“And I took that personally” As an italian, it’s unbelivable how intelligible french is to italian when it comes to write stuff, but then, when you have to speak, nobody understands anything
@@DLunatic- Ahhhh that explains it so much better! So it's to handle all those pesky "No! yes! yes! no no! no yes! yes no! yes! yes! no! Wait yes no or no no???" situations.
Oui. Re: No Si. Re: No Yes! Re: No Ja Re: No Ya Re: No Tak Re: No Hai (はい) Re: No Da (да) Re: No Ne (네) Re: No shì de (是的) - This person is just really stupid. Not understanding “yes” 😂
Okay but.. the use I was taught for ‘si’ in French is so useful. ‘si’ is used to contradict negative questions, such as “you don’t want X?” where ‘si’ would mean “Yes, I would like X actually”
Meanwhile in Italian "si" is also the impersonal pronoun, similar to the French's "on". However, just like in Spanish, it doesn't have the accent that "sì" (yes) has in written form.
"Si" is also used to negate a negative question. Like giving a positif answer to a question that start with "don't you..." without confusing your interlocutor. We could give the following exemple: Don't you want to go home? Yes. Yes what, yes you do or yes you don't? "Si" is used to avoid this situation by insisting that yes you do want to go home.
@@shrikanthpai6604In French, "Of course" is "Bien sûr" (in Quebec, we also say "ben oui" which means the same thing but is a more familiar/casual way to say "of course"). :)
In french, if someone says "you don't like x" and you answer oui/yes, it's hard to know if you mean "yes I like x" or "yes you're right, I don't like x" Very useful to avoid misundestandings
Exactly ! As a french i confirm what you just said. Example : "You don't want more ?" Answer "SI" to say you want more. Answer "NON" to confirm you don't want more Answer "OUI" to confirm... hmmm... yes you're right i don't want more. I always felt in this negative questions, OUI and NON both mean NON, only SI means YES.
In English, if the confirmation question is asked - “So you don’t want more?” - we know that the ‘yes’ is is confirmation. Or we say right or correct. But, that would be a strange question anyway. If someone asked it correctly - “Do you want more?” - then you can just answer ‘no, thank you’.
@@niluje94 i have always done this in negative questions Dont you want more? Si: you misunderstand i DOOO want more Oui: you are correct i dont want more Non: you are wrong i do want more
@@miewwcubing2570 Yes i know, french people don't feel the same if we answer OUI or NON at negative questions. It's horrible. In fact at the question "You don't want more ?". You can just answer SI if you want more. But to avoid confusion, if you don't want more, then say it "I don't want more". OUI or NON alone is not good enought.
I get it too, refreshing is the exact word I would've used too! But english speakers won't understand from this yes-no-yes-no explanation, you need to tell them that it's in response to a negated question. Is it not? Yes, it is! Yes = Ja Yes, it is! = Doch!
English used to have a 4 way differentiation, with Yes and No being to answer in the affirmative and negative to positive questions and Yea and Nay being for negative questions.
(just in case the 'yes' added in the third situation is fake, you keep repeating 'si' until they agree with you, you may say 'bah si' or 'ah si', that are like 'well yes', but you don't change the word again)
That makes me insane! Half of native speakers in the U.S. Do not understand the 'do you mind' question. 'Mind ' means 'bother'. So of I ask a person 'Do you mind......?' and it's perfectly fine with you, the correct answer is NO! As in "No, it does not bother me'
This is actually a useful word that I miss whenever I speak English. Because in many other languages(french, german,...) you say this word to disagree with a negative Qustion. For example: "Don't you like music a lot?" -> in English you would respond with "yes", but like this you would actually agree that you don't like music although you want to express the opposite. With the word "Si"(french) or "Doch"(german) you make clear that you do like music a lot because you disagree with the "don't" in the question.
I get what you mean, because if you say no, it confuses a lot of people, so you end up having to say, 'no, I like music' or 'yes, I like music' both of which are just repeating the sentence back at them.
This is not an issue. A negative question can usually be answered the same as a positive one and will be understood as such by a fluent speaker. English uses them for emphasis or surprise. “Aren’t you coming?” and “are you coming?” are the same question; answering the former with yes to indicate one is not coming is not something that an English speaker does.
As someone who speaks both but English at a much higher level, I can confidently say that I really appreciate English for its simplicity. Its grammar isn’t difficult but its vocabulary is vast. The best of both worlds!
English does have the possibility to express disagreeing affirmation. Though English lacks clarity in the distinguishment of the disagreeing affirmative and the agreeing affirmative due to their state of homonymity. In simple terms: "yes" can mean either "ja" or "doch" depending on context.
@@gergo7507 I do like English for the reasons you give and I speak it much better than I do French but this is one thing where I think the French definitely had the right idea. 😄 Also, German has fewer words but it does have to option to simply create new ones. Compound nouns are a beautiful thing.
@@AuxaneST negative. If the question goes “ton frère n’est pas là?”, and my brother in fact is here, the answer you’ll hear is “oui oui, il est là”, never “si”. “Si” sounds like a weird European quirk to us
@@whereisamine Someone from Québec in the comment section somewhere said "in Québec there's also 'mais oui'." So by "there is also" they meant that there's only "mais oui"?
@@The_IND_Miyota It does in context; but not by themselves. You say "Sí" with emphasis, whereas "Si" is followed by the condition, so it sounds more muted. It's hard to explain without being able to pronunciate it here, but saying "Sí voy a comer" sounds slightly different from "Si voy a comer".
