How to Say Yes and No in Chinese (There's No Word for Yes)

Here is one of the most surprising facts about Mandarin: there is no single word for "yes" and none for "no." English leans on those two little words constantly, but Chinese simply does without them. Instead, you answer a question by repeating its verb to agree, or by putting bu (不), "not," in front of that verb to disagree. Learn the verbs and you have, in effect, learned every yes and no in the language.

It sounds strange, but it is oddly freeing. There is no yes/no vocabulary to cram — only a handful of everyday verbs, each of which becomes "yes" on its own and "no" the moment you add bu (不). The one exception worth memorizing is "have," which is negated with mei (没), never bu.

Echo the verb to say yes

To say "yes," you echo the verb from the question. Someone asks a question built on shi (是), "to be"; you reply shi, "it is," or bu shi (不是), "it isn't." Asked whether you want something — yao (要)? — you answer yao, "I want it," or bu yao (不要), "I don't."

The closest thing Mandarin has to an all-purpose "yes" is dui (对), "correct." It is the natural way to confirm almost anything someone says, with bu dui (不对) standing in for "that's not right." When you simply want to agree to a plan, hao (好), "good, okay," does the job.

The core yes and no pairs

Learn these six verbs and their negatives and you can answer almost any question that comes your way:

Two of these you will hear constantly as a traveler. Mei you (没有), "don't have," is the shopkeeper's flat verdict when something is sold out. Bu yao (不要), "don't want," is how you wave off a persistent street vendor — friendly, but firm.

Questions and the particle ma

Most yes/no questions are formed by tacking ma (吗) onto the end of a plain statement. Take "you are American," add ma, and it becomes a question — which you then answer with the verb, not with "yes" or "no":

Softer ways to agree

In everyday speech, "yes" often softens into small sounds of agreement. Hao de (好的) is a friendly "okay, got it." Xing (行) means "that works," the easy way to sign off on a plan. And a casual, mumbled en (嗯) is the Chinese equivalent of "mm-hm."

Keep learning Chinese

Once the verbs click, yes and no stop being vocabulary and start being reflex. Dig into how questions and negation work in our free grammar guides, then drill the core verbs with audio and spaced repetition in the Pretalk app — the fastest way to make shi, dui, and bu yao feel automatic.