いいえ – Picking the Right word for No in Japanese
There are a few ways to say no in Japanese.
- いいえ
- いや
- だめ
- 違う
Let’s take a look at these and how to use them correctly in Japanese
INDEX
No in Japanese
You have a few different choices for no in Japanese. What is no in Japanese or how you translate it will differ based on the word you choose or the situation.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/いいえ
If you just want to know how to say no in Japanese politely then いいえ is the best choice. This is probably the first word for no people learn when they start their Japanese studies. You say いいえ as a response to what someone said in order to negate what they said.
A：今日は日曜日ですか？ – Is today Sunday?
B：いいえ、火曜日です – No, it is Tuesday
いいえ in speech may also be shortened to いえ or repeated like いえいえ. If you say いえ it is more like saying nah. When you say いえいえ that would be like saying no, no and show a bit more emotion or to negate what the speaker said a little stronger.
はい、うん -How to Say Yes in Japanese
いいえ instead of Your Welcome
In Japanese, there is a word for your welcome which is どういたしまして. But, most of the time people don’t say this. Instead, people will more commonly say いいえ.
いいえ、こちらこそ
No, thank you
いや
いや also means the same thing as いいえ but is not as formal. You would say いや in most of the same situations as いいえ. You can also shorten いや to や sometimes.
There are a few situations where you would just use いや.
No, I mean…
When we talk we don’t always get the message from our brain to our mouth correctly. In English, you would say something like I mean… in order to tell the listener that you goofed up on what you were trying to say. In Japanese, you can say いや much in the same way.
今日、いや昨日アイスクリームを食べた
Today, I mean yesterday I ate icecream
だめ
If you want to tell someone no! or don’t do that! Stop! and so on you can say だめ.
The Meaning of Dame (だめ) in Japanese
So for example, if you want to tell a child no cookies, or an animal no get off the couch or whatever, you can say だめ.
違う
違う is a Japanese very which means to be different. But, you can also say 違う when you want to say no in Japanese. This is actually probably more common to say 違う than some of the other ways to say no. You will often actually combine 違う with いいえ or いや.
A：今日は日曜日ですか？ – Is today Sunday?
B：いいえ、違います。今日は火曜日です – No, it is Tuesday (literally: No, it’s different from that…)