I actually love the French si. It makes tons of sense to me because it’s used as a yes in response to negative questions only, which is actually more clear to me than just a yes.
the only rule in french that has no exception is the fact that there is always at least one exception héhé edit: yeah i wouldn't think of that much appreciation, so yeah, have a good day, or night, to you all, you deserve it
Having a way to "negate a no" is honestly really practical in many situations. I hate that English doesn't have that. (It's still unfortunate that French happened to choose the same word as the one for "if")
Did English use to have a way to respond to negative questions in way that is distinct to the way you'd answer positively formulated questions? Yea, it did! Was it useful enough? Nay, apparently not useful enough. Shouldn't we bring it back? Yes, it would be cool. Wouldn't it be confusing? No, nobody would ever confuse this with informal "yeah" and "naaa" or whatever heathens say nowadays.
English kind of does have this. It's the difference between "Yeah" "No" "Yeah, no" and "No, Yeah" We have "yes" "no" "yes it's a no" and "no it's a yes"
@@MarkoMikulicic So yea and nay were affirmations and negations of positives, while yes and no were affirmations and negations of negatives? Or am I reading too much into your comment?
@@imarabbitama3511 slavic languages don't (as far as i know). In russian there's a word roughly translating as "opposite" tho. Like "don't you wanna come with us?" "Opposite!" (As "sure i do"). But almost nobody uses it cause you would sound like a snob
On va vérifier ça en voyant si tu comprends ces trois jeux de mots : - Je fais beaucoup de blagues sur les personnes à mobilité réduite mais aucune ne marche. - tu connais la blague de la chaise ? Elle est pliante. - tu fais comme dans l'infanterie et tu te tires ailleurs.
My French teacher explained "si" as a kind of "mais oui"--like how in English, if someone asks you "You aren't doing anything tomorrow, right?" and you just say "Yes," they have to guess whether you mean "Yes, you are correct," or "Yes, I am actually doing something." "Si" would be "Yes, I am doing something."
THANK YOU! I know very, very little French, but I love the French stories I’m familiar with (the works of Alexandre Dumas, Cyranno de Bergerac) and I watched the Gerard Depardieu version of Cyranno and I got confused when in the beginning scene where Cyranno interrupts the stage performance because he feels the lead actor is a hack fraud, the audience divides into argument over whether the show should continue or if the actor ought to leave the stage. One audience member yells something (in French) like “On with the show!” And another patron yells, “Non!” And the prior audience member quickly retorts, “Sí!” And all those years ago I thought, “Wait, isn’t this filmed in French? What’s this Spanish I’m hearing?” So thank you for filling that little gap in my brain that I was too lazy to look up.
Ok this is one where French is actually right, as a German I am missing doch/si so much in English, it just hits way different than saying yes again...
you can add emphasis by saying for instance "yes it is" if the argument is about whether or not something is something else, or "yes it has" in other cases, etc
That's when the "si" comes in play ! Ex 1 : - Tu penses pas que j'ai maigri ? - Oui ! - Donc tu ne penses pas, je suis gros c'est ça ? è_é Ex 2 : - Tu penses pas que j'ai maigri ? - Si ! - Hiii =)
The problem here is that English doesn't have a word for "negating yes". Other languages have one "conforming yes" and a different "negating yes". So if someone in English says "I'm not stupid", you want to say "Yes you are". As in negating what they said, and saying that the right answer is "yes". In French I assume you would they say "si", in German you would say "doch", in Norwegian you would say "jo". But if in English you just say "yes", then it becomes confusing as to whether you agree with them or not. So this isn't about French being stupid. This is about English being stupid.
We also have "Ja" and "Jo" in Norwegian, and I think it is English that is deficient in this case, rather than French or Norwegian being complicated. Because in English they both translate to the word "yes", but they mean slightly different things depending on context. Which is a feature the English language lacks.
English used to have it. It's called four-form system Will they not go? - Yes, they will. Will they not go? - No, they will not. Will they go? - Yea, they will. Will they go? - Nay, they will not. You can still see vestiges of this system, for example in US senate voting rituals
Swedish actually has something similar. Yes is "ja" but then we have "jo" which basically is a yes in response to a no, so if someone says "no" you say "jo" back.
Ahaa, so that's where the Finnish "joo" comes! Except we use that word anywhere as "yes". In Finnish, the first "no" is "ei". But if you want to start arguing, your second "no" is "eipäs" (roughly: "no for sure"). The first "yes" is "kyllä", but if you want to continue arguing, your second yes is "kylläpäs" ("yes for sure"). (instead of kyllä-kylläpäs you can also use joo-joopas).
I was a bit confused, since I thought "si" only meant "if" in French, but I think it's a good rule. I wish we had something similar to the "si"/"doch" also in Italian, because there might be some doubt when we use a short reply yes/no after a negative interrogative.
"Je te dis que SI!!" When a French person defends/camps on his arguments against another French person by insisting on his yes. Or when he responds stubbornly in the affirmative to a person who stands up in the negative opposite. The SI is a supported confirmation. Yes + Yes = SI! 1) Tu as fait ton lit? Oui. Je n'ai pas entendu... J'ai dit SI! 2) Je te dis que non! Ce n'est pas possible. Et moi, je te dis que SI! Elle me l'a confirmé! 3) Es-tu allé à la banque comme convenu? SI.
