Answering "Yes" and "No" in Mandarin

"Have you done your homework?"
"Are you the boss of this company?"
"This bus goes to Orchard Road, am I right?"
"Darling, is my cooking delicious today?"

The answer to all these question can be either "Yes" or "No" in English. However, in Mandarin, it is not so simple. Let's look at the following examples to see the various ways of saying "yes" and "No" in Mandarin.

1. 你做功课了吗？
ni3 zuo4 gong1 ke4 le ma
Have you done your homework?

做了。
zuo4 le
Yes, I have done it.
还没做。
hai2 mei2 zuo4
No, not yet.

2. 你会汉语吗？
ni3 hui4 han4 yu3 ma
Do you know Mandarin?

我会。
wo3 hui4
Yes, I know.

我不会。
wo3 bu2 hui4.
No, I don't know.

3. 你是这间公司的老板吗？
ni3 shi4 zhe4 gong1 si1 de lao2 ban3 ma
Are you the boss of this company?

我是。
wo3 shi4
Yes, I am.

是的。
shi4 de
Yes.

我不是。
wo3 bu2 shi4
No, I am not.

不是。
bu2 shi4.
No.

4. 这辆巴士去乌节路是吗？
zhe4 liang3 ba1 shi4 qu4 wu1 jie2 lu4 shi4 ma
Does this bus go to Orchard Road?

是的。
shi4 de
Yes.

不是。
bu2 bu4
No.

5. 亲爱的，我今天煮的菜好吃吗？
qin1 ai4 de, wo3 jin1 tian1 zhu3 de cai4 hao3 chi1 ma
Darling, is my cooking delicious today?

好吃，当然好吃。
hao3 chi1, dang1 ran2 hao3 chi1
Yes, delicious, of course they are delicious.

好吃极了。
hao3 chi1 ji2 le
It is fabulous.

不好吃。
No, it's not delicious.

很难吃。
hen3 nan2 chi1
It tastes awful.

难吃死了。
It tastes awful to the extent that I feel like dying.

6. 这个字对吗？
zhe4 ge4 zi4 dui4 ma
Is this work correct?

对。
dui4
Yes, correct

不对。
bu2 dui4
No, it's not correct.

错了。
cuo4 le
No, it is wrong.

7. 你想喝咖啡吗？
ni2 xiang3 he1 ka1 fei1 ma
Would you like some coffee?

好啊，谢谢。
hao3 a, xie4 xie
Yes, please.

不用了，谢谢。
bu2 yong4 le, xie4 xie
No, thank you.

8. 我们去吃饭好吗？
wo3 men2 qu4 chi1 fan4 hao3 ma
Shall we go for lunch?

好啊。
hao3 a
OK

下次吧。
xie4 ci4 ba
Let's do it next time.

There are also many other ways of answering a question, such as to answer questions in a skillful way in a social setting. It will make your answer more polite, less direct and fits well in the Chinese society. Here are some examples.