22 Ways to Say YES in English: Advanced Vocabulary Lesson

22 Ways to Say YES in English: Advanced Vocabulary Lesson

Hi! I'm Vanessa, from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Let's talk about 22 ways to say "yes". Are you ready to move beyond "yes" and expand your vocabulary? Well, today, we're going to talk about 22 different ways to answer someone in the affirmative. This could either mean "yes" or it could mean just "I agree with you". Today, I've got 12 normal expressions that you can use with no problem in daily life or even at your job and then I also have 10 more slang, kind of silly ways to say "yes".

You're going to hear people use these, but I want to make sure that you know what they are and also know the kind of context that they're trying to use these in. So with each expression, there is a counterpart. There is a normal one and a slang one. So we're going to talk about each of these in turn and then you're going to see how they're used in a little quick conversation. You're going to hear two sentence a lot in this lesson. The first one is a normal question. "Do you want to come over for dinner?" "Do you want to come over for dinner?" You're going to hear this phrasal verb, "come over", a lot and it means, "Would you like to come to my house and eat dinner together?" "Do you wanna", this natural pronunciation of "want to". "Do you want to come over to my house for dinner?" Do you want to come over for dinner? You're also going to hear the kind of casual, slang sentence that means the same thing and that is, "You cool with coming over for dinner?" "You cool with" something. "You cool with going to English class with me?" "You cool with going to the movies?" "You cool with eating sushi?" "You cool with coming over to my house for dinner?" I use this sentence in my slang examples because I wanted you to hear it again and again, but I also wanted you to see the kind of situation that you can use this slang "yes" expression with.

Normal : Yeah, Slang : Oh yeah!

Vanessa: The first two ways to say "yes" are, "Yeah!" and "Oh yeah!". Usually, slang expressions are used for young people, but this expression can be used by anyone, as long as you feel really strongly about what you're responding to. So, for example, if I said, "Hey, do you want to join my course for free?" You could say, "Oh, yeah!" You're really serious about it and you're excited. You're passionate. You're trying to emphasize, "Oh, yeah!" Let's watch this.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Oh, yeah.

Normal : Yup/Yep, Slang : Yuppers

Vanessa: The next two ways to say "yes" are "Yup" and "Yuppers". Let's start with the normal one, which is "Yup". This could either be "Yup" or "Yep", depending on your personal preference and this is kind of not-so-serious way to say yes. Maybe you don't really feel so strongly about something, so you could say, "Yup. Yup." "Do you like dogs?" "Yup." Maybe you don't love them, but they're okay. "Do you like dogs?" "Yup." If you're going to say "Yuppers", this is something I don't really recommend saying, but you're going to hear people say this, maybe in movies or TV shows, especially young people, and maybe young people of a certain generation. Or maybe if someone's trying to play a joke, they might say this. So, for me, I've heard this, but I don't really use this unless I'm just trying to be funny, but you might hear someone say, "Hey, you ate a lot of cotton candy today." You could say, "Yuppers!" So it's kind of a joke. It's just a silly little word that I wanted to include to expand your mind and your vocabulary.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Yup.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Yuppers!

Normal : Sure, Slang : Sure thing!

Vanessa: The third two expressions are "Sure" and "Sure thing!" You can use both of these to just say "yes", but when you use "Sure thing", even though this is slang and more casual, it's pretty strong, so similar to "Oh yeah!" This is reserved for situations where you feel like you really want to say "yes", so you might say, "Do you want to eat ice cream tonight?" "Oh, sure thing!" You're feeling really strongly about it.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Sure.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Sure thing!

Normal : For sure, Slang : Fo' shizzle

Vanessa: The next two ways to say "yes" are "For sure" and "Fo' shizzle". Let's talk about the first one because that's the most serious expression. Let's say your friend and you decided to go see a movie and, after the movie, your friend said, "Oh, that was a great movie. I really liked it." You could say, "Oh, for sure. I liked it too." You're just responding, "Yes, I liked it too." "For sure." The pronunciation for these two words is quite similar, in fact. Even though "for" includes an "O" and a "sure" includes a "U", they both sound like E-R. "For sure." "For sure." I hope that you can repeat that pronunciation with me. "For sure. For sure." What about the second slang expression? Well, this one is quite silly and it's kind of similar to "Yuppers" in that we don't really use this often in daily life, but you're going to hear it and it's often kind of used to imitate or make fun of gangster-style English. So if you want to just be silly and say, "Oh, that movie was great." "Fo' shizzle, it was great." It's just silly and kind of funny, so you might hear someone in a TV show say this.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: For sure.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Fo' shizzle.