I actually like the "si as a yes to a negative question" rule for French, cause it actually clears up any potential misunderstandings that in English takes us much more words. "You don't want to go there?" "No I DO want to go there" versus just saying si
@@toiletbowl9483 Idk, but I know for a fact he has mentioned/portrayed French, English, Spanish, Portugese, German, Italian, and "universal" in his sketches.
the "si" is actually extremely useful as it allows to differentiate and disambiguate when you are answering a negative question. "you're not gonna eat that?" "yes" "yes you're not gonna eat that, or yes you will be eating that?" meanwhile, "si" means yes, but as a contradiction. "you're not gonna eat that" "si" it's self sufficient: "i disagree with your statement and will be eating that." quite ironically we still say "non" when we want to answer no to a negative question, which is ambiguous unless you add precisions...
But this 'si' is also existent in a lot of other languages, for example in Germany we say 'doch' instead of 'ja', which means yes. When I started learning English, I was sooo confused, that there wasn't a 'doch' or 'si'. What can I do, if I want to counter on someone's point 🤯🤯😂
As far as I understand, "yes" is the original negated positive (like si or doch), but English forgot about "yay" or "yea" (like oui or ja) except for oral votes in parliament
If there is no "non" in between, you don't use "si". Other people have explained it in other comments, the "si" is used to answer to negative questions or contradict negative affirmations. For instance, if someone asks you "didn't you eat lunch one hour ago ?", if you say "yes", it could either mean "yes, I did, actually" or "yes, you are right, I didn't", "si" is a yes that always disagrees with a no. Otherwise, you can say "oui" as many times as you want in a row, if you don't mind being mistaken for Julien Lepers.
This was actually one of those really difficult ones for me to overcome, learning English. We have the same thing in Swedish, and it makes no sense to just say "yes" when I've said no, you need to say "yeah-huh" or something! D:> **Strange linguistic existential dread**
swedish has this too, when saying "yes" but in opposition to something, our normal "ja" becomes "jo" so if "do you want bread?" you answer "ja" but if "you dont want bread, right?" you answer "jo" since you disagree with them
In what languages does it not exist? And how do they work around it? I know in English it's "yes, it is" so adding some extra words to the yes, but I don't know any other languages like this yet. Which ones are they and how do they do it?
This is the conversational equivalent of when you say goodbye to someone, only to find that you're walking in the same direction so then you peel off at some turn or lane to which you secretly have absolutely no relevant goals pertaining, just to escape the awkwardness of continuing to walk together after formally "ending" the encounter.
No but those words are genuinely amazing and interesting! This concept is really useful istg It also exists in many Germanic languages. Since "Yes" is an affirmation, it's technically counterproductive or at least less impactful when you are trying to counteract a "No". It's automatically weak as it has the potential to affirm the other opinion. And this is where the most powerful words come into play: Things like the French "Si" or the German "Doch". The best translation would be "no, you are wrong, it's 'yes'" or "fuck you it's yes you dimwit" and it's the most hilarious thing ever English speakers are really missing out on this one
I'm starting to get tired of all these convoluted explanations, when all you need to say is You don't like cake? Yes. ...um, so do you or don't you? You don't like cake? Yes, I do. Boom. Yes, I do = Si = Doch. That's all and everyone would get it c'mon
@@poycixyz4614 Convoluted? that's sounds like a you problem. It's because even though "yes I do" would be the best translation, (the one you would use in official translations or something), it is not necessarily the most *accurate*, it's just idiomatic. Everyone is already aware that you would use "yes I do" in English, that's the purpose of the video, but people here are explaining how the word still has a different feel to it, so you're kinda missing the point and it's making your comment redundant.
It's also a way of correcting a negative assumption: "you are not married?" 'si' would be a way of saying: yes, I am. (or.. "no, I am"? Idk..) In Dutch it's also used: 'ja' & 'jawel'
In Arabic, we have that word. No in Arabic is "لا (La)" and yes is "نعم (Na'am)" and Si is "بلا (Bala)". And it's really useful word... those words are in the original Arabic, it can be presented differently in each arabic county
“There doesn’t need to be a rule for EVERYTHING”
French: “et je l'ai pris personnellement….”
Oh I get it lol
Bilingual comment of 2023 right here
😂😂😂
Help I don’t speak French…😐
“And I took that personally”
As an italian, it’s unbelivable how intelligible french is to italian when it comes to write stuff, but then, when you have to speak, nobody understands anything
"but i have a lot of arguments with people who don't speak french" is a really underrated line
Arguing (debating) is a way of life!
By lot of people its mostly just british 😂
Specially with us spaniards
@@LelakiKerdusno it ain't, literally every country hates the French!! They are rude and stupid
E
Actually “Oui” is the regular yes and “Si” is used when answering a negative interrogative (by the affirmative)
Example :
"- There doesnt need to be a rule for everything !
- Si."
Oh we have that same thing in Swedish. “Ja” (yes) is said when you agree and “Jo” (yes) is said when you don’t
@@DLunatic- I've never thought of that as a rule, I just use them interchangably lol
@@DLunatic- Ahhhh that explains it so much better!
So it's to handle all those pesky
"No! yes! yes! no no! no yes! yes no! yes! yes! no! Wait yes no or no no???" situations.
@@DLunatic- I was gonna say the same thing. Oui would be Ja and Si would be Jo
"There doesn't need to be a rule for everything !"
"Si !"
JA! 😂
Non
@@ilayohana3150Si si
Regle embetante pour les Quebecois:) on utilise jamais 'si', juste 'oui' dans toutes les situations.
