• Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    是 and 不 can be functionally understood to mean yes and no, but they’re certainly not direct translations and not correct answers to asking someone if they like something.

    If you ask in Chinese if somebody likes something, You’re going to get the answers"喜欢“ or "不喜欢“, not "是/不是“.

    You can get "是“ by asking about the concrete nature of whether something is or is not.

    "这是公园吗“?

    "是“ or "不是“

    A Chinese language speaker can use these two words to convey what an English speaker understands as “yes” or “no” that what you’re referring to is or is not a park. But they are not saying"yes" or “no”.

    They’re saying “it is” or "it isn’t“, which are different words with different semantics.