30 Ways to Say: Yes, No, I Don’t Know

Vanessa: Do you want to visit  

the us? Yes? No? I don't know? If you would like  to answer this question clearly and accurately,  

well, I have some good news. Today, you  are going to learn 30 ways to say yes,  

no, or I don't know in daily conversation. Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com,  

and like always, I have created a  beautiful free PDF worksheet for  

you with all of today's expressions, all  10 ways to say yes, 10 ways to say no,  

and 10 ways to say I don't know. You can click on  the link below this video to download the free PDF  

worksheet today. Never forget these wonderful  phrases and use them when you speak in English. 

Let's get started with 10 wonderful ways that you  can say yes in English. The first one is actually  

a three for one deal. It is, yeah, yup, and yep.  All of these are very informal. So if I asked you,  

"Hey, do you want to hang out this  weekend?" You could say, "Yeah." 

"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" "Yup." 

"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" "Yep." 

All of these are great to use in casual  situations. The second way to say yes is,  

"Sure thing." So if I asked you, "Do you want  to hang out this weekend?" You could say, "Sure  

thing," and it means yes with enthusiasm, you're  looking forward to it. This is an expression that  

you can also use in the workplace. You just need  to have a little bit of a positive tone when you  

use it to make sure that you sound positive. So if your boss asks you, "Hey, can you have  

that report finished by rhe end of the week?" you  can reply with this phrase, "Sure thing. I'll have  

it done by the end of the week." "Wonderful." The third way to say yes is very strong,  

"Absolutely." If I ask you, "Do you want  to hang out this weekend?" and you reply,  

"Absolutely," well, I better hope that you're not  going to back out at the last second because this  

phrase means definitely, absolutely, without a  question yes. It is very strong, "Absolutely." 

The fourth way to say yes is another strong one.  It is, "100%" Well, you can't get much higher than  

100%. So if I asked you, "Hey, do you want to hang  out this weekend?" and you reply, "100%," well,  

I know that you are very much looking forward to  getting together because you said, "100%, yes." 

The fifth way to say yes is, "For sure." Now, it  depends your tone of voice if this is going to be  

seen as really enthusiastic or just saying a more  moderate yes. So let's take a look at an example. 

"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" "For sure." 

Here you got lots of enthusiasm. It means  absolutely, 100%, "For sure, let's hang  

out," but what if you said, Do you want to hang  out this weekend?" "For sure." You can tell from  

my tone of voice that I'm not committed 100%, but  I'm still willing to hang out and get together. 

The sixth way to say yes is a little bit  different from the others. It is the word,  

right. Well, there's a wrong way to use this  and a right way to use this. If I asked you,  

"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" and  you replied with, "Right," this is incorrect,  

this is wrong. It is not right. Instead, we  use this word, right, when we're agreeing  

with something that someone made in a statement.  So if I said, "I can't wait to hang out over the  

weekend," you could say, "Right, me too." Here,  you are agreeing with my statement. I didn't ask  

you a question. Instead, I just made a statement,  "I'm looking forward to spending time with you  

this weekend." You can use the word right and say,  "Right, me too." This is the great way to use it. 

The seventh way to say yes is a fun one, "You  bet," or a little bit more casual, "You betcha."  

If I asked you, "Do you want to hang out  this weekend?" and you said, "You betcha,  

I can't wait," I know you are  really looking forward to it.  

The full phrase here is, "You bet that  I want to hang out with you over the  

weekend," but we've just shortened this here  to, "You bet," which means yes, emphatically. 

The eighth way to say yes is, "Of course." "Do  you want to hang out this weekend?" "Of course,  

I can't wait." This is very clear and it  means yes, you want to hang out. Great. 

The ninth way to say yes is one that you wouldn't  really use in the workplace often, but you're  

welcome to use in other situations. It is, "Sounds  good." "Do you want to hang out this weekend?"  

"Sounds good." "Sounds great." Here, this is a  shortened version of the full phrase, "Sounds good  

to me," "Sounds great to me," but usually, we just  shorten that and say, "Sounds good." It means yes. 

Our 10th and final way to say yes is one that you  need to be careful with. It this sound. It's not  

exactly a word. It's the sound mm-hmm. So there's  a couple different ways that we can use this with  

our intonation. If I asked you, "Do you want to  hang out this weekend" and you said, "Mm-hmm,"  

this is very positive. It's going up, but there is  a sarcastic way to use this. It's the same sound,  

but the intonation is different. So you have to  be really careful. You don't want to come across  

as rude if you're just trying to say yes. So let's imagine you're talking with your  

coworkers and you say, "Yeah, our boss said that  if we all meet our sales goal for this month,  

we'll get a raise." Well, if you don't really  believe that you're going to get a raise if you  

hit your sales goals, you could use this phrase  to reply. You're agreeing with that person,  

but you're being sarcastic. If you say,  "Mm-hmm, we've heard that before," did you  

hear that tone of voice? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.  It's not mm-hmm, which is yes, mm-hmm. 