Normal : Okay/K, Slang : Okie dokie

Vanessa: The next two ways to say "yes" are "Okay" or "K" and "Okie dokie". The word "okay" is pretty straightforward. "Do you want to come to my house for dinner?" "Okay." Or you could just say, "K", and this is not quite so serious. Maybe you're not so excited about something, but you could just say, "K". The slang expression "Okie dokie" means "Okay", but it's used to kind of be silly or to make a situation a little bit more lighthearted. So let's say that you're about to go on vacation and your family says, "Hey, it's time to get in the car." You could say, "Okie dokie, let's go." It just means "Okay", but you're just being silly and being funny.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Okay.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Okie dokie.

Normal : Uh-huh, Slang : Mm-hmm

Vanessa: The next two expressions are actually not words, but they're more sounds that you make with your mouth. The first one is "Uh-huh" and the second one is "Mm-hmm (affirmative)". The first one, "Uh-huh", is a little more normal and serious and this is maybe when you're not so interested in what someone has to say, but you're still going to respond "yes". So let's say that your friend asks you, "I have a baseball game tomorrow. My team is playing. Do you want to come and watch?" You could say, "Uh-huh." You don't really care about baseball, but you feel kind of obligated. "Uh-huh, okay. Okay, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. I'm listening, I know. Uh-huh, okay. I'll do it." You're not so passionate. You're not saying, "Oh, yeah!" You're just kind of responding affirmatively without really committing your feelings. Now, the slang expression "Mm-hmm (affirmative)" could be used in that same way. You're not really committing yourself, but you're still saying "yes", or it could be more positive. So let's say your friend says, "Hey, do you want to come to my baseball game?" You could say, "Mm-hmm (affirmative)," and you can tell by the tone of my voice that I don't really care about going to his baseball game, but I'm still going to do it. I'm still saying "Yes. Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative)." But if you want to say it in a slightly different way, let's say that, earlier, I had told him "Yes, I'm going to come to your baseball game. Yeah, I'm going to come!" He might ask me, "Are you still interested in coming to my game?" I could say, "Mm-hmm (affirmative)! Mm-hmm (affirmative)!" It's a little more positive. The inflection in my voice is more optimistic. "Mm-hmm (affirmative), I'm still interested! Mm-hmm (affirmative)!" You can see the difference between "Mm-hmm (affirmative)," and "Mm-hmm (affirmative)!" The tone is a little bit higher. "Mm-hmm (affirmative)! Mm-hmm (affirmative)." And my eyes and my face are more interested.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Uh-huh.
Vanessa: You still cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Normal : Right, Slang : Right on!

Vanessa: The next two affirmative expressions are "Right" and "Right on!" The first one, "Right", is a little more normal and the most common time that we use this is responding to the tag question, "Right?" So let's say I say to you, "You're making dinner tonight, right?" You could say, "Right." You're just responding with the same word that I finished the previous sentence with and this is the most common way to use this, so when you hear someone say, "Right?" You can say, "Right." But the slang expression, "Right on", is kind of associated with surfer slang. At least that's the image that comes to my mind, is someone with a surfboard and they're walking on the beach and someone says, "Wow, that was a great wave that you just caught!" And they say, "Right on!" So you might see this in some movies or TV shows where these situations come up, or maybe someone's trying to imitate this kind of person, this kind of persona of "I'm a cool beach guy," so you might hear this in those situations.
You want to come over for dinner, right?
Dan: Right.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Right on.

