Answering Yes/No: 네 / 아니요 (and the Negative-Question Flip)

Answering "yes" and "no" feels like it should be the easiest thing in any language. In Korean it is easy — until the question is phrased in the negative, at which point Korean and English quietly diverge and English speakers say the exact opposite of what they mean. This page teaches the everyday answer words (네, 아니요, and their casual and formal cousins) and then dismantles the single most common error in this whole section of the grammar: answering a negative question with English logic.

The everyday answer words

The polite, all-purpose pair is 네 (yes) and 아니요 (no). Both are neutral, safe, and correct with almost anyone you would address in 해요체 or above.

A few practical notes before the hard part:

• 네 is also spelled and said 예 in more formal or old-fashioned speech; 예 is what you hear from shop staff, on the phone, and in the military. In ordinary conversation 네 is by far the more common of the two.
• 아니요 is often written and pronounced 아뇨 — a natural contraction, not slang. Both are fully acceptable.
• In casual speech (반말), "yes" becomes 응 or 어, and "no" becomes 아니 (or 아니야 when it stands in for "it's not so").

What 네 and 아니요 actually confirm

Here is the reframing that makes everything downstream fall into place. In English, "yes" and "no" report the polarity of your own answer: "yes" means the positive thing is true, "no" means the positive thing is false, regardless of how the question was worded.

Korean 네 and 아니요 do something different. They report whether the questioner's statement is correct. Read them like this:

• 네 = "Your statement is correct. I agree with the proposition as you phrased it."
• 아니요 = "Your statement is wrong. I disagree with the proposition as you phrased it."

For a positive question, this produces exactly the English result, so nothing looks unusual yet:

The questioner proposed "you are a student," that is correct, so you agree: 네. English and Korean line up. The divergence only appears once the question itself carries a negative.

The negative-question flip

When the question is negative, the questioner's proposition is itself negative — "you are not going," "it is not spicy" — and 네/아니요 agree or disagree with that negative proposition. English, by contrast, still tracks the positive event. The two systems now point in opposite directions.

Take 안 가요? ("Aren't you going?"). Suppose you are indeed staying home — you are not going. The questioner's proposition, "you're not going," is correct, so you confirm it:

An English speaker wants to say "No, I'm not going," and reaches for 아니요 — which in Korean means "You're wrong," i.e. "No, I am going." That is the opposite of the truth. The correct Korean answer is 네: yes, your negative statement is correct.

Now suppose you actually are going. Then the proposition "you're not going" is wrong, and you deny it with 아니요:

The same logic governs negative questions built on adjectives and on the copula:

That last one is worth staring at. The question 학생 아니에요? proposes "you are not a student." You are a student, so the proposition is false, and you knock it down with 아니요 before supplying the truth. An English speaker, thinking "yes, I am a student," instinctively says 네 — which in Korean confirms "yes, I'm not a student," contradicting the very next word.

Why the full clause matters

Because the flip is confusing for everyone — Koreans included, in genuinely ambiguous cases — the safest habit is to never answer a negative question with a bare 네 or 아니요. Always attach the clause:

The spoken clause carries the real information; 네/아니요 is just the handshake. Native speakers rely on the trailing clause exactly the way you should, which is why a bare "네" to a negative question can make even a Korean pause and ask "네 — meaning you are, or you aren't?" Spell it out and you are always safe.

This same proposition-agreement logic drives rhetorical negative tags like 그렇죠? and 안 그래요?, covered on negative question tags, and the reverse-polarity answering is treated from the negation side on answering negative questions.

Common Mistakes

1. The flagship error: answering a negative question with English polarity. You are staying home. Asked 안 가요? you want to say "No, I'm not going" and reach for 아니요 — but that denies the question and claims you are going.

2. The mirror error: saying 네 when you should deny the negative. You are busy. Asked 안 바빠요? ("Aren't you busy?"), the proposition "you're not busy" is false — deny it with 아니요.

3. The copula version of the flip. You are a student. Asked 학생 아니에요?, agreeing with the English "yes" gives 네, which confirms "yes, I'm not a student."

4. Answering a superior with casual 응. 응/어 are 반말 — reserved for close friends and people younger than you whom you have agreed to speak casually with. To anyone you address politely, "yes" is 네, never 응.

Key Takeaways

• 네 = "your statement is correct"; 아니요 = "your statement is wrong." They agree or disagree with the whole proposition, not with the positive event.
• For positive questions this matches English exactly. For negative questions the polarity flips: 안 가요? answered 네, 안 가요 = English "No, I'm not going."
• Always attach the full clause to a negative-question answer — the bare 네/아니요 is ambiguous even to natives.
• Register: 네/아니요 (polite, default), 예 (formal), 응·어/아니 (casual). Never answer a superior with 응.