Yes, I didn't - is it correct?
I am an ESL teacher and there is one question I need to ask.
A friend of mine says that the following is correct:
You didn’t wash the dishes.
Yes, I didn’t.
I don’t think he is right. Well, this is what they taught us at uni – short answers ‘yes, I did’ or ‘no, I didn’t’. I keep telling him it is incorrect, but he is pretty stubborn and it drives me mad!
Joanna
New member
2 answers 
Is your friend Japanese, by any chance? I'm an English teacher in Japan and in Japanese they would correctly answer 'Yes' to a negative question, meaning 'Yes, what you said is true' but it is definitely the opposite in English. You must answer 'no' to a negative question to agree with it.
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answered Nov 18 '12 at 12:48
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well, my friend told me he spoke to an Englishman and that this man said it was possible to say "yes, I didn't" depending on the context of conversation - you can imagine how confused I am
we're both Polish and have decided not to discuss this topic any more, because it always finishes with a huge row
add commentYou are correct. His reply is contradictory, anwsering yes and no to the same question in the same sentence.
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answered Nov 18 '12 at 11:22
Lewis Neidhardt
Expert
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