Quote:
Originally Posted by pandaman101
A lot of Japanese learning books teach that はい means yes and いいえ means no, but from what I've learned that not really true.
What confuses English speakers is that sometimes instead of answering はい you answer いいえ , i think thats when you use a sentence in the negative.
But i haven't found any lessons on the internet about this, can someone give me some exampels on how to answer like that. Its really confusing to me (esp with the lack of information I found on the internet).
Thanks
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When answering "Yes or No" questions, the English "Yes or No" are tied to the content of the answers. "Yes" is used when you're affirming something (Yes, I have done something/Yes, it is here/Yes, it is something), while "No" is used when the answer is in the negative. (No, I have not done it/No, there's nothing here/No, that is not something)
The Japanese 「はい」 and 「いいえ」, on the hand, signifies agreement with the
proposition put forth by the question. That is, you use 「はい」 when your answer agrees with the suggested statement, while 「いいえ」 is used for the opposite. (your answer disagrees)
Consider the following question:
「（あなたには）ご兄弟がいますか。」
"(Do you) have any siblings?"
「はい、います。」 (That is correct, I do.) -> Yes, I do.
「いいえ、いません。」 (That is incorrect, I don't.) -> No, I don't.
In this case, since the question is in the affirmative , 「はい」 and [いいえ」 map directly to "Yes" and "No".
Now consider the opposite:
「ご兄弟がいませんか。」
"Don't you have any siblings?"
「いいえ、います。」 (That is incorrect, I do.) -> Yes, I do.
「はい、いません。」 (That is correct, I don't.) -> No, I don't.
Since the question is phrased as a negation, 「はい」 agrees with the negation, and hence maps to "No", while 「いいえ」 disagrees with the negation, turning the answer into the affirmative, and hence maps to "Yes" instead.