How to Say “Yes. / No.” in Japanese

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)