Answering Questions in French - Lawless French Grammar

Répondre aux questions

In English, you can only answer yes / no questions with variations on the themes of yes, no, and I don’t know. French, however, has another possibility: yes in response to no.

1) Oui = Yes

– Aimez-vous voyager ? – Oui.		– Do you like traveling? – Yes.
– Il est prêt ? – Oui.		– He’s ready? – Yes.

2) Non = No

– Aimez-vous voyager ? – Non.		– Do you like traveling? – No (I don’t).
– Il n’est pas prêt ? – Non.		– He isn’t ready? – No (he’s not).

3) Si = Yes, to contradict a negative question or statement

– N’aimez-vous pas voyager ? – Non.		– Don’t you like traveling? – No (I don’t).
– N’aimez-vous pas voyager ? – Si.		– Don’t you like traveling? – Yes, I do.
– Il n’est pas prêt. – Non.		– He isn’t ready. – No (he isn’t).
– Il n’est pas prêt. – Si.		– He isn’t ready. – Yes, he is.

Oui and si are not interchangeable: oui can only be used to agree with an affirmative question, while si can only contradict a negative question or statement.

Par exemple…

– Aimez-vous voyager ? – Oui. / ~~Si.~~		– Do you like traveling? – Yes (that’s correct, I do).
– N’aimez-vous pas voyager ? – Si. / ~~Oui.~~		– Don’t you like traveling? – (You’re wrong.) Yes, I do.
– Pierre n’aime pas voyager. – Si. / ~~Oui.~~		– Pierre doesn’t like traveling. – (You’re wrong.) Yes, he does.

I love the word si and was thrilled when I mastered its usage. It was disconcerting to discover that in Morocco and Guadeloupe, si is sometimes used like oui.