Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/How-to-Say-"Yes"-and-"No"

There are many different situations and they are answered differently. They are mostly answered with 不 with the verb:

• 是 and 不是: be or be not;
• 对 and 不对: correct or not correct;
• 能 and 不能: can or cannot;
• 有 and 没有: exist or do not exist

YES

是

One way to say “yes” in Chinese is 是, or shì in pinyin. It’s usually used to confirm that something is true, in the same way that we might say “yes, I am” or “yes, it is” in response to a corresponding question in English.

对

对 (duì), which means “right” or “correct,” is another common way to say “yes” in Chinese. It’s very similar to 是 (shì), and in many cases the two can be used interchangeably. In general, if a question contains 对 (duì), the response is more likely to be 对 (duì), while if the question contains 是 (shì), the response is likely to be 是 (shì).

没错

The expression 没错 (méicuò) is another way to say “yes” in Chinese. It’s similar to 对 (duì) in that it’s often used to agree with a statement that someone else has made. If we break 没错 (méicuò) into its component parts, we can see that 没 (méi) means “no” or “not,” as in 没有 (méiyǒu, not have; be without), while 错 (cuò) means “wrong” or “mistake,” as in 错误 (cuòwù, mistake; error). Thus, 没错 (méicuò) literally means “not wrong.”

好

好 (hǎo) is another way to say “yes” in Chinese. The most basic meaning of 好 (hǎo) is “good.” You probably recognize this character from 你好 (nǐhǎo, hello), which is usually one of the first words that beginning Chinese students learn.

NO

不是

One of the most common ways to say “yes” in Chinese is 是 (shì, to be). Therefore, it should come as no surprise that negating 是 (shì) by adding 不 (bù, not; no) is one way to say “no” in Chinese. When you say 不是 (bùshì), you are literally saying “not be.”

不

If you search for the Chinese equivalent of the English word “no” in a popular Chinese dictionary like Pleco, chances are that the first entry you see will be 不 (bù). Although native speakers will understand that you mean “no” if you respond to every question with a simple 不 (bù), doing so will not make you sound very authentic.

不对

In Chinese, 对 (duì) means “right” or “correct.” Adding 不 (bù) in front of 对 (duì) allows you to say that something is “not right” or “incorrect.” In general, you can use 不对 (bùduì) when you don’t agree with someone’s opinion or with a statement that they have made.

不行

行 (xíng) means “OK” or “all right” in Chinese. As with 不是 (bùshì) and 不对 (bùduì) above, adding 不 (bù) in front of 行 (xíng) turns it into a negative. 不行 (bùxíng) can be roughly translated as “not OK” or “not all right.”

不可以

不可以 (bù kěyǐ) is another phrase that can be used to say “no” in Chinese. It consists of 可以 (kěyǐ), which can be translated as “can” or “may,” and the negative character 不 (bù).

Sources

• https://polyglotclub.com/language/mandarin-chinese/question/38821

• https://studycli.org/learn-chinese/no-in-chinese/