A Korean friend looks at you and asks 밥 안 먹었어요? — "Haven't you eaten?" You genuinely haven't eaten. In English you would answer "No, I haven't." So your hand reaches for 아니요. Say it, and you have just told your friend the exact opposite of what you mean: that you have eaten. This single reflex — mapping English "no" onto 아니요 and "yes" onto 네 — is the most reliable way for an English speaker to answer a Korean negative question wrongly, and it produces real, everyday miscommunication.
The fix is not a longer rulebook. It is a change in what you think 네 and 아니요 are for.
네 and 아니요 judge the sentence, not the fact
English "yes/no" track the polarity of your own answer: "yes" if your reply is affirmative, "no" if your reply is negative — regardless of how the question was phrased. Korean 네 and 아니요 do something different. They judge whether the question's proposition is correct:
- 네 = "What you said is right / accurate."
- 아니요 = "What you said is wrong / off the mark."
After a positive question the two systems happen to line up, so beginners never notice the gap. It only opens up after a negative question, where "the proposition is true" and "my answer is affirmative" point in opposite directions.
The four-way logic in one table
Take the negative question 안 가요? ("Aren't you going? / You're not going?") and the positive question 가요? ("Are you going?"), and cross them with the two possible realities.
| Question | Reality | Korean answer | English answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 안 가요? (neg.) | You are NOT going | 네, 안 가요 ("right, I'm not") | No, I'm not |
| 안 가요? (neg.) | You ARE going | 아니요, 가요 ("no, I am") | Yes, I am |
| 가요? (pos.) | You ARE going | 네, 가요 | Yes, I am |
| 가요? (pos.) | You are NOT going | 아니요, 안 가요 | No, I'm not |
Look only at the top two rows — the negative question. Korean 네 pairs with English "No," and Korean 아니요 pairs with English "Yes." That is the flip, and it is completely regular: Korean confirms the sentence, English reports the action.
Agreeing with a negative → 네
When the negative statement in the question is true, you confirm it with 네, then repeat the verb in the negative.
밥 안 먹었어요? — 네, 안 먹었어요.
bap an meogeosseoyo? — ne, an meogeosseoyo
Haven't you eaten? — No (that's right), I haven't.
시간 없어요? — 네, 없어요.
sigan eopseoyo? — ne, eopseoyo
Don't you have time? — No (right), I don't.
오늘 안 바빠요? — 네, 안 바빠요.
oneul an bappayo? — ne, an bappayo
Aren't you busy today? — No (right), I'm not.
In every one of these, the English translation begins with "No" while the Korean begins with 네. Nothing is broken — 네 is agreeing that the negative proposition holds.
Contradicting a negative → 아니요
When the negative statement is false — that is, you do do the thing — you correct it with 아니요, then supply the affirmative verb.
숙제 안 했어요? — 아니요, 했어요.
sukje an haesseoyo? — aniyo, haesseoyo
Didn't you do the homework? — Yes (actually), I did.
커피 안 마셔요? — 아니요, 마셔요.
keopi an masyeoyo? — aniyo, masyeoyo
Don't you drink coffee? — Yes, I do.
Here the English begins with "Yes," the Korean with 아니요. You are telling the asker their negative assumption is mistaken — and then you volunteer the true, positive fact.
The copula negative works exactly the same way
Questions built on 아니에요? ("isn't it…?", the negative of the copula 이다) follow the identical logic. Because the question itself is already negative, agreeing with it means confirming a "not."
학생이 아니에요? — 네, 아니에요.
haksaeng-i anieyo? — ne, anieyo
Aren't you a student? — No (that's right), I'm not.
저 사람 한국 사람 아니에요? — 아니요, 한국 사람이에요.
jeo saram Hanguk saram anieyo? — aniyo, Hanguk saram-ieyo
Isn't that person Korean? — Yes, they are Korean.
The first answer, 네, 아니에요, is the one that feels most paradoxical to English ears — "right, I am not" — but it is impeccable Korean. 네 confirms the claim "you're not a student"; 아니에요 states the fact "I'm not." They agree with each other, so the reply is coherent.
