[General] how to answer "don't you eat?"

[LaiDG]

help.... someone.... please....

how would you answer these questions:

Don't you eat?
"Yes, I eat." or "No, I eat" ?

Is nobody here intelligent?
"Yes, somebody here is intelligent"
"No, somebody here is intelligent"


thank you!

 

[TheParser]

help.... someone.... please....

how would you answer these questions:

Don't you eat?
"Yes, I eat." or "No, I eat" ?

Is nobody here intelligent?
"Yes, somebody here is intelligent"
"No, somebody here is intelligent"


thank you!

***NOT A TEACHER***(1) Don't you eat breakfast every morning? Yes, I do. = I eat breakfast every morning. / No, I don't (eat breakfast every morning). *** (2) Is nobody here intelligent? = I cannot believe how stupid everyone here is!!!Yes, sir, there ARE some intelligent people here./ No, sir, NOBODY here is intelligent./ No, sir, there are NO intelligent people here. ***(3) Is anybody here intelligent? = I am asking a sincere question. I do not know the answer. I am new at this company. Yes, sir, there are a few/some/ many intelligent people here. / No, sir, nobody here is intelligent./ No, sir, there are no intelligent people here.

 

[euncu]

Thanks for clarification, TheParser, because in Turkish we reply these kind of questions another way round and sometimes it's a bit confusing.

An example (The translation is literal):

Mutlu değil misin? (Aren't you happy?)
Evet, değilim. (Yes, I am not)
Hayır, mutluyum. (No, I am)

 

[Vladimir_al]

My answer are :

Yes , I want to eat .
No , I ate two hours ago .

 

[TheParser]

Thanks for clarification, TheParser, because in Turkish we reply these kind of questions another way round and sometimes it's a bit confusing.

An example (The translation is literal):

Mutlu değil misin? (Aren't you happy?)
Evet, değilim. (Yes, I am not)
Hayır, mutluyum. (No, I am)

I thank YOU for reminding me that "yes" and "no" are considered differently in certain languages. There is the old joke about the American who goes to a store in country X. The store has NO bananas. The American asks, "Don't you have any bananas?" The clerk answers, "Yes." = Yes, we don't have any bananas. An American expects "No." (No, we don't have any bananas.)

 

[Searching for language]

It took me quite a few times of making an error with my mother-in-law. If you ask her, and other older Germans, if they would like another cup of coffee, for example, they would say either "Danke" or "Ja" I always assumed that if they said Danke, (thank you) that meant thanks, yes, I would like some more. Not so. If they say "danke", it means, thanks but no, I don't want any more.