Chi ZhangHow to say yes in Chinese is an extremely important point to learn. However, this is also one of the most often underestimated expression. And no, this is not one of those videos or articles about 8 ways to say yes in Chinese. Or “How to say yes in Chinese to sound like a pro” that are more interested in your clicks than really helping you.
NO, I want to build about common sense with this article, about how to express the word “yes” you are trying to say in Chinese correctly. For that purpose, I divided them into 5 categories that require different “yeses” in Chinese.
For those whore are more interested in watching examples and pronunciations, you can watch this video here on my channel “Deepling” on Youtube.
1. Why you should learn How to say yes in Chinese
Now let me get one thing straight: The word “yes” you are looking for in Chinese, does not exist. Because there is no such overall expression as “yes” or “no” in Chinese. There are 5 different categories when an answer “yes” or “no” is required. In English, they work identically: it’s either, or and they always work. But in Chinese, they work differently, based on the category they belong to. These 5 categories are:
- Questions about a fact
- Questions about a status
- Offers rather than questions
- Requests rather than questions
- Questions of choices
In English, you can answer them all with a single word “yes”. And if you are googling “how to say yes in Chinese”, you are looking for a word that works exactly as how yes works in English. Which, again, does not exist.
In English, it’s always about right or wrong. But in Chinese, it’s often not about right or wrong. You need to find out the intention of the question.
So before you start gathering all possible ways to say yes in Chinese, the first thing you need is to understand what “yes” really means in these different cases. This is what I call “user intent”: Why did someone just ask you a question like this? What was their purpose?
Let me explain. Let’s take a closer look at these questions. In English, they don’t really differentiate from each other. The answers in English would be similar: yes, it is, no it isn’t. Or, Yes, please. No, thanks. Yes, you can, no you can’t. Yes i do, no i don’t.
They all share the same element: Yes and no. Yes or no work as an overall judgement: It’s always about right or wrong. But the Chinese language doesn’t work this way. And this is also why this article will not just tell you how to say yes in Chinese, but help you undersatnd better how the Chinese language works, generally.
2. Why “shide” or “dui” aren’t the answer to the question “How to say yes in Chinese”
Since “How to say yes in Chinese” is a frequently searched question on the internet, and the answers I found so far are just gatherings with “sure”, “no problem” to represent “yes”, I decided I need to write an article and produce a video on this to help you understand how “yes” works in Chinese.
I know, most teachers will tell you to take “shide” or “dui” as correct answers. Based on that, they will tell you the further versions of them. But this is just wrong because the word you are looking for: How to say yes in Chinese, that one word, does not exist.
The answer “yes” varies from different situations. We will get into the details later but here the short version first: “shide” or “dui” would actually mean: Yes, what was just said was correct. It is true.
Imagine the situation: Someone just offered you tea. In English, you would answer with “Yes, please”. But in Chinese, this would actually mean: “Correct, you guessed correctly. It is true that I want tea.” Though it fulfills its goal of communication – people will get it that you want that tea that was offered to you instead of refusing it, it could sound arrogant.
What happened here is: Someone was friendly and offered you something nice. And the appropriate thing to do is to be friendly as well and show your appreciation back. In this case, a “hao” as good would be the proper answer as “yes”. Because this way, you are telling the person offering you tea that you think it is a good thing that they did.
3. 5 categories on how to say yes in Chinese
That’s why you need a systematic way to understand the “user intent”: Why people asked you the questions and what would be the appropriate answer to each one accordingly? For that purpose, I divided the questions into 5 categories, they are:
- Questions about a fact
- Questions about a status
- Offers rather than questions
- Requests rather than questions
- Questions of choices
1. Questions about a fact: How to say yes in Chinese here
Is the earth round? Yes, if you have followed the lessons so far, you can also understand it in Chinese:
地球是圆的吗？
These kinds of sentences state a simple fact. Generally speaking, if something is about the truth, you can always answer with “shide” 是的 indicating “yes”. How to say yes in Chinese here works as a question about the truth. This is also the closest translation for “yes” in Chinese.