English is sometimes very strange. We just  have sounds. So you could say happy, positive,  

yes, "Mm-hmm," that's yes, but if you said,  "Mm-hmm, we've heard that before," "Mm-hmm, I've  

heard that before," this is very sarcastic and  it is negative. It means, "I don't think we're  

going to get our bonus. It's just something that  our boss likes to say." So be careful when you  

use mm-hmm to make sure you use the right tone of  voice, mm-hmm. Now, you will definitely hear this  

in movies and TV shows. So as you hear people  say this, pay attention to their tone of voice. 

All right. Let's go on to 10 ways to say no in  daily conversation. Now, just as a little note,  

sometimes it's difficult to say no, but we  have to or we just don't really want to do  

something or we can't do something. So I'm  going to give you a couple examples of how  

you can use the no expression, but also  make it a little bit more polite so that  

you feel better using it and the other person  feels better receiving that phrase from you. 

The first alternative way to say no is nah or  nope, but if you just said to someone, "Hey,  

do you want to hang out?" and they said, "Nope,"  well, that's a little bit rude, "I don't want to  

spend time with you. Nope." So how could you make  this a little more polite? You might say, "Nah,  

I'm sorry, I can't. I already have weekend plans."  So you're elaborating on it a little bit, and  

that's really what's going to help all of these no  phrases be a little more polite is if you give a  

little more detail. If you just shut someone off,  "Nah," they might feel a little bit hurt. So you  

can give some more details, "Oh, nah, sorry, I  can't. I have some other plans." This is better. 

I have to share something funny with you  that I saw the other day about the word nope.  

I was reading some articles about snakes because  where I live, there are some venomous snakes that  

we have to watch out for, and the article was  comparing the difference between venomous snakes  

and harmless snakes, and they gave a nickname  for these venomous snakes. It was very funny to  

me. They called them, nope on a rope. So a snake  looks like a rope. So they said, "Is it nope on a  

rope or is it safe?" This was just a silly way to  talk about a snake. So you might hear this online,  

it's not very common, but I just thought  it was something funny that I wanted to  

share because sometimes funny things help us to  remember words, and maybe you're into snakes.  

Who knows? Maybe that's your passion. Well, I'm  sure you've heard that expression then in English  

conversations about snakes, "Ah, that's a nope on  a rope. I'm not going to touch it." Very silly. 

The second way to say no is, "I'm good." What?  

This is so strange because we have a positive word  good, but we're using it to say no. Well, there  

is a specific situation when we use this. This is  most commonly used in a restaurant or an ordering  

situation. If you're ordering drinks, if you're  ordering food, and maybe the waitress asks you,  

"Oh, can I bring you another beer?" If you don't  want another beer, you could say, "I'm good." You  

might even add, "No thanks, I'm good," but you  could just say, "I'm good," and it means no.  

That means, "Right now, I am good in my  current state. I don't need more beer,"  

and it's a really common thing to use in  a restaurant or bar situation, "I'm good." 

The third way to say no is similar to, "I'm good,"  it is, "I'm all set." So here, we're focusing on  

the positive, "I'm all set." When would you use  this? Well, maybe in the workplace if your boss  

asks you, "Do you need any more information  to finish this project?" you might say,  

"I'm all set. I think I can do it," and this  means, "No, I don't need any more information.  

I think I can do it. I'm all set it. I have  everything that I need. I am set." Great. Just a  

little note that you can use this in a restaurant  as well. If the waitress asks you, "Would you like  

another beer?" you could use this expression  and say, "I'm all set." Great. It means no. 

The fourth way to say no is a tricky one. We  use this in negative and positive situations.  

It is the expression, "No way," and it  all depends on your tone of voice. Let's  

imagine that we're taking a hike and we see  a snake slither across the path, and I say,  

"Hey, you want to pick up that snake?" You  might say, "Oh, nope on a rope, no way."  

Here, you are saying emphatically no, there's no  question about it, the answer is no, "No way,"  

but how could we use this in a positive way? Well, let's imagine I'm telling you about my  

hike and I say, "You know what? Last week, we  went for an amazing hike and there was a snake  

that slithered across the path, and do you know  what my husband did? He reached down, picked it up  

behind the head, very gently. He picked it up and  showed us the snake." You might be shocked, you  

might say, "No way. How did he do that? Why did he  do that?" Here, you are showing some surprise, but  

it's not necessarily in a negative way, "No way."  Instead, you're just showing surprise, "No way." 

Maybe if your boss says you've got a promotion,  you might say, "No way. That's great." Here,  

we're using it in a positive tone of voice to show  surprise about something that's either neutral,  

something surprising or something  positive. You got a raise. Great. 

The fifth way to say no is a fun one, "Not going  to happen." We often use this cutting offhand  

gesture, "Not going to happen." So let's imagine  your coworker walks up to you and says, "Hey,  

could you help me proofread these five emails  before the end of the day? I'd really appreciate  

it." Okay, that's a very polite question, a polite  favor to ask, but maybe you have no time. You  

might say, "Sorry, not going to happen. The boss  wants me to finish this huge report by the end of  

the day and I am swamped." You gave some details.  You made it more polite by giving more details,  

but you did use this strong expression and said,  "Nope, not going to happen. I have a lot to do  

right now. Sorry. Maybe you can ask her." The sixth way to say no is another fun one,  

"Thanks, but no thanks." If I ask you, "Hey, do  you want to hang out this weekend?" you might say,  

"Oh, thanks, but no thanks. I have family  visiting me this weekend." You're thanking  

me for my invitation, thank you, but you're  really declining the invitation by using this  

polite no phrase, "Thanks, but no thanks. I have  family coming into town so I can't get together." 

The seventh way to say no is another polite  one. It is, "Afraid not." Well, you're not  

really afraid. Instead, if I asked you, "Do you  want to hang out this weekend?" and you said,  

"Afraid not. I have a lot of housework to  catch up on and I just need a break to do  

nothing." Everyone understands this. Everyone  understands having a lot of things in the  

house they have to do that they've been putting  off, and you just want a weekend with no plans,  

"Afraid not." It's a polite way to say, "No,  I really would like to, but I'm afraid I  

can't. Afraid not, I have a lot to do." The eighth way to say no is a nice soft  

way to deliver some bad news. It's actually two  expressions for one. It is, "If only I could," or,  

"I wish I could." Here, you're trying to frame  it in a positive way, "If only I could," "I wish  

I could." So let's look at a scenario. "Do you want to hang out this weekend?" 

"I wish I could, but I'm  going to a friend's wedding." 

They're not saying, "No, I don't like you.  I don't want to spend time with you ever  

again." No. Instead, they're saying, "Oh, I wish  I could, but I have other plans," or you could use  

the second phrase, "If only I could." I think this  expresses a little more longing, "If only I could,  

but I have to go to a friend's wedding this  weekend." So here, you're just trying to say  

a soft no by expressing it in a positive way. The ninth way to say no is, "I really shouldn't."  

Here, you're going to use this when you know  that you shouldn't do something, but you're  

tempted to say yes. So if I ask you, "Hey, do you  want to hang out this weekend?" you might say,  

"I really shouldn't. I need to help my sister  paint her house. I promised her that I would."  

You're showing that you're tempted to hang out  with me. In fact, hanging out with me is more fun  

than helping your sister paint her house, but you  made a promise that you would help your sister,  

so you're going to use this expression and say,  "Ah, I really shouldn't, but I want to still." 

The 10th way to say no is a little bit silly.  It's just a sound. Remember how we used a sound to  

express yes, mm-hmm? Well, we can use a similar  sound to express no, mm-mm, mm-mm or uh-uh.  

You can accompany this by a shaking of your  head back and forth like this. In the US, this  

is a cultural gesture that means no. So you could  just say ... with no words, but it's a little bit  

odd to not accompany it with some words. So you  could say, "Mm-mm. Uh-huh." So if I asked you,  

"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" and you  are feeling extremely tired, you've had a long  

week, you might say, "Mm-mm. I'm feeling so tired.  I just need to take a break this weekend." Well,  

you're using that sound to express your  tiredness, "Mm-mm, I'm just feeling so tired." 

Now, I want to let you know with a slightly  different intonation, we use this to say no to  

children, and it has an authoritarian feel to  it. You have to be the authority, the parent,  

the teacher, someone in authority in order  to say this, but let's imagine that you catch  

your child opening the box of cookies and they  start to eat them, and you walk into the room,  

you might have something stronger to say or you  might just say, "Mm-mm. No. We don't eat cookies  

in the middle of the day," or whatever kind of  phrase you're going to say, but did you notice  

I used that same sound, "Mm-mm. Mm-mm," very  strong, usually shaking my head trying to express,  

"I am displeased with what you did." This  is a very parental sound, "Mm-mm. We don't  

do that." So you might hear parents saying this  to their children in the form of that no sound. 