Normal : All right, Slang : Alrighty

Vanessa: The next two expressions are "All right" and "Alrighty". The first one you can use in a lot of different situations. Let's imagine that your boss asks you to finish your report by 3 PM and he says, "Hey, can you finish your report?" You could say, "All right." "All right." It's not so enthusiastic, but it's not too negative like "Uh-huh". You're just simply stating, "All right, I'll do it." It's kind of professional. On the other hand, the slang expression, "Alrighty" is more casual, but it's also when you want to be silly or kind of funny. So if your friend says, "Hey, let's go have some coffee," you could say, "Alrighty!" This is kind of overly enthusiastic, maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but if you want to just be silly, you could say, "Alrighty, let's go!" It's just coffee, it's not that exciting. Maybe it is that exciting for you, but it's not the most amazing thing in the world. Oh, maybe it is the most amazing thing in the world to you, but let's imagine that you just feel kind of neutral about it. It's a good time, it'll be fun, but it's not amazing. You could say, "Alrighty, let's go!"
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: All right.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Alrighty!

Normal : Definitely/Certainly, Slang : Totally", "Totes", "Totes ma goats"

Vanessa: The next set of expressions is "Definitely" or "Certainly" and "Totally", "Totes", "Totes ma goats". Let's start with the more serious ones, which are "Definitely", "Certainly". This is something that you can use in a lot of situations, including professional ones. So let's imagine again that your boss asks you to finish your report at 3 o'clock. You could say, "Definitely." "Certainly. I will do it. I can get it finished." This is clear and you're being professional about it. On the other hand, if you said, "Totally", it's a little more informal, kind of youthful or maybe juvenile. It's not a problem if you want to exude this kind of feeling with your friends but, at a job, it's not very acceptable and it's certainly not acceptable at your job to use the even stronger slang expression, "Totes". This is a more modern slang. I feel like it just came out in the last couple years, but it's just a shortened version of "Totally". "You want to go to the movies?" "Totes." "That was a really great movie." "Totes." Maybe you'll say this, maybe you won't, but it's something that maybe teenagers might be more likely to say or people who are kind of imitating young people. And, if you want to be a little bit weird and crazy, I don't really recommend it, kind of like "Yuppers" and "Fo' shizzle". This expression "Totes ma goats" is something that my husband says and I guess he heard it from somewhere, so maybe someone else says this and you might hear it, but there's always ways to add on to slang expressions to make them even more crazy and this is just one option.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Definitely.
Vanessa: You cool with coming over for dinner?
Dan: Totally. Totes. Totes ma goats.

Normal : You bet, Slang : You betcha!

Vanessa: The next two are "You bet" and "You betcha!" "You bet" just means "yes", but it's pretty strong and it's something that I don't really recommend using in a professional situation, but you can certainly use it with your family and friends. "Do you like this dinner?" "You bet. Oh, that was great." The expression, "You betcha", is something that kind of exudes, maybe, the South of the US. So when someone says, "You betcha", you kind of feel like they're responding to a question like, "Hey, you ready to come in and eat some pie?" Someone might say, "You betcha!" You might see this in movies or TV shows with characters who have those kind of personalities. So if that's you, you can use it, but I want to make sure you can understand that person and their personality through the vocabulary that they use.
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: You bet!
Vanessa: Danny, you ready for dinner?
Dan: You betcha!

Normal : Of course!

Vanessa: The next expression is "Of course!" "Do you like English?" "Of course!" This one doesn't have a slang counterpart, at least that I could come up with. If you can come up with one, let me know in the comments. But it is quite strong and you're just responding, "Of course! Yes!" "Do you like English?" "Of course!"
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Of course!

Normal : Sounds good!

Vanessa: And our final expression today is "Sounds good!" Or you can lengthen it and say, "Sounds good to me!" Your friend might say, "Hey, do you want to go to New York next week?" "Sounds good to me! I agree, yes. This is a great idea. Sounds good to me!"
Do you want to come over for dinner?
Dan: Sounds good to me!

Vanessa: That was a lot of expressions that mean "yes". I hope that, today, your vocabulary and your mind was able to expand. I have a challenge for you now. In the comments below this video, I want you to write a question and then write an answer using one of these 22 "yes" expressions. Make sure that your question matches the answer. Don't ask a professional question and then answer with a slang expression. Make sure that they match and, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I'll try my best to help you. Thanks so much for learning with me! Have a great day. Bye! The next step is to download my free e-book, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker. You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye!