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When the question is not a negative question the response for the given question should be:

Q: ¿Tienes carro?

"Sí, tengo." for a positive answer or "No tengo." for a negative one.

No, what if the same question is negative?

Q: ¿No tienes carro?

The positive answer would be "Sí, tengo." and the negative one "No tengo."

I want to know if the response usage is correct. So if it is we could just think the question as if the "no" does not exist and just respond as we normally do, right?

1
  • 2
    Or worse "No es cierto que no quieres aprender?" Nov 25, 2011 at 1:28

2 Answers 2

13

I think that when facing negative questions, you must answer using the main verb of the question. For example, with a normal question:

¿Usas anteojos?

You can answer it with both:

  • Sí.
  • Sí uso.

On the other hand, with the negative question:

¿No usas anteojos?

You must say, for example:

  • Sí uso.

Because saying only will lead to ambiguity.

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    I'd add that the usual answer to avoid ambiguity is "Sí, sí uso" or "No, no uso". It's usual to repeat "sí"/"no" in real life to makes things clearer.
    – Juanillo
    Nov 24, 2011 at 19:59
3

As Juanillo said, it's usual to repeat the "sí"/"no" in this way:

Q: ¿Tienes carro?

A1: Sí, sí tengo. (for a positive answer)

A2: No, no tengo. (for a negative one)

That's for the positive question. Although just "Sí"/"No" should be right as well.

Q: ¿No tienes carro?

For the negative question I usually answer in this way:

No, sí que tengo.

Sí que tengo. (for a positive answer)

No, no tengo.

No. (for a negative one)

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