Uhm vous parlez de quoi ici?
"And if they say non again, they are just stupid." 😂😂
😂😂 fr 🤣
E
Nah we should just go through yes in all languages
Oui?
Oui.
Re: No
Si.
Re: No
Yes!
Re: No
Ja
Re: No
Ya
Re: No
Tak
Re: No
Hai (はい)
Re: No
Da (да)
Re: No
Ne (네)
Re: No
shì de (是的)
- This person is just really stupid. Not understanding “yes” 😂
In Germany we say "Doch!", problem solved. We can have a whole conversation with only "Nein!" and "Doch!"
Ohhhhh
"Ooooh" is missing 😂
german’s so radical
But isn’t “Nein!” “Doch!” “Ohh!” french in original? Is it “Non!” “Si!” “Ohh!” ?
Right! I've missed this "Doch" in English always. And I asked me, whether they don't discuss/disagree or why they have no real word for it
Okay but.. the use I was taught for ‘si’ in French is so useful. ‘si’ is used to contradict negative questions, such as “you don’t want X?” where ‘si’ would mean “Yes, I would like X actually”
Honestly I'd like that in English...
Isn't it like "doch" in German? I have cousins in Germany and i know this word since i was a kid :D
Mais oui
Mais oui
Exactly! Like "doch" in German. A very, very useful word.
As a french person I always found it weird when people said yes to answer someone who said no, it just feels like it lacks something
Same as German here xD
I agree 100%
😆
I... actually agree
Can I interest you in a pretty little vowel-sized hat?
Actually "Si" is also used in Spanish for "If" but depends how you use it.
It's different in writing, though; "sí"(with accent) is "yes", "si"(no accent) is "if"
Meanwhile in Italian "si" is also the impersonal pronoun, similar to the French's "on".
However, just like in Spanish, it doesn't have the accent that "sì" (yes) has in written form.
@@CheetahLynx Exactamente, la afirmación sí va con acento.
same in french : "si j'étais beau, mais je suis français".
sí = yes
si = if
él = he
el = masculine article
much depends on these signs, which are called "acutes"
I love the pause to process that "Yes, no, yes" joke.
French is that person who plans out every possible conversation so they don't risk awkward interactions
But trust me about awkward interaction we have 😂
French really makes no sense. This masculine and feminin thing is just stupid. 😒😒
French is shower thoughts
Actualy in that context, "si" just marks some insistance. "Oui" is just an affirmation. "Si" implies that you insist so the meaning is stronger.
"Si" is also used to negate a negative question. Like giving a positif answer to a question that start with "don't you..." without confusing your interlocutor. We could give the following exemple: Don't you want to go home? Yes. Yes what, yes you do or yes you don't? "Si" is used to avoid this situation by insisting that yes you do want to go home.
"There shouldn't be a rule for EVERYTHING"
Says The Language without Pronounciation Rules
Known as English
"Of course" has no equivalent?
Exactly from France
@@shrikanthpai6604In French, "Of course" is "Bien sûr" (in Quebec, we also say "ben oui" which means the same thing but is a more familiar/casual way to say "of course"). :)
In french, if someone says "you don't like x" and you answer oui/yes, it's hard to know if you mean "yes I like x" or "yes you're right, I don't like x"
Very useful to avoid misundestandings
Exactly ! As a french i confirm what you just said.
Example : "You don't want more ?"
Answer "SI" to say you want more.
Answer "NON" to confirm you don't want more
Answer "OUI" to confirm... hmmm... yes you're right i don't want more.
I always felt in this negative questions, OUI and NON both mean NON, only SI means YES.
In English, if the confirmation question is asked - “So you don’t want more?” - we know that the ‘yes’ is is confirmation. Or we say right or correct. But, that would be a strange question anyway. If someone asked it correctly - “Do you want more?” - then you can just answer ‘no, thank you’.
@@niluje94 i have always done this in negative questions
Dont you want more?
Si: you misunderstand i DOOO want more
Oui: you are correct i dont want more
Non: you are wrong i do want more
@@miewwcubing2570 Yes i know, french people don't feel the same if we answer OUI or NON at negative questions. It's horrible.
In fact at the question "You don't want more ?".
You can just answer SI if you want more.
But to avoid confusion, if you don't want more, then say it "I don't want more".
OUI or NON alone is not good enought.
So the word isnt useful in a yes no argument but more on a personal level yes no literary argument.
Interesting
As a german i understand how important and refreshing it is to have a word like 'si'
German: Ja. - Nein. - Doch!
Aaaah. 😊
I get it too, refreshing is the exact word I would've used too!
But english speakers won't understand from this yes-no-yes-no explanation, you need to tell them that it's in response to a negated question.
Is it not?
Yes, it is!
Yes = Ja
Yes, it is! = Doch!
correct!
si (or doch in german) is an amazing feature I wish I could use on the inetrnet when I'm speaking english
English used to have a 4 way differentiation, with Yes and No being to answer in the affirmative and negative to positive questions and Yea and Nay being for negative questions.
Honestly these videos teach me more french than i learned in school. I had no idea
Me too but mostly because I didn't study french at school
@@kadelin3318It's my case too, only that I didn't go to school-
(just in case the 'yes' added in the third situation is fake, you keep repeating 'si' until they agree with you, you may say 'bah si' or 'ah si', that are like 'well yes', but you don't change the word again)
School teaches you proper French. This guy teaches you how people actually speak it (which is very different than how they write it for some reason…)
@@louisrobitaille5810 look who's talking, do you say school like how you spell it, s-ch-oo-l? No, you say s-k-oo-l
"There doesn't need to be a rule for everything!"
