to the movies. - Okay. (enthusiastically)

  我们去看电影吧/我們去看電影吧。(wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng ba) - 好啊 (hǎo a)

嗯 (èn): The answer to everything

Now, let me introduce to you the most versatile word in the Chinese language: 嗯 (èn). It can be used to express agreement, acknowledgment, understanding, or simply to show that you're listening. It's like "uh-huh" or "mm-hmm" in English and you can use it to answer every example question in this blog post.

However, excessive use of 嗯 can make you sound like you're not paying attention or don't care about the conversation. Use some of the other phrases to show that you're engaged.

It's also very easy to get used to it so much that you start using it in your native language. That happened to me and I didn't even notice until my parents pointed it out.

Final thoughts

From the get-go, Chinese doesn't make it easy for Chinese learners. In addition to tones, characters, and a different grammar structure, there isn't even a simple way to say yes.

The good news? You now know how to express affirmation in Chinese in most situations you will encounter in daily life. As you practice more, these phrases will start to feel so natural that you'll miss them in your native language!

See you next time! (The only correct response to this is 好啊 and a click on the Subscribe button 😉)