That is why French has three responses: oui if you agree with the question; non if you don’t agree with the question; si for “yes, I don’t” response to a negative question.
gopher gofer: Only in response to a negative quetion. It avoids the cartoon situation in English. French and Spanish (and Portuguese is similar to Spanish) both came from Latin, which didn’t even have a word for yes.
Wenthral over 10 years ago
Correct.
neverenoughgold over 10 years ago
If you were to say no no; would that be a yes? After all, it is a double negative…
grossvatter over 10 years ago
I see a 3 stooges skit here….
hippogriff over 10 years ago
That is why French has three responses: oui if you agree with the question; non if you don’t agree with the question; si for “yes, I don’t” response to a negative question.
hippogriff over 10 years ago
gopher gofer: Only in response to a negative quetion. It avoids the cartoon situation in English. French and Spanish (and Portuguese is similar to Spanish) both came from Latin, which didn’t even have a word for yes.