"DOCH"
? What does that mean?
@@elouanlahougue Its german for an insistant version of yes or no
Example:
Person 1: Bananas are a Fruit
Person 2: No they arent!
Person 1: Doch!
DOCH! There has to be a rule for everything. This German agrees with French emphatically.
Und ob!
Now you make look like a copy cat 😂
@@vecvanYeah! We German are perfectionists 😂
I love using "doch" as a native English speaker because I love how it's basically the German equivalent of how we say "Yes-huh!" or "Did too!"
@@vecvan What does that mean ? and yes ?
I actually like "si"
Helps with make answers clearer for double negation questions or "do you mind" questions
That makes me insane! Half of native speakers in the U.S. Do not understand the 'do you mind' question. 'Mind ' means 'bother'. So of I ask a person 'Do you mind......?' and it's perfectly fine with you, the correct answer is NO! As in "No, it does not bother me'
In German it’s similar: we say “doch”, instead of yes every time, like no, doch, no ,doch….doch means the opposite of what your opponent says
This is actually a useful word that I miss whenever I speak English. Because in many other languages(french, german,...) you say this word to disagree with a negative Qustion. For example: "Don't you like music a lot?" -> in English you would respond with "yes", but like this you would actually agree that you don't like music although you want to express the opposite. With the word "Si"(french) or "Doch"(german) you make clear that you do like music a lot because you disagree with the "don't" in the question.
I get what you mean, because if you say no, it confuses a lot of people, so you end up having to say, 'no, I like music' or 'yes, I like music' both of which are just repeating the sentence back at them.
@@blackmonkeyknight exactly
Just say “I do” or “I don’t”!
This is not an issue. A negative question can usually be answered the same as a positive one and will be understood as such by a fluent speaker. English uses them for emphasis or surprise. “Aren’t you coming?” and “are you coming?” are the same question; answering the former with yes to indicate one is not coming is not something that an English speaker does.
@@sugoruyo I know but I still think that it is actually incorrect when you answer yes to a negativ question.
An actual French conversation:
Person 1: Ça va?
Person 2: Ça va.
2:Ça va?
1:Ça va
Sebastian Marx joke ^^
But in reality it would be more like :
1 : ça va ?
2 : bien et toi ?
1 : ça va
@@synkaan2167 Nah x). Here's the realistic one:
1: Ça va?
2: Mhm.
1: …
@@louisrobitaille5810 Parisien ? 😅
Funniest thing is, you have to hear the answer to know if it's good, meh or bad, based on the tone. (Or add bien, mal...)
Don't forget the intonation:
Ça vá ?
Çá va. Ça vá ?
Çá va.
As a German I’ve always been frustrated that English lacks the possibility to express this idea and I’ve always loved that the French do have it.
As someone who speaks both but English at a much higher level, I can confidently say that I really appreciate English for its simplicity. Its grammar isn’t difficult but its vocabulary is vast. The best of both worlds!
@@gergo7507 No...
English does have the possibility to express disagreeing affirmation. Though English lacks clarity in the distinguishment of the disagreeing affirmative and the agreeing affirmative due to their state of homonymity.
In simple terms: "yes" can mean either "ja" or "doch" depending on context.
Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Faroese, and Icelandic have it.
@@gergo7507 I do like English for the reasons you give and I speak it much better than I do French but this is one thing where I think the French definitely had the right idea. 😄 Also, German has fewer words but it does have to option to simply create new ones. Compound nouns are a beautiful thing.
Fun fact: in Canadian French we don’t have that “si” variant. Only oui & non
Hmm... Yes you do.
@@AuxaneST negative. If the question goes “ton frère n’est pas là?”, and my brother in fact is here, the answer you’ll hear is “oui oui, il est là”, never “si”. “Si” sounds like a weird European quirk to us
@@whereisamine Wow. Mind blown.
@@whereisamine Someone from Québec in the comment section somewhere said "in Québec there's also 'mais oui'."
So by "there is also" they meant that there's only "mais oui"?
@@poycixyz4614 not only but “mais oui” does that indeed, as well as “ben oui” or “oui oui” and a few more
This channel has helped me improve my French speaking ngl
"There doesn't have to be a rule for everything"
*German joins the channel
I am doing German and my goal is to speak it fluently
Doch
Jein
@@CamilaAntelo2004 Viel glück.
@@maryamjoha Danke
"There doesn't need to be a rule for EVERYTHING"
French : "Bah si !"
This is actually one of the best features of French.
"Features" 😂
This is the French "Doch" 😂
-I discovered general relativity.
- I speak French.
- you win.
In Spanish, “Si” is a conjunction and “Sí” (with a accent mark) is for affirmative response.
Does that sound different ?
@@The_IND_Miyota no, sound the same.
And "si" is also a conjunction in french 😉
@@The_IND_Miyota It does in context; but not by themselves. You say "Sí" with emphasis, whereas "Si" is followed by the condition, so it sounds more muted. It's hard to explain without being able to pronunciate it here, but saying "Sí voy a comer" sounds slightly different from "Si voy a comer".
Si = If
Sí = Yes
I actually love the French si. It makes tons of sense to me because it’s used as a yes in response to negative questions only, which is actually more clear to me than just a yes.
it’s used as a yes in response to negative questions only
exacly
That's insanely good.