All right. Let's go on to our final  section, which are 10 ways to say I  

don't know in English. The first one is a casual  reduction, "I dunno. I dunno." The word, dunno,  

is not a word. It's just a smushing together  of don't know, I dunno. So we use this more  

in informal situations. If I asked you, "Hey, can  you hang out with me this weekend?" and you said,  

"I dunno, I need to check my schedule."  We're friends. We're just chit-chatting,  

so you can use this expression and say,  "I dunno. I need to check my schedule." 

In the workplace, I would be a little bit more  hesitant to use this and I'd be more likely to use  

the full phrase, "I don't know." "Can you have  this report finished by the end of the week?"  

"I don't know. I need to check my schedule."  You're just being a little bit clearer in  

saying the full phrase in the workplace. The second way to say I don't know is,  

"I'm not sure." Can you hang out with me  this weekend?" "I'm not sure. I need to  

check my schedule." You can also say this in  the workplace. "Can you finish this report by  

the end of the week?" "I'm not sure. Let me check  my schedule." Great. Both of these are excellent. 

The third way to say I don't know is a longer  phrase. it's a full sentence, and that's,  

"I am not 100% on that. I'm not 100% on that."  You could add, "I'm not 100% sure on that," but  

we sometimes just cut out the word sure, "I'm  not 100% on that." So if I asked you, "Hey,  

can you hang out this weekend?" you might say,  "Well, I think I already have something going on,  

but I'm not 100% on that. Let me check my  schedule." This is a perfect time to use  

this. You're letting them know you are not 100%  sure. You can use other percentages. Sometimes  

we use this in conversation as well. So you  might reply to me and say, "I'm 80% sure that  

I have something else going on this weekend, but  I'll check my schedule and let you know." Well,  

80% is just a random figure that you made up,  but you can say something like this too if  

you want to lessen the surety of your statement. The fourth way to say I don't know is a fun one,  

"Beats me." I found myself saying this last  week when I think there was a one hour period  

when my husband asked me three or four times where  something was, different items, and I was just so  

tired, I was involved in something else. So when  he said, "Hey, do you know where the candle is?"  

and I said, "Beats me." "Hey, do you know where  this is?" "Beats me. Just find it yourself." 

So here, I'm saying, "I don't know," in a casual  way. It could be a little bit sarcastic, a little  

bit annoyed, "Beats me. Go look for yourself," but  you can also use this in just a silly way as well.  

So if I ask you, "Hey, do you want to hang  out this weekend?" you might say, "Beats me,  

it's only Monday. I don't know what my weekend  plans are." You can use this in a couple different  

ways, but it's almost always casual. The fifth way to say I don't know is,  

"Ya got me." Ya, which is a reduced version  of the word you, "Ya got me." So let's imagine  

a situation where one of your coworkers said,  "Hey, did you hear what the meeting is supposed  

to be about this afternoon?" and if you have no  idea, you don't know what the meeting's about,  

you could say, "Ah, ya got me. All I heard was  that there would be free donuts at the meeting.  

So I'm going to be there." So it's like,  "You caught me. Oh, I should do something.  

I should know something, but I don't. Ah,  ya got me. All I heard was free donuts." 

The sixth way to say I don't know is, "I have  no clue," or you can shorten this to just,  

"No clue." When I ask you, "Hey, do you want  to hang out this weekend?" you might say, "Oh,  

I have no clue. Today has been so hectic. I  haven't even looked at my weekend schedule,"  

or you could shorten that and say, "No clue, I  have a lot going on. Let me check my schedule  

and get back to you." "You want to hang out?"  "No clue. Maybe I want to, but I don't know  

if I can. I have no clue. Everything's  hectic right now. Let me get back to you." 

The seventh way to say I don't know is, "Don't  ask me." We usually use this when someone else  

has a piece of knowledge or information and we  don't. It's a good way to deflect the question  

off of you and maybe onto someone else. So it's  great to use if maybe there's some gossip going  

around the office or around your friend group  and someone says, "Hey, did you hear about Sarah?  

I think she might be pregnant." You might not  want to get into the gossip. You don't really  

want to share any information that you have  or don't have, so you could say, "Don't ask  

me. I haven't talked to her." You're saying,  "I don't know. I haven't talked to her. Don't  

ask me." You are deflecting that information.  Maybe someone has the answer, but it's not you,  

"Don't ask me." Sometimes we put up our hands  like this. It feels like a police interrogation,  

"Don't ask me. I don't know. I'm innocent.  Don't ask me. I don't want to get into it." 

