Hello, friends! Welcome to another daily helping of random Japanese stuff that you can incorporate into your Japanese right away naturally :)
Today we're going to talk about various ways to say yes and no. You'd be surprised that it's not as simple as it seems, but it's also not that difficult.
Let's start out with what you will usually see in a dictionary:
はい hai is the proper word for "Yes."
いいえ iie is the proper word for "No."
I say "proper" because they are more formal words. While you can certainly use them in casual situations, too, they definitely sound more polite and stiff than their casual counterparts. Consider how it sounds when someone says "Yes." instead of "Yeah." in English. It is a good idea to use these forms when you are talking to someone of a higher position than you (boss, teacher, senior, etc.) or when you are writing formally.
ええ ee is a more casual form of "Yes." (like "Yeah.")
いや iya is a more casual form of "No."
These are used a lot more often casually in everday speech than their polite counterparts. You can use them politely, as well. You can use them in polite situations and with strangers and things. They are probably the most commonly used in regular speech.
うん written un is said like an "nn" or "mm" sound. It is even more casual than ee.
ううん written uun is said like two nn sounds back to back. The first one is higher pitched.
These are very casual, a lot like saying "uh-huh" in English to mean "yes."
These are the most common ways that people say yes and no in Japanese. There are all kinds away you can affirm and negate, of course, but these are simple "yes" and "no" phrases that you can use exactly like you would use them in English, as a type of interjection-like word.
One thing to note is that when asked questions, Japanese people always answer yes or no based on the question asked. So if someone asked "Are there no drinks left in the fridge?" a proper reply would be "Yes, there are no drinks." The "yes" part means "Yes, you are right." If you say "No, there are no drinks." It would not make any sense in Japanese and would be confusing.
Another thing you will notice is that people say "yes" in Japanese to signify that they are listening and understand you. It is not uncommon for a Japanese person to answer "Yes" to any question you ask before giving their answer. When they do this, it means that they followed what you said, but they're not actually answering "Yes" to anything. In fact, even if the answer is "No," someone may say "Yes" before the "No" to show that they understood the question. It would be natural for you to practice doing this as well.
You may also notice that Japanese people may constantly say ee and un while listening. They are not trying to interrupt you; this is a way to show that they are following what you're saying as you say it.
I think the best way to learn these is to pick them up through listening to natural speech. Try watching talk shows and things like that to see people talking naturally rather than following a script.
Here's a video of the music talk show "Utaban." In this show, the hosts interview various musical acts. In this episode, they talk to a very large girl group with many memebers. Notice the uses of all three hai, ee, and un in their speech. Notice how the hosts often go un un un as they listen and follow the girls. Note how the young girl interviewed first in this clip answers the question about her school grade with ee. See what other instances of the "yes words" you can find.
Try to listen for them everywhere, and try to incorporate them into your own Japanese. It will sound very natural and native-like if you copy those kinds of examples :)
Also note there may not be a Daily Japanese tomorrow because my band is giving a concert :)
No comments:
Post a Comment