Don't you want to go home?
Yes (yes I don't want to or yes I want to)
Si (yes I want to)
Did I catch that right?
@@raizan5946 Yup! That's it. It avoids the confusion
@@Weederzfulor negative affirmations too.
For instance :
"Les Français ne sont pas gentils."
" *SI !* Ils sont très gentils"
Finally 😂
the only rule in french that has no exception is the fact that there is always at least one exception héhé
edit: yeah i wouldn't think of that much appreciation, so yeah, have a good day, or night, to you all, you deserve it
Some languages have exceptions to the rule. In french, exception is the rule ^^
Except for some rules :>
Same with russian. In every rule we have exceptions lol
Are you sure ? 😅
Except that rule itself
"Oh no, that would be so stupid" 😂😂😂 I can't 😂😂😂😂
That guy needs to learn"yes" in every language so anybody who's gonna come across will eventually understand lol😅
Having a way to "negate a no" is honestly really practical in many situations. I hate that English doesn't have that. (It's still unfortunate that French happened to choose the same word as the one for "if")
Did English use to have a way to respond to negative questions in way that is distinct to the way you'd answer positively formulated questions? Yea, it did!
Was it useful enough? Nay, apparently not useful enough.
Shouldn't we bring it back? Yes, it would be cool.
Wouldn't it be confusing? No, nobody would ever confuse this with informal "yeah" and "naaa" or whatever heathens say nowadays.
English kind of does have this. It's the difference between "Yeah" "No" "Yeah, no" and "No, Yeah"
We have
"yes"
"no"
"yes it's a no"
and "no it's a yes"
@@MarkoMikulicic So yea and nay were affirmations and negations of positives, while yes and no were affirmations and negations of negatives? Or am I reading too much into your comment?
@@heysiri3327 "am I reading too much into your comment?" nay, you're right. I just tried to put them in use somehow
German has this same thing, except they have a whole different word "doch"
In Dutch this word is "wel". I feel like maybe it's only English missing out on this!
Also danish have a word like this
In English we're stuck with intonation. "Yes" "No" "Yeeeeeeees" xD
@@imarabbitama3511 slavic languages don't (as far as i know). In russian there's a word roughly translating as "opposite" tho. Like "don't you wanna come with us?" "Opposite!" (As "sure i do"). But almost nobody uses it cause you would sound like a snob
Genau !
I feel like I should be fluent in French after the number of videos I’ve watched from this guy…
Even French people aren't fluent in French even though some of them do watch those
Not really no… He barely scratches the surface of the language 😐
Na I'm french and I struggle to speak it at times. The devil is in the details in french.
On va vérifier ça en voyant si tu comprends ces trois jeux de mots :
- Je fais beaucoup de blagues sur les personnes à mobilité réduite mais aucune ne marche.
- tu connais la blague de la chaise ? Elle est pliante.
- tu fais comme dans l'infanterie et tu te tires ailleurs.
"But zat is so stupid!" -Legit me to everyone in my friendgroup at least once a day
"There doesn't need to be a rule for everything." - DOCH.
Your videos make me feel better about failing French in elementary lmao
Love it when French goes "except:
😆 🤣 😂
As a german I was so excited that I coud translate "doch" in French after it wasn't possible while learning English 😂
I think this is actually a good rule. I’ve always found it weird when people say "yes" when they answer to a "no".
My French teacher explained "si" as a kind of "mais oui"--like how in English, if someone asks you "You aren't doing anything tomorrow, right?" and you just say "Yes," they have to guess whether you mean "Yes, you are correct," or "Yes, I am actually doing something."
"Si" would be "Yes, I am doing something."
THANK YOU! I know very, very little French, but I love the French stories I’m familiar with (the works of Alexandre Dumas, Cyranno de Bergerac) and I watched the Gerard Depardieu version of Cyranno and I got confused when in the beginning scene where Cyranno interrupts the stage performance because he feels the lead actor is a hack fraud, the audience divides into argument over whether the show should continue or if the actor ought to leave the stage. One audience member yells something (in French) like “On with the show!” And another patron yells, “Non!” And the prior audience member quickly retorts, “Sí!” And all those years ago I thought, “Wait, isn’t this filmed in French? What’s this Spanish I’m hearing?” So thank you for filling that little gap in my brain that I was too lazy to look up.
Ok this is one where French is actually right, as a German I am missing doch/si so much in English, it just hits way different than saying yes again...
you can add emphasis by saying for instance "yes it is" if the argument is about whether or not something is something else, or "yes it has" in other cases, etc
It's so confusing, I feel like I'm confirming the "no" when I say "yes" to a "no"
@@smith6903 thanks, that is a really good point and kinda helps explaining why English is just lacking a useful word 😅
Of course
Should we mention how weird it is when someone ask a negative question and someone answers "oui" and you still have no idea if it means "yes" or "no"?
That's when the "si" comes in play !
Ex 1 :
- Tu penses pas que j'ai maigri ?
- Oui !
- Donc tu ne penses pas, je suis gros c'est ça ? è_é
Ex 2 :
- Tu penses pas que j'ai maigri ?
- Si !
- Hiii =)
"There doesn't need to be a rule for everything"
French : "si"
Wait until Universal Language meets the German powerful "DOCH!" 😊
The problem here is that English doesn't have a word for "negating yes".
Other languages have one "conforming yes" and a different "negating yes".
So if someone in English says "I'm not stupid", you want to say "Yes you are". As in negating what they said, and saying that the right answer is "yes".
