20+ Useful Ways to Say Yes in French For Everyday Use

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The French language has many options when it comes to saying yes in French. While you might already be familiar with the classic oui there are many other words to choose from.

In this article, we’ll show you which “yes” to use, when, and how. We have divided the French “yes” into several categories: enthusiastic, neutral, and reluctant, so you can pick the one that is best appropriate for the mood.

Read on to find out about your different options when saying “yes” and stay until the very end to discover which fun adverbs you can also use to say yes in French. 

Yes in French at a Glance (with Audio)

French

English

Oui

Yes

Oui, oui

Yes yes!

Avec plaisir

With pleasure

D'accord

Alright

Ça marche

That works

Bien sûr

Of course

Effectivement

Indeed

Si

Yes

Ouais

Yeah

Ok

Ok

Pas de problème

No problem

Aucun problème

No problem

Pourquoi pas

Why not

Ah oui?

Oh yes? Really?

Ben oui

Well yeah

Mais oui

Well yes

Mouais

Mm yeah...

Enthusiastic Way to Say Yes in French

To thrive in France you have to know how to enthusiastically agree in French. The well-known “oui” gets boring and redundant after a time so we have put a list together to teach you about all the other enthusiastic ways of how to say “yes” in French. 

Oui

We will start out by examining the most common French word for “yes” more closely. You can use “ oui ” to give your consent or express your opinion in a formal and informal context. When in doubt about other options, always use oui, it can go alone or be accompanied by an adverb. Look at these examples:

Q: Est-ce que tu veux venir avec nous?
A: Oui, j’aimerais bien.

Q: Est-ce qu’il pleut?
A: Oui, il pleut.

Q: Would you like to come with us?
A: Yes, I would like to.

Q: Is it raining?
A: Yes, it is raining.

Oui, Oui

Are you seeing double? The French actually repeat oui, making it an enthusiastic “yes, yes”, or “ oui, oui “. This is not at all uncommon and the expression is used to emphasize or express urgency.

Look at these examples:

Q: Est-ce que tu viens maintenant? On va partir bientôt!
A: Oui, oui!

Q: Est-ce que tu veux encore du chocolat?
A: Oui, oui!

Q: Are you coming? We are leaving soon!
A: Yes, yes!

Q: Would you like some more chocolate?
A: Yes, yes!

Avec plaisir

Avec plaisir might be the most enthusiastic “yes” of them all. It literally translates to “with pleasure”.

You can use avec plaisir if you want to assure your conversation partner that you are more than happy to join them.

Q: Est-ce que tu peux m’accompagner au supermarché?
A: Avec plaisir.

Q: Est-ce que tu peux m’apprendre à faire de la ratatouille?
A: Avec plaisir.

Q: Can you come with me to the supermarket?
A: With pleasure.


Q: Can you teach me how to make ratatouille?
A: With pleasure.

If you want to get colloquial, you can shorten it to d’ac. Ouais, d’ac, c’est bon

Read next: Good Morning in French — Read This Before Saying “Bonjour”

D’accord

D'accord might be best translated by “alright”.

You use d’accord when you agree to something like in the following example:

Q: On part à neuf heures.
A: D’accord.

Q: We’ll leave at nine.
A: D’accord.

Q: Est-ce que tu veux aller au cinéma?
A: D’accord.

Q: Would you like to go to the movies?
A: D’accord.

Ça marche

Ça marche literally means “it goes”, but it is better translated with “that works” or “okay”.

You use ça marche to agree to an idea or plan. It can even be used together with oui in a sentence. It is an informal expression, so use it with friends and family. 

Q: Est-ce que tu veux dîner ensemble?
A: (Oui), ça marche.

Q: Would you like to have dinner together?
A: (Yes), that works.

Q: On se voit demain?
A: Ça marche.

Q: I’ll see you tomorrow?
A: That works..

Bien sûr

Although “ bien sûr ” technically means “of course” or “for sure”, we have included it in this list because it is so commonly used in French.

You will often hear a French speaker substituting “oui” for “bien sûr” to create emphasis or clarify. Look at the following examples:

Q: Est-ce que Magalie va venir?
A: Bien sûr!

Q: Is Magalie going to come?A: Of course!

Q: Est-ce que tu aimes la France?
A: Bien sûr!

Q: Do you like France?
A: Of course!

Effectivement 

Similar to bien sûr we have included “ effectivement ” in this list because of how often French speakers substitute it for “oui”. It means “indeed” in English. Be careful of your intonation with this one, it can come off as flippant depending on how you use it. Check out these examples:

Q: Est-ce que tu resteras encore?
A: Effectivement.

Q: Will you stay longer?
A: Indeed.

Q: Est-ce que tu es en train de travailler?
A: Effectivement.

Q: Are you working right now?
A: Indeed.

Read next: Thank You in French — Don’t Just Say “Merci”!

Si 

Si ” is a rather particular French word that doesn’t translate well into English. You use it to contradict something else or correct someone. Let’s look at the following examples to get a better idea of when to use “si”.

Q: François n’est pas à la maison.
A: Si, il est à la maison.

Q: François isn’t at home.
A: He actually is at home.

Q: Est-ce que tu n’as pas les billets?
A: Si, je les ai.

Q: Don’t you have the tickets?A: Yes, I have them.

Learn more about the difference between oui and si in the following clip.

If you’ve learned any German, you might be familiar with this usage of doch in German.

Neutral yes

The phrase “comme si comme ça” which has even made it into other languages expresses the very French feeling of “so so”. Not really yes and not quite no. The following expressions are useful for something in between, a neutral, but not overly joyful “yes”.

Ouais

Ouais ” is similar to the English “yeah”. Saying ouais is a very common informal way of saying “yes”. You use ouais with friends and family.

You can use ouais to agree to something or give an opinion. You can also use it affirmatively when you are listening to someone tell a story as a way of encouraging them to keep going and let them know that you are in fact listening. 

Q: Est-ce que tu veux promener le chien?
A: Ouais, vas-y

Q: Do you want to walk the dog?
A: Yeah, let’s go.

Q: On pourrait aller au parc?A: Ouais, c’est bien.

Q: We could go to the park?
A: Yeah, that’s okay.

Read next: 300+ Indispensable French Words — With Examples

Ok

Ok ”, derived from the English “okay” has found its way into the French language, especially within a younger demographic. You use it the same way you would use the English “okay”. Be aware that the pronunciation is quite different though, instead of saying o-kay, the French opt for a much shorter o-ke.

Q: Marine arrive demain.
A: Ok.

Q: Marine will arrive tomorrow.
A: Okay.

Q: On va manger des escargots.
A: Ok, c’est bon.

Q: We’re going to eat escargot.
A: Okay, that’s good.

Pas de problème

Pas de problème ” is the short form of “il n’y a pas de problème” and “there is no problem” becomes “no problem”. This is another expression in French for yes.

Q: Est-ce que tu peux m’aider avec la vaisselle?
A: Pas de problème.

Q: Could you help me with the dishes?
A: No problem.

Q: On peut partir plus tard?
A: Pas de problème.

Q: Can we leave later?
A: No problem.

Aucun problème

Aucun problème ” is a variation of “pas de problème”. It means no problem and they can be used interchangeably.

Q: Maman veut que tu achètes des pommes.
A: Aucun problème.

Q: Mom wants you to buy apples.
A: No problem.

Q: Nicolas a besoin de toi.
A: Aucun problème.

Q: Nicolas needs you.
A: No problem.

Pourquoi pas

Pourquoi pas literally translates to “why not” and is used in the same context you would use in English. You can ask it to affirm a rather reluctant or apathetic “yes” but also to ask a (rhetorical) question in return. 

Q: Est-ce que tu veux de la glace?
A: Pourquoi pas?