So “shide” 是的 would be an ideal answer, stating the fact as: Yes, it is true.
So, you can say: shide. 是的。Then, you simply repeat the question without the “ma”.
Shide, diqiu shi yuande.
是的，地球是圆的。
Let me repeat the question and how to say no to it in Chinese again:
地球是圆的吗？
是的，地球是圆的。
2. Questions about a status: How to say yes in Chinese here
The second category are questions that ask about a status. An example would be: Is the school far away?
xuexiao yuan ma
学校远吗？
school far ma
People often would accept “shide” 是的 as the right answer, Because you can almost see it as a true or false question. But since we are being precise here: This is not a true or false case. The school could be far for you, but not far for someone else. So this question is not about the truth, but your opinion. How to say yes in Chinese here works as a question about your opnion. If you see it this way, someone is actually just asking:
Do you find the school far, for you?
That’s why a “shide” 是的 could sound correct. But a better answer would be your opinion or better a description:
Is it far, or is it not far? If yes, how far is it?
So a better answer would be:
hen yuan, Yuan, bu tai yuan. Bu yuan. Yidian ye bu yuan.
很远， 远，不太远，不远，一点也不远。
Very far, far, not too far, not far, not far at all.
What you have learned in lesson 1.
So now, Let’s repeat the question and answer again:
学校远吗？
很远，远，不太远，不远，一点也不远。
And saying yes here means making a decision between far or very far: hen yuan, or yuan. 很远 / 远。
3. Offers rather than questions: How to say yes in Chinese here
the third category with questions you really can’t answer with shide any more.
An offer or a suggestion:
Would you like some tea?
There are a lot of ways to offer tea. I am picking one of the easiest ways so that you can make the most use out of this one.
Ni xiang he cha ma?
你想喝茶吗？
Do you want to drink tea?
While “yes, please” in English would still be very polite, in Chinese, saying “shide” would sound childish and impolite. How to say yes in Chinese here works as a reaction to a nice offer.To answer to an offer like this, “shide” would no longer be appropriate. Because this question is really not about true or false. I think the logic here is also quite easy to follow: Shide indicates more or less that it is about the truth. But imagine someone asks you if you want to drink some tea, they don’t really want to know if it is correct that you want tea. They are offering you tea and you need to accept or refuse the offer.
And since it’s something nice someone is offering you, a “shide” as yes would sound cold here, because it is not about the fact that they guessed right that you want tea. So you need a more friendly reaction to accept the offer. That would be in a way such as “what a good suggestion!”
The better answer would be:
Hao! 好！
Hao de. 好的。
Or,
Hao a! 好啊！
So the answer to suggestions or offers is “hao” 好, as in “good” and not “shide” 是的 as in “correct”.
Now, let’s repeat the question and the answers again:
你想喝茶吗？
好！
好的！
好啊！
4. Requests rather than questions: How to say yes in Chinese here
The fourth category shares a similar logic. A question that works as a request:
Can I watch TV now?
我可以看电视吗？
wo keyi kan dianshi ma?
And again, it is not about true or false. This is a typical question that asks for permission. How to say yes in Chinese here works as a request for permission.The logic is similar: shide 是的 means more or less the truth, about right or wrong. And whether someone can watch tv or not is not about the truth or right and wrong. This question clearly asks for permission and you need to give a clear permission. A clear permission does not work as true or false, but a you can, or cannot.
And the yes here would be
Keyi.
可以
Now let’s repeat the question and answer again:
我可以看电视吗？
And the yes for this category is:
可以。
5. Questions of choices: How to say yes in Chinese here
And the last category is about questions of choices. There are many versions of how to ask a question of choices and I’m just picking a typical one. Important is here that you recognize that this is about a choice: Is it a or b? How to say yes in Chinese here works as a question about the choice.
For example:
Are you cold, or not?