In French I assume you would they say "si", in German you would say "doch", in Norwegian you would say "jo". But if in English you just say "yes", then it becomes confusing as to whether you agree with them or not.
So this isn't about French being stupid. This is about English being stupid.
In English we just say, "mm-hmmm..." or, "uh-huuuuuuh..." with an attitude. 🤷🏼♀️
Negative yes, I love that!
@@RTCPhotoWorkwe say that everywhere i think 🤔😅
I mean in Greek we also just make expressions or sth like hmmhuh
German native speaker here and I really miss that in English!
i love this explanation, thanks!!!!
We also have "Ja" and "Jo" in Norwegian, and I think it is English that is deficient in this case, rather than French or Norwegian being complicated. Because in English they both translate to the word "yes", but they mean slightly different things depending on context. Which is a feature the English language lacks.
Could it be a case where English words like “yep” “sure” “okay” “of course” or “alright” catch the meaning better?
As a mexican (Spanish speaking person) I have to agree with English in this topic.
A: Non
B: Oui (as acknowledging that he heard A said "No" right?).
Same is Swedish. "Ja" is yes, "Jo" is a direct response to a "Nej" (No).
English used to have it. It's called four-form system
Will they not go? - Yes, they will.
Will they not go? - No, they will not.
Will they go? - Yea, they will.
Will they go? - Nay, they will not.
You can still see vestiges of this system, for example in US senate voting rituals
Swedish actually has something similar. Yes is "ja" but then we have "jo" which basically is a yes in response to a no, so if someone says "no" you say "jo" back.
Ahaa, so that's where the Finnish "joo" comes! Except we use that word anywhere as "yes".
In Finnish, the first "no" is "ei". But if you want to start arguing, your second "no" is "eipäs" (roughly: "no for sure"). The first "yes" is "kyllä", but if you want to continue arguing, your second yes is "kylläpäs" ("yes for sure").
(instead of kyllä-kylläpäs you can also use joo-joopas).
Thank you! I'm learning Swedish on Duolingo for fun and couldn't figure this one out
Glad I could help :)@@socrabe
"That's just how it goes :))))"
I love how proud he is
It's actually a pretty useful feature to answer negative questions
I was a bit confused, since I thought "si" only meant "if" in French, but I think it's a good rule. I wish we had something similar to the "si"/"doch" also in Italian, because there might be some doubt when we use a short reply yes/no after a negative interrogative.
Why wouldn't you try using "OUI" then? It would be funny if our respective affirmative answers were the same, but reversed!
@Sir77Hill it would be even funnier if German or another European language would use Oui. 😆
si as two meaning. that dépends on the pronunciation. one is if. the other si with a different pronunciation id "i'm telling you "
the one rule in french is that there ARE NO RULESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Oui
@@TheRealFurious420 Non
@@name5980 Si
@@silmaxlly Non
@@_f1ct10n4l_ Yes
Not this channel teaching me other languages better than school ever did 😅
Universal: "There doesn't have to be a rule for everything"
German: "Doch!"
I don’t know about you guys but I learn French from these videos😂 merci! I’m improving somehow
My son (13) really suffers while learning French. We love your videos but they don't help me to argue that it is worth to learn French 🙈.
Well honestly I'm sorry for your son.
I'm French
Tell him to hang in there 💪💪
You know what? I've never thought that it was dumb, but it kinda is XD
It's not dumb, it is really useful. It is meant to contradict a negative assumption. German has it, too. You don't think it's useful? Doch! Si!
@@corvuscorone7735 It's confusing to me (As a Spanish speaking person)
"Je te dis que SI!!"
When a French person defends/camps on his arguments against another French person by insisting on his yes. Or when he responds stubbornly in the affirmative to a person who stands up in the negative opposite.
The SI is a supported confirmation.
Yes + Yes = SI!
1) Tu as fait ton lit?
Oui.
Je n'ai pas entendu...
J'ai dit SI!
2) Je te dis que non! Ce n'est pas possible.
Et moi, je te dis que SI! Elle me l'a confirmé!
3) Es-tu allé à la banque comme convenu?
SI.
Le troisième exemple est incorrect... Ça marcherait avec "N'es-tu pas allé à la banque comme je te l'avais demandé ?" - Si (j'y suis allé !)
"No, no except" LMAO
I actually like the "si as a yes to a negative question" rule for French, cause it actually clears up any potential misunderstandings that in English takes us much more words. "You don't want to go there?" "No I DO want to go there" versus just saying si
Could standardising on "yes" to mean "the previous speaker is correct" and "no" to mean "the previous speaker is incorrect" also work?
That actually made the most sense out of everything I've seen
It is only one of the less weird of french features
I qm worried how many languages you can learn. The characters in your episodes will be infinite at that point
He literally only plays 3 languages ever
French and English, and on very rare occasions Spanish
@@uRDM Italian, german too
@@Kephy_ when did he do German?
@@toiletbowl9483 Idk, but I know for a fact he has mentioned/portrayed French, English, Spanish, Portugese, German, Italian, and "universal" in his sketches.
For people who like argument: Oui=>Si=>bien sur que si=> Oui, c'est évident => bien sur => bien évidement que si=> je t'assure que oui...
This sounds pretty useful, to be honest. Too many occasions in life where yes is ambiguous.
As a French, I agree. Even with that, answers to negative questions can get confusing sometimes. I can't imagine without it.