The eighth way to say I don't know is another way  to deflect a question from you. So if I ask you,  

"Hey, can you hang out this weekend?" you  might say, "I can't say. I might have plans.  

I might not." In this situation, it feels like you  probably have plans, but you don't want to tell me  

about them. Maybe it's a secret. Maybe that's a  surprise party for me or maybe there's something  

going on that you just don't want to tell me about  yet. So you might say, "Well, I can't say. I might  

have something going on, I might not." It gives  the other person the hint that they probably  

shouldn't ask more questions because you're  really not feeling comfortable sharing the answer,  

"I can't say, I might have plans, I might not." Surprisingly, this is a phrase that you can use  

in the workplace too. So if your boss asks you,  "Hey, can you have that report finished by the  

end of the week?" you might say, "I can't say  for sure yet, but I'll get back to you and let  

you know." This is a common way to deliver bad  news in the office is by offering a solution.  

So at the moment, you don't know, "I can't say  for sure, but ..." and here's your solution,  

"I'll get back to you." Great. You're not  just saying, "I can't say. I'm not going to  

tell you." Instead, you're offering to follow  up later, "I can't say for sure, but I'll get  

back to you and let you know." Very polite and  a great way to use this phrase in the workplace. 

The ninth way to say I don't know is a full  phrase, "Your guess is as good as mine." That  

means, "I don't know. So whatever your guess  is is going to be the same correctness as my  

guess." So if I say to you, "Hey, do you think  we're going to get our bonus at the end of the  

month?" you might say, "Eh, your guess  is as good as mine. Sometimes we get it,  

sometimes we don't." That means, "I don't  know. I have no clue. So your guess is as  

good as mine." Don't forget each of the parts  of this expression, "Your guess is as good as  

mine." We're comparing two things, your guess  and my guess. Well, they're both the same amount  

of correctness because neither of us knows. The 10th and final way to say I don't know in  

English is a sound. Yes, you guessed it. We  had an affirmative sound for yes, mm-hmm. We  

had a negative sound for no, mm-mm, and  now, we have an I don't know sound, it is,  

"Iuhno." I love this. The intonation of  your voice is just like a rollercoaster,  

"Iuhno." Here, we are reducing I don't know, I  dunno, and Iuhno. You're using that same sound,  

the same sound pattern, but you're just making  the sound Iuhno. Now, because this is so extremely  

reduced, I don't recommend using this in a formal  situation or really even in a casual situation  

with your friends where you're trying to just tell  them simply, "I don't know." We use this sound,  

I won't say word, we use this sound when  we're trying to be dismissive of something. 

So let's imagine at the workplace, some people  are gossiping, "Hey, I think Sarah's pregnant.  

Do you think she's going to quit? Is she going to  keep working?" and you don't want to get involved  

in the workplace gossip, and they look at you  and say, "Hey, you're Sarah's friend. Is Sarah  

pregnant? Is she going to quit her job?" you might  use this dismissively to reflect the question away  

from you and say, "Iuhno." It shows you don't  care, you don't want to talk about this, and it  

gives the idea too, that this isn't something  we should be talking about. It's not nice,  

"Iuhno. Let's just go on and do something else." So make sure you do not say this to your  

boss when he asks you, "Hey, can you  have that report finished by the end  

of the month?" If you say, "Iuhno," it  means you don't care about your job. Oh,  

no. So make sure you only use this in situations  where you're trying to show, "I don't know and  

I don't care," not towards your boss, ideally. Well, congratulations. You just leveled up your  

vocabulary with 10 great alternatives to yes,  10 alternatives to no, and 10 alternatives to  

I don't know, Iuhno. I hope that this lesson was  enjoyable for you. Don't forget to download the  

free PDF worksheet, which includes all of these  expressions, the nuanced ways that you can use  

them, and a couple extra sample sentences for  each one so that you can make sure you're using  

them correctly in the right situation and  expressing yourself completely. There is a  

link in the description below this video where  you can download the free PDF worksheet today. 

Now, I have a question for you. Let me know in  the comments which one of these phrases was new  

for you today. I would love to see which one it  was, and it's an opportunity to be able to use  

it so that you don't forget it. Let me know in  the comments and thank you so much for learning  

English with me. I will see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

Wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this  video next where you will level up your vocabulary  

and learn 20 important expressions, polite  expressions to use for dangerous conversation  

topics like religion and politics. Oh, no. How  can you be polite in these situations but still  

express your opinion? Well, I have some good news?  Watch that video and find out. I'll see you there.