This is a very typical yes no question in Chinese we will learn very soon in the coming lessons. Unlike in English, this is not unfriendly at all. Quite the opposite, cold not cold is a very friendly expression. You will learn the details in the next lessons. So now let’s focus on how to say yes to a question like this.
Ni leng bu leng?
你冷不冷？
meaning:
“are you cold or not cold”.
And here you must choose. You can’t just give an overall answer “yes” or “no”. You actually need to choose between cold or not cold. The logic here is also easy to follow, if you consider the question is not “cold not cold”, but about a decision between “cold or not cold”, leng or buleng. So either leng or buleng. In this case, you can no longer answer with “yes” or “no” because it’s an either or question. Like: Do you prefer coffee or tea? You cannot answer with “yes”, you need to say: coffee, or tea. If you see the question this way, you need an answer with either cold, or not cold instead of shide.
Let’s review the question and answer together again:
Ni leng bu leng?
你冷不冷？
And the yes to this question in Chinese would be
冷。
leng
4. Summary of how to say yes in Chinese and a bonus tipp
Now let’s make a short summary of how to say yes in Chinese first. Then I will finally reveal the master key to how to say yes in Chinese universally. I know, I said there is no word that is identical and it is not about a word. It is about how to answer all these questions with one correct way.
I organized the yes no questions into 5 categories with which you can give different answers to. They are:
- Questions about a fact
I used the example here: Is the earth round? Because this works as a typical example as a question that asks about the truth / fact.
diqiu shi yuan de ma?
地球是圆的吗？
And how to say yes in Chinese here would be:
是的。or, 是的，地球是圆的。 - Questions about a status
I used the example here: Is the school far away? Because this question asks about a status. This is more about your opinion rather than the truth. What you think is far could be close for someone else. Hence, you just need to turn in a description of the distance, based on your own judgement:
Xuexiao yuan ma?
学校远吗？
And how to say yes in Chinese here would be:
很远。or, 远。 - Offers rather than questions
I used the example here: Would you like some tea? Because this time, it is not even about a question. It is actually an offer and you need to react to it with a decision: Do you want to accept the tea as a nice offer, or do you need to refuse it? Either way, you need to show your friendliness because soneone has just offered you something nice.
你想喝茶吗？
And how to say yes in Chinese here would be:
好的 or
好。
Tell them that you find it is a good idea. - Requests rather than questions
I used the example here: Can I watch TV now? Because this time, it is also not really about a question. It is actually a request and you need to react to it with a decision: Do you allow it or turn this request down? Either way, you need to show a clear permission or ban.
我可以看电视吗？
And how to say yes in Chinese here would be:
可以。
Showing clearly: You can watch TV. - Questions of choices
used the example here: Are you cold or not? This is a question about a choice. It also requires a decision: Is it cold or not cold? Either way, you need to choose. Just like when people offer you tea or coffee, a “Yes, please!” just can’t work ehre.
你冷不冷？
So how to say yes in Chinese here would be:
冷。
Showing clearly: It is cold.
And now, finally, the bonus tip I promised, the master key to all these questions. how to say yes in Chinese is:
Skip the yes! Simply repeat the sentence part without the question mark and turn it into a statement. This is the universal answer as yes in Chinese to all different kinds of questions.
Now let’s take a look at these questions again:
- Questions about a fact
diqiu shi yuan de ma?
地球是圆的吗？
And your answer would simply be:
地球是圆的。
diqiu shi yuan de - Questions about a status
Xuexiao yuan ma?
学校远吗？
yuan
远。 - Offers rather than questions
ni xiang he cha ma
你想喝茶吗？
wo xiang he cha
我想喝茶。
or even shorter:
xiang
想。 - Requests rather than questions
wo keyi kan dianshi ma
我可以看电视吗？
ni keyi kan dianshi
你可以看电视。
or simply:
keyi
可以。 - Questions of choices
ni leng bu leng
你冷不冷？
leng
冷。
If you want to learn Chinese systematically, here are the possibilities to check the lessons: Learn Chinese woth Deepling
