by Tomoyuki Higuchi
How do you say “Yes.” in Japanese?
Today’s phrases are :
Yes. / No.
はい。/ いいえ。
hai / iie*
*We do not clearly pronounce the vowels in the middle of a word. We pronounce “iie” like “īe”.
In casual talk, we say like this instead of “はい / いいえ” :
うん。/ ううん。
un / uun
Pronunciation
Yes.
➔
うん。
(casual)
はい。
(polite)
No.
➔
ううん。
(casual)
いいえ。
(polite)