Polite English: Saying YES and NO

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Hi, my name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, we're going to talk about how to say "yes"

and "no" in English.

Now that seems fairly obvious, I'm sure.

You're probably wondering, "What is she talking about?"

When you want to say "yes", you say "yes", when you want to say "no", you say "no",

Why "yes" and "no"? because usually in English, we don't actually just say the word "yes".

Sometimes we say "yes" followed by something else, and sometimes we just say another word

or expression instead of that.

So let's look at some of the options that you have, because in English, if you only

say "yes" or if you only say "no", it sounds a little bit short, it sounds a little bit

rude, or it sounds like you don't really want to talk to the other person, or as if the

other person has just disturbed you.

So you want to really say something a little bit more, even if it is to a stranger.

So let's look at some options, okay?

We're going to look at some formal responses, and then we're going to look at some informal

responses, alright?

So if somebody asks you, "Could I sit here?" or "Is this seat free?" you could say "of

course" or "yes, of course".

You could say "by all means".

"Could I sit here?

"By all means" means "yes, of course", "of course you can".

You could say "go right ahead", this is a little bit more informal, "go right ahead".

"Could I sit here?

"Could I sit here?

You see how I've said "yes" without actually saying the word "yes", alright?

Of course I can say "yes" before each of these, "yes, of course", "yes, by all means", "yes,

absolutely", "yes, certainly", "yes, go right ahead".

You can do that too, or you can just use these by themselves.

Just in a slightly more formal situation.

With friends, you might want to use something a little more informal, okay?

Your friend says, "Do you want to go grab a bite to eat?"

"Do you want to go grab a bite to eat?" means "Would you like to go and eat something?

Would you like to go out to eat something?"

So you could say "yeah, sure" or just "sure".

You could say "no problem".

That's actually going to be more in a situation, for example, "Could I borrow your pen?

Could I borrow your book?

Like, "Go right ahead.

Another one, "You bet.

Are you coming to the party on Saturday?

It's another way of saying "yes, of course", alright?

But again, a little more informal.

Let's look at some ways in which we can say "no", alright?

So let's say somebody, let's say you're at the library.

This actually happened to me yesterday.

I was at the library and a student who was sitting in front of me with her laptop said

she wanted to go to the washroom and could I please watch her laptop while she was away?

And I didn't want to do that because I didn't want to take responsibility for something

a little bit expensive.

So I said to her, "I'm afraid not."

She asked me, "Could you please watch my things while I go to the washroom?"

And I said, "I'm afraid not."

And because we don't want to seem unfriendly or unhelpful, sometimes we explain, "I'm

Actually, I'm leaving in a few minutes."

And that way, the person doesn't feel hurt.

We're not trying to be mean.

I wasn't trying to be mean.

I was actually leaving in a few minutes.

So I said to her, "I'm afraid not, I'm going to be leaving in a few minutes."

Or, "No, I'm sorry."

Again, not just "no" by itself, but "No, I'm sorry, I'm going to be leaving in a few minutes."

Or "Not really, because I'm going to be leaving in a few minutes."

Or even without the word "no", you could say, "Actually, I'm leaving in a few minutes."

And that's another way of saying, in effect, "No, I can't."

If you're with your friends and buddies and you're joking around, you could always say,

"Hey, are you going to see your friend, see your girlfriend again?

Let's say you broke up with her, right?

So you want to say, "No way."

That's another way.

That's another way of saying, "No."

Or sometimes we just make a kind of a sound that says, "Nah, nah."

That's really informal.

That's with your good buddies and your good friends, okay?

So of course, depending on the situation, you're going to say something more formal

or less formal.

So I'm going to come back in a minute and tell you some more ways in which you can say

"yes" or "no."

I'll be right back.

So let's continue a little bit with the second part of this lesson of how to say "yes" and

"no."

So, again, the main point is that you avoid saying only "yes" or only "no."

So usually we add a little something.

For example, you could say, if somebody asks you, "Is it 4 o'clock?"

Instead of just saying, "Yes," you could say, "Yes, it is."

It's the first one.

If somebody asks you, "Are you hungry?"

Instead of just saying, "Yes," you can say, "Yes, I am."

If somebody asks you, "Were you at the concert last night?"

Instead of just saying, "Yes," you could say, "Yes, I was."

If someone asks you, "Do you like strawberry ice cream?"

Instead of saying, "Yes," you could say, "Yes, I do."

If someone asks you, "Did you go to the party last night?"

You could say, "Yes, I did."

So, again, "Yes, it is," "Yes, I am," "Yes, I was," "Yes, I do," "Yes, I did."

It can flow like that.

The same is true for the word, "No."

Instead of just saying the word, "No," you need to add a little tag to it.

"Is it 4 o'clock?"

It's 5 o'clock."

"Are you going to the party tonight?"

"Were you at the party last night?"

"No, I wasn't."

"Do you like chocolate ice cream?"

"Did you mail the letter?"

"No, I didn't."

So, again, this is another technique you can use to say "Yes" or "No."

If you'd like to do a little more practice in this, please visit our website at www.engvid.com

and we have there, after each lesson, a free quiz which you could do to see if you have

understood the principle that we're trying to teach you.

Thanks very much.