7.5: Yes and No

As observed throughout the first two units, where English tends to include ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in answers to ‘yes-no’ questions, Chinese often answers them by simply reiterating the verb, or verbal parts, in positive form or negative, as the case may be. Agreement can be emphasized by the addition of an initial duì ‘be correct’, though disagreement frequently requires a more subtle expression than the judgemental bú duì ‘wrong’.

Hăotīng ma? <Duì,> hĕn hăotīng.	Do you like [the music]? (nice-sound Q) Yes, [I] do.
Xǐzǎo le ma? Hái méi ne.	Have [you] bathed? No, not yet.
Tāmen yĭjing shuìjiào le ma? <Duì,> yĭjing shuì le, kĕshi Léi Bīn hái méi ne. Léi Bīn a, Léi Bīn shi shéi? Léi Bīn shi tāmen de tóngxué. O, míngbai.	Are they in bed already? Yes, he has, but Lei Bin’s still up. Lei Bin? Who’s Lei Bin? Lei Bin’s their classmate. Oh, I see.

When the main verb is itself shì, then shì confirms, with initial duì available for emphasis, and bù ~ bú shì denies:

Nĭ shi dì-yī ge ma?  Duì, wǒ shi dì-yī ge.  Nà, tā shi dì-èr ge ma?  Bù, tā shi dì-sān ge.  Shì ma?  Shì, dì-sān ge shi tā.	You’re the 1st?  Yes, I am.  And…she’s 2nd?  No, she’s #3.  Is that so?  Yes, she’s 3rd.
Tā shi Mĕiguó rén ba.  Duì.  Tā àiren yě shì ma?  Bú shì, tā shi Zhōngguó rén.  A, míngbai.	He’s American, I take it.  Right.  His spouse too?  No, she’s Chinese.  Oh, I see!

Negative questions

So far so good: with ordinary yes-no questions, reiterating the verb in the positive confirms (with or without an initial duì); reiterating it in the negative denies. Negative questions, however, are not quite so forthright. Negative questions convey a change in expectations: Haven’t you eaten? [I thought you had, but apparently you haven’t.] Negative questions expect a negative answer: Haven’t you eaten? / No, I haven’t. In Chinese, as in English, it is still possible to reiterate the verb – in the negative – to confirm the new expectation. But while English generally responds to a negative question with ‘no’ (anticipating the negative verb), Chinese responds with duì ‘correct’ (confirming the negative statement).

Nǐ hái méi chīfàn ma?  <Duì,> hái méi ne.	Haven’t you eaten yet?  No, not yet.
Tāmen bú shi Měiguó rén ba.  <Duì,> tāmen bú shì Měiguó rén.	They’re not Americans, right. No, they’re not.

It is this incongruence between English and Chinese that gives rise to the observation that Chinese (along with Japanese and other languages in the region) has no equivalent to English ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

What if, in the last example, counter to new expectations (but in conformity to the original ones), the people in question turned out to be Americans after all? In that case, the responses in both Chinese and English are less predictable. But typically, Chinese would change the value of the verb to positive and put emphasis on it: Tāmen shì Měiguó rén. And an introductory negative – bù, bù – would indicate the change from the new expectations back to the old.

Tāmen bú shi Měiguó rén ba?  Bù, bù, tāmen SHÌ Měiguó rén.

They’re not Americans, are they?  Yes they are.

Here again, while the English ‘yes’ matches the positive verb (‘they are Americans’), Chinese bù (or bú shì) denies the anticipated answer (‘it’s not the case that they aren’t Americans’).

Nà bú shi nǐ de hùzhào ma?	Isn’t that your passport?
Duì, bú shi wǒ de.	No, it’s not.
Bù, bù, SHÌ wǒ de.	Yes it is.

Tag-questions

Sometimes, it is appropriate to indicate doubt, or seek confirmation by the use of tag-questions. The addition of questions formed with shì or duì to the foot of the sentence serve such a function.

Sūzhōu zài Jiāngsū, duì ma?  Duì a, Sūzhōu zài Jiāngsū.	Suzhou’s in Jiangsu, correct? [That]’s the case, Suzhou’s in Jiangsu.
Tā shi Yīngguó rén, shì bu shi? Bú shì, tā shi Jiānádà rén.	He’s English, right? No, he’s Canadian.
Nĭ de sǎn, shì bu shi? Shì, xièxie.	[This] is your umbrella, isn’t it? [It] is, thanks.
Tā shi Dài Sīyí, duì bu duì? Duì, shi Dài Sīyí.	That’s Dai Siyi, right? Right, Dai Siyi.

Is it the case that…?

Shì bu shi can also be inserted before sentence elements to seek confirmation; and responses can be re-asserted by inserting a (fully stressed) shì ‘it is the case that’, as the following examples show:

Zhènjiāng shì bu shi zài Ānhuī? Bù, Zhènjiāng zài Jiāngsū, lí Nánjīng bù yuăn.

Is Zhenjiang really in Anhui?  No,it isn’t. Zhenjiang’s in Jiangsu, not far from Nanjing.

Shì bu shi in such sentences questions an underlying assumption: Zhenjiang’s in Anhui. Shì in the response confirms it. These shì’s are particularly common as a way of questioning adverbs:

Zhōngwén lǎoshī shì bu shi hěn yán?  Duì, tāmen shì hěn yán.	Is it the case that Ch. teachers are strict?  Yes, they [really] are!
Zhèr de lăoshī shì bu shi zǒngshi hĕn lèi?  Tāmen shì hĕn lèi, kĕshì xuéshēng bú shi gèng lèi ma.	Is it the case that the teachers here are always tired?  They are quite tired, but aren’t students even more tired?
Tāmen shì bu shi dōu yĭjing qĭlái le?  Bù, xiăo Liáng hái méiyou qĭlái, tā yǒu yìdiănr bù shūfu.	Is it the case that they’re all up already?  No, young Liang isn’t up yet, he’s not very well.

The appearance of shì with SVs in such sentences should not undermine your understanding that shì does not appear with SVs in neutral, unemphatic contexts.

Exercise 2.

Provide Chinese equivalents for the following interchanges:

You were born in Thailand, right?

Yes, but my nationality is American.

 

Is it the case that Nanjing isn’t far from Shànghǎi?

That’s right, it isn’t that far away, about 200 kms.

 

Aren’t they Chinese?

No, they’re not. None of them is. Two of them are Korean, and two are Thai.

 

Isn’t that your umbrella?

No, it’s not mine. / I think it is!

 

Is Tianjin near Beijing?

Yes it is. It’s about 180 kms from Beijing.