How to say "Yes, I do." and "Yes, I am." in Japanese
Expressions like “Yes, I do.” and “Yes, I am.” cannot be translated literally into Japanese. (i.e. You cannot say, はい、します Hai, shimasu. or はい、です Hai, desu.) Instead, a lot of times, you really have to repeat the verb used in the question.
For example,
(1)
Q. ギターは弾きますか。
Gitaa wa hikimasu ka.
Do you play the guitar?
A. はい、弾きます。
Hai, hikimasu.
Literal translation: Yes, I play.
(2)
Q. 肉は食べますか。
Niku wa tabemasu ka.
Do you eat meat?
A. はい、食べます。
Hai, tabemasu.
Literal translation: Yes, I eat.
Notice in the above that you repeat the verb in your answer, but you don’t need to say the object; i.e. “the guitar” or “meat”.
Let’s look at some ～です ...desu examples next!
(3)
Q. 田中さんは学生ですか。
Tanaka san wa gakusee desu ka.
Is Mr. Tanaka a student?
A. はい、学生です。
Hai, gakusee desu.
Yes, he is a student.
(4)
Q. そのサラダは美味しいですか。
Sono sarada wa oishii desu ka.
Is that salad delicious?
A. はい、美味しいです。
Hai, oishii desu.
Yes, it’s delicious.
(5)
Q. 魚は好きですか。
Sakana wa suki desu ka.
Do you like fish?
A. はい、好きです。
Hai, suki desu.
Literal translation: Yes, I like.
You notice in the above that whatever expression that is followed by です desu (i.e. 学生 gakusee, 美味しい oishii, 好き suki) cannot be omitted in the answer. This is unlike English, which allows us to say things like, “Yes, I am.” and “Yes, it is.”
For example,
(1)
Q. ギターは弾きますか。
Gitaa wa hikimasu ka.
Do you play the guitar?
A. はい、弾きます。
Hai, hikimasu.
Literal translation: Yes, I play.
(2)
Q. 肉は食べますか。
Niku wa tabemasu ka.
Do you eat meat?
A. はい、食べます。
Hai, tabemasu.
Literal translation: Yes, I eat.
Notice in the above that you repeat the verb in your answer, but you don’t need to say the object; i.e. “the guitar” or “meat”.
Let’s look at some ～です ...desu examples next!
(3)
Q. 田中さんは学生ですか。
Tanaka san wa gakusee desu ka.
Is Mr. Tanaka a student?
A. はい、学生です。
Hai, gakusee desu.
Yes, he is a student.
(4)
Q. そのサラダは美味しいですか。
Sono sarada wa oishii desu ka.
Is that salad delicious?
A. はい、美味しいです。
Hai, oishii desu.
Yes, it’s delicious.
(5)
Q. 魚は好きですか。
Sakana wa suki desu ka.
Do you like fish?
A. はい、好きです。
Hai, suki desu.
Literal translation: Yes, I like.
You notice in the above that whatever expression that is followed by です desu (i.e. 学生 gakusee, 美味しい oishii, 好き suki) cannot be omitted in the answer. This is unlike English, which allows us to say things like, “Yes, I am.” and “Yes, it is.”
Comments
(1) A. いいえ、弾きません。
Iie, hikimasen.
Literal translation: No, I don’t play.
(2) A. いいえ、食べません。
Iie, tabemasen.
Literal translation: No, I don’t eat.
(3) A. いいえ、学生ではありません。
Iie, gakusee de wa arimasen.
No, I am not a student.
(4) A. いいえ、美味しくありません。
Iie, oishiku arimasen.
No, it is not delicious.
(5) A. いいえ、好きではありません。
Iie, suki dewa arimasen.
Literal translation: No, I don’t like.
When can you use it? Think of this phrase as the equivalent of the English “Yes, that’s right”. Then you can figure out when it is and when it is not appropriate to use はい、そうです Hai, soo desu.
For example, questions like the following can be answered with はい、そうです Hai soo desu.
Q. 田中さんは学生ですか。
Tanaka san wa gakusee desu ka.
Is Mr. Tanaka a student?
Q. この本は田中さんのですか。
Kono hon wa Tanaka san no desu ka.
Is this book Mr. Tanaka’s book? (i.e. Does this book belong to Mr. Tanaka?)
Q. 今日は木曜日ですか。
Kyoo wa mokuyoobi desu ka.
Is today Thursday?
In contrast, questions like below cannot be answered with はい、そうです Hai soo desu. (Think how it is weird to say,”Yes, that’s right” in English in response to the following questions.)
Q. そのサラダは美味しいですか。
Sono sarada wa oishii desu ka.
Is that salad delicious?
Q. 魚は好きですか。
Sakana wa suki desu ka.
Do you like fish?
Q. 肉は食べますか。
Niku wa tabemasu ka.
Do you eat meat?
そうします Soo shimasu means “I’ll do so”. Please note that this phrase is always used to talk about future. Thus, you never use そうします Soo shimasu to mean, “I do” or “I do so”.
Here are some usage examples:
(1)
A. 医者に行ったらどうですか。
Isha ni ittara doo desu ka.
Why don’t you go to see a doctor?
B. はい、そうします。
Hai, soo shimasu.
Yes, I’ll do so.
(2)
A. 少し休んだ方がいいかもしれませんよ。
Sukoshi yasunda hoo ga ii kamoshiremasen yo.
You may want to take a little rest.
B. はい、そうします。
Hai, soo shimasu.
Yes, I’ll do so.
If somebody uses ～ませんか ...masen ka “Why don’t we...?”, ～ましょうか ...mashoo ka “Shall we...?”, or ～ましょう ...mashoo “Let’s...”, you can answer with はい、そうしましょう Hai, soo shimashoo, which literally means “Yes, (we’ll) do so”, but it basically corresponds to something like “Yes, let’s”.
For example,
(3)
A. 映画に行きませんか。
Eega ni ikimasen ka.
Why don’t we go to a movie?
B. はい、そうしましょう！
Hai, soo shimashoo!
Yes, let’s!
(4)
A. すしを食べましょうか。
Sushi o tabemashoo ka.
Shall we eat sushi?
B. いいですね。そうしましょう。
Ii desu ne. Soo shimashoo.
Sounds good. Let’s do that.