Don't you know? Yes, of course, I know. . It is usually ambiguous & causes many misunderstandings. It is one of the things most needing repeating in English. . Sometimes it is easiest to not answer the question, but to say something that tells the person what you want to say. This is often a good general concept. Respond to questions rather than feel obliged to answer. . He didn't get the promotion? "No." sounds most like he did not get it. He didn't get the promotion? "Yes." sounds just ambiguous. "He got it" - simple. . It's not 4 o'clock yet, right?. "No" sounds like it is before 4. It's not 4 o'clock yet, right?. "Yes" sounds just ambiguous It's 3:55 - simple . Hope it helps.

Answers to negative questions are just plain ambiguous to this native speaker. Correct interpretation of the meaning of a short answer requires that both people know the convention. This, I find is usually lacking & the answer immediately gets queried to find out which was intended. Don't you like Spaghetti? "yes" - would simply leave me wondering. .... This is made worse by popular use of double negatives for negative sentences. It ain't nothing. YUK!

Observe the following examples: Affirmative Question: Do you like spaghetti? Affirmative Answer: Yes, I do. (I like spaghetti.) Negative Answer: No, I don't. (I don't like spaghetti.) Negative Question: Don't you like spaghetti? Affirmative Answer: Yes, I do. (I like spaghetti.) Negative Answer: No, I don't. (I don't like spaghetti.) When answering a question answerable by yes/no, the answer does not totally rely on the question. If your answer is negative you simple say No + another negative remark (No, I don't), and if affirmative you say Yes + positive remark (Yes, I do.) This may be confusing for non-native English speakers because in other languages, the response relies on the question... like in Korean, if you ask them a negative question, they will say Yes first then say a negative remark to mean they agree to the negative question (that their answer is also negative. Just remember in English, we say Yes + positive remark (for positive answers) and No + negative remark (for positive answers). I hope this helps.

Observe the following examples: Affirmative Question: Do you like spaghetti? Affirmative Answer: Yes, I do. (I like spaghetti.) Negative Answer: No, I don't. (I don't like spaghetti.) Negative Question: Don't you like spaghetti? Affirmative Answer: Yes, I do. (I like spaghetti.) Negative Answer: No, I don't. (I don't like spaghetti.) When answering a question answerable by yes/no, the answer does not totally rely on the question. If your answer is negative you simple say No + another negative remark (No, I don't), and if affirmative you say Yes + positive remark (Yes, I do.) This may be confusing for non-native English speakers because in other languages, the response relies on the question... like in Korean, if you ask them a negative question, they will say Yes first then say a negative remark to mean they agree to the negative question (that their answer is also negative. Just remember in English, we say Yes + positive remark (for positive answers) and No + negative remark (for positive answers). I hope this helps.

Be positive :D