The safe habit: always attach the verb
Because a bare 네 or 아니요 forces your listener to reconstruct your meaning from the question's polarity, experienced speakers rarely leave the particle to do all the work when a negative question is involved. They append the conjugated verb: 네, 안 가요 / 아니요, 가요. The verb removes every trace of ambiguity, and it also protects you from the reflex — once you have to say 안 가요 or 가요 out loud, you can hear whether it matches the truth.
Don't over-correct: positive questions do NOT flip
Once learners discover the flip, many "fix" every answer — and start reversing positive questions too. Don't. After a plain positive question, Korean and English align perfectly, because "the sentence is true" and "my answer is affirmative" coincide.
밥 먹었어요? — 네, 먹었어요.
bap meogeosseoyo? — ne, meogeosseoyo
Did you eat? — Yes, I did.
Only the presence of a negative (안, -지 않다, 아니다, 없다) in the question triggers the flip. If the question is positive, answer by instinct.
The same logic governs tag questions
Confirmation-seeking endings such as -지요? (informal: -죠?) and -잖아요 are, underneath, requests to confirm a proposition — so they obey the very same rule. A tag on a positive statement agrees with English; a tag on a negative statement flips, just like a full negative question.
피곤하지요? — 네, 좀 피곤해요.
pigonhajiyo? — ne, jom pigonhaeyo
You're tired, right? — Yes, a little tired. (positive tag — aligns with English)
안 춥지요? — 네, 안 추워요.
an chupjiyo? — ne, an chuwoyo
It's not cold, right? — No (right), it isn't. (negative tag — flips)
The mechanism never changes: 네 always means "your sentence is correct," whatever polarity that sentence has.
Common Mistakes
1. Reflexively using 아니요 to agree with a negative. This is the flagship error — reaching for 아니요 because your English answer would be "No."
❌ 안 가요? — 아니요, 안 가요.
an gayo? — aniyo, an gayo
Self-contradiction: 아니요 says 'that's wrong,' but 안 가요 says 'I'm not going' — you've denied and then confirmed the same thing.
✅ 안 가요? — 네, 안 가요.
an gayo? — ne, an gayo
Aren't you going? — No (that's right), I'm not going.
2. Reflexively using 네 to contradict a negative. The mirror image: you do the thing, but you say 네 because your English answer would be "Yes."
❌ 숙제 안 했어요? — 네, 했어요.
sukje an haesseoyo? — ne, haesseoyo
Contradiction: 네 confirms 'you didn't do it,' then 했어요 says 'I did it.'
✅ 숙제 안 했어요? — 아니요, 했어요.
sukje an haesseoyo? — aniyo, haesseoyo
Didn't you do the homework? — Yes, I did.
3. Mismatched copula answer. With 아니에요? the paradox tempts learners to "balance" 아니요 with 아니에요 — but that pairs "wrong" with "I'm not."
❌ 학생이 아니에요? — 아니요, 아니에요.
haksaeng-i anieyo? — aniyo, anieyo
Incoherent: 아니요 says the claim is false, but 아니에요 confirms it.
✅ 학생이 아니에요? — 네, 아니에요.
haksaeng-i anieyo? — ne, anieyo
Aren't you a student? — No (right), I'm not.
4. Over-correcting a positive question. After learning the flip, don't reverse questions that have no negative in them.
❌ 밥 먹었어요? — 아니요, 먹었어요.
bap meogeosseoyo? — aniyo, meogeosseoyo
Contradiction: the question is positive, so 아니요 wrongly denies the very thing 먹었어요 affirms.
✅ 밥 먹었어요? — 네, 먹었어요.
bap meogeosseoyo? — ne, meogeosseoyo
Did you eat? — Yes, I did.
Key Takeaways
- 네 = "your sentence is correct," 아니요 = "your sentence is wrong" — they confirm the proposition, not the polarity of your own action.
- After a negative question, this flips relative to English: 네 lines up with English "No," 아니요 with English "Yes."
- After a positive question, Korean and English agree — don't over-correct.
- The copula negative (아니에요?) and existential 없어요? behave identically; 네, 아니에요 ("right, I'm not") is perfectly coherent.
- Always append the verb (네, 안 가요 / 아니요, 가요) so meaning never rides on the bare particle. The same logic governs tag questions with -지요? and -잖아요.
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
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