"This is a good rule" 😂
A while ago someone told me that "si" didn't mean yes in french. I laughed my french mother tongue head off at them lol
"Mais si!"
"J'te jure"
Swedish:
Ja, Nej, Jo, Nej, Joho, Nej, Joóo!
Actually, this is the perfect loop, I kept watching it until I realized it was going in circles :D
the "si" is actually extremely useful as it allows to differentiate and disambiguate when you are answering a negative question.
"you're not gonna eat that?"
"yes"
"yes you're not gonna eat that, or yes you will be eating that?"
meanwhile, "si" means yes, but as a contradiction.
"you're not gonna eat that"
"si"
it's self sufficient: "i disagree with your statement and will be eating that."
quite ironically we still say "non" when we want to answer no to a negative question, which is ambiguous unless you add precisions...
meanwhile german: *also took the idea*
Fr: Oui! No! Si!
De: Ja! Nein! Doch!
But this 'si' is also existent in a lot of other languages, for example in Germany we say 'doch' instead of 'ja', which means yes. When I started learning English, I was sooo confused, that there wasn't a 'doch' or 'si'. What can I do, if I want to counter on someone's point 🤯🤯😂
As far as I understand, "yes" is the original negated positive (like si or doch), but English forgot about "yay" or "yea" (like oui or ja) except for oral votes in parliament
Oui si baguette doesn’t quite have the same ring to it lmao
If there is no "non" in between, you don't use "si". Other people have explained it in other comments, the "si" is used to answer to negative questions or contradict negative affirmations. For instance, if someone asks you "didn't you eat lunch one hour ago ?", if you say "yes", it could either mean "yes, I did, actually" or "yes, you are right, I didn't", "si" is a yes that always disagrees with a no.
Otherwise, you can say "oui" as many times as you want in a row, if you don't mind being mistaken for Julien Lepers.
@@filiaaut ohhh that actually makes sense
This was actually one of those really difficult ones for me to overcome, learning English. We have the same thing in Swedish, and it makes no sense to just say "yes" when I've said no, you need to say "yeah-huh" or something! D:> **Strange linguistic existential dread**
I love your thought process on it French
best french tutorial ever! 😂😂😂😂
I think I'm gonna learn French just from watching your videos.
As a native French, I say don't. You'll just end up traumatizing yourself.
In German we have "doch" and it's very useful.
german has similar word with doch lol
Adding foreign words just to make a better argument! 🤣
swedish has this too, when saying "yes" but in opposition to something, our normal "ja" becomes "jo"
so if "do you want bread?" you answer "ja"
but if "you dont want bread, right?" you answer "jo" since you disagree with them
Actually the "si" in french is so useful. I feel lost when I try to express it in another language but it just doesn't exist.
In what languages does it not exist? And how do they work around it?
I know in English it's "yes, it is" so adding some extra words to the yes, but I don't know any other languages like this yet.
Which ones are they and how do they do it?
@@poycixyz4614 "si" is like "of course I am right !"
This is the conversational equivalent of when you say goodbye to someone, only to find that you're walking in the same direction so then you peel off at some turn or lane to which you secretly have absolutely no relevant goals pertaining, just to escape the awkwardness of continuing to walk together after formally "ending" the encounter.
I love French.
“There doesn’t need to be a rule for EVERYTHING”
Si !
Oh my Lord that yes no French Spanish thing is off the top funny 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
No but those words are genuinely amazing and interesting!
This concept is really useful istg
It also exists in many Germanic languages.
Since "Yes" is an affirmation, it's technically counterproductive or at least less impactful when you are trying to counteract a "No".
It's automatically weak as it has the potential to affirm the other opinion.
And this is where the most powerful words come into play: Things like the French "Si" or the German "Doch".
The best translation would be "no, you are wrong, it's 'yes'" or "fuck you it's yes you dimwit" and it's the most hilarious thing ever
English speakers are really missing out on this one
@Sam Wallace Are you okay?
I'm starting to get tired of all these convoluted explanations, when all you need to say is
You don't like cake?
Yes.
...um, so do you or don't you?
You don't like cake?
Yes, I do.
Boom. Yes, I do = Si = Doch.
That's all and everyone would get it c'mon
@@poycixyz4614 Convoluted? that's sounds like a you problem.
It's because even though "yes I do" would be the best translation, (the one you would use in official translations or something), it is not necessarily the most *accurate*, it's just idiomatic.
Everyone is already aware that you would use "yes I do" in English, that's the purpose of the video, but people here are explaining how the word still has a different feel to it, so you're kinda missing the point and it's making your comment redundant.
There doesn't have to be a rule for everything
- Says english wtih a rule that is not even a rule "Weird" :P
We just don't have rules at all. It's a chaotic mishmash of languages.
It's also a way of correcting a negative assumption:
"you are not married?"
'si' would be a way of saying: yes, I am. (or.. "no, I am"? Idk..)
In Dutch it's also used: 'ja' & 'jawel'
There's often a "Si Si" before the final yes 😂😂
I hope you are as happy as you make us xx
- no, no except
- si 😂😂
In Arabic, we have that word. No in Arabic is "لا (La)" and yes is "نعم (Na'am)" and Si is "بلا (Bala)". And it's really useful word... those words are in the original Arabic, it can be presented differently in each arabic county
“How many times have you watched this?”
Me: Si 😂😂
“there doesn’t need to be a rule for EVERYTHING!”
**cries in 11th grade french** 😭😂
French is crazy. I love these sketches.