How Native Koreans Say YES or No in Korean

Photo by Methawee Krasaeden, Pixabay

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YES

One day, an alien friend Sam came down to the earth and asked a question to you.

Do you eat human foods?

How would you tell him? Sam speaks only Korean language - not all ailens might be able to set up human language patches by just a click like we see in sci-fi films.

You might want to say “yes”... (I hope so) Forget about your humanitarian desire of saying “of course” or something else as of now.

Ne

“Ne” is a word for “yes” in Korean language, it isn’t a chemical element “neon” here - Sorry -. Meanwhile, Sam is throwing another question to you.

Do you live on the earth?

You might want to answer for this question because you are knowledged now. How would you say “yes” in Korean unless you’re from another universe.

( ________ )

This “Ne” lady has a synonym which looks even easier to remember. The shape as well as pronounciation of the word resembles “yes” a lot.

Ye

Does “ye” has any differences from “ne”? Not really. Is “How are you” different from “How do you do?” or “How are you doing?”. “Ne” and “Ye” has only that much gap between each other. Either way is formally registered in Korean dictionary.

In practical, however, “ne” would sound clearer for both of speakers and listeners. For that reason, “ne” seems to be more prefered in verbal communication.

Ne = Ye

It’s time to become gloomy and pessimistic. Bye alien Sam for now ~

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NO

You were pulled over on the road. A policeman approached to you and asked writing a note. His gun head is shining.

Do you do drugs?

Thousands of thoughts could come accross in your mind, but what you need to speak out right at the moment might be just a word “no”.

A-ni-yo

Looks like a girl’s name “anne”. Well, 9 out of 10 Americans makes mistake in reading “aniyo” - Diversity of english matters I guess. Do you know how alphabet “A” sounds in British english? - “Ah~~~~~~”. Let’s have a sound check real quick through Google Translate. Is "aniyo" pronounciation begin like a girl’s name “anne” really?

"aniyo"

Even if you did your best to say “no”, the police man didn’t leave yet... unfortunately, he gives you one more question like below.

Did you kill your neighbor’s dog last night?

‘Why do you do this to me’ - if I were advanced Korean speaker, I would say this. However, you already knew the most essential word for answering. Say it!

( ________ )

Well done !!!!

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SUMMARY QUIZ

“Yes or No” answering has a promount importance in language learning. Congrats for your acheivement of today! Do you want to finish this study making use of them for real quick?


Q. Are you old enough to watch X-rated?

A.

Q. Have you fall in love with an alien?

A.

Q. Would you like a receipt?

A.