Q: Would you like some ice cream?
A: Why not.

Q: Thomas veut dîner chez ses grands-parents.
A: Pourquoi pas?

Q: Thomas wants to have dinner at his grandparent’s house.
A: Why not.

Ah oui?

If you need to ask for confirmation in a question, “ Ah oui? ” is an excellent option. It can be translated to “oh yes?” or simply “really?”. Check out the following example:

Q: Je vais quitter mon pays.
A: Ah oui?

Q: I will leave my country.
A: Really?

Q: J’ai trouvé ton porte monnaie.
A: Ah oui?

Q: I found your wallet.
A: Really?

Reluctant yes

Sometimes it feels like you’re being bullied into saying yes, right? If you have a commitment you just can’t get out of, choose one of the options below.

Your conversation partner will understand that you agree but aren’t cheering just yet.

Here are all the ways of reluctantly saying yes in French.

Ben oui

You may heard “ Ben oui ” if you’ve been watching French TV shows. Who is this Ben anyway? No it’s not referring to an actual person, it’s more of a filler word similar to “ummm” in English.

The expression ben oui is somewhat passive-aggressive, and is thus only used in very informal contexts. It literally means “well yes” in English and can be used to state the obvious.

Q: Est-ce que tu attends toujours?
A: Ben, oui.

Q: Are you still waiting?
A: Well, yes.

Q: Elle est avec toi, ma mère?
A: Ben, oui.

Q: Is she with you, my mom?
A: Well, yes.

You can also make it more informal by saying ben, ouais, which sounds very natural.

Mais oui

Similar to “ben oui”, “ Mais oui ” expresses that you are at the end of your rope and losing patience. It is a little more severe and shows that you may be exasperated. It is used when you might say “for the last time, Yes!”. Don’t use it in a formal context, it might be perceived as rude. Let’s look at a few examples:

Q: Es-tu sûr que nous pouvons nous garer ici?
A: Mais, oui!

Q: Are you sure that we can park here?
A: Well, yes.

Q: C’est quand ton anniversaire, dimanche?
A: Mais, oui!

Q: When is your birthday, on Sunday?
A: Well, yes.

Mouais

Does mouais sound like a kissing noise to you? Well it might, but it is actually the letter “m” tied in with the “ouais”, the informal “yeah” we have looked at before. If I had to translate it I would say it’s akin to something like “mmh yeah” or “sure… if you say so…” is sometimes closer to no than it is to yes.

Take extra care for who and when you use this. It is easy to come across as rude if spoken to someone you don’t know well or in a professional context. Let’s look at a few examples of how to use it.

Q: Est-ce que tu peux m’aider à déménager le dimanche?
A: Mouais..

Q: Can you help me move on Sunday?
A: Mmh yeah…

Q: Est-ce que tu peux apporter des cartons?
A: Mouais..

Q: Can you bring boxes?
A: Mmh yeah…

Saying yes with adverbs

Instead of using “oui” and its many variations to say yes in French, you can exploit the beauty of the French language and go with the many affirming adverbs it has to say yes.

Remember that you can also use “oui” with all of them, emphasizing your point. Here’s a list of the most fitting ones:

FrenchEnglish
Tout à faitPrecisely
ParfaitPerfect
EvidemmentObviously
AbsolumentAbsolutely
ExactementExactly
CarrémentSure thing
CertainementCertainly
A few adverbs that mean yes in French

Conclusion

Hopefully the above expressions are some good introductory guidance to the many ways of saying yes in French.

Like in every language, simple phrases can have a lot of nuance. You might think you’re simply answering in the affirmative, but you might be speaking either rudely or oddly politely.

Finally, we know that the pronunciation of “oui” can cause some trouble for emerging learners. If you are struggling, practice it in front of the mirror, or simply choose one of the many other options to get started. Or keep listening to the audio until it sounds natural.

Make sure you also know all of the ways to say no in French as well!

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