да/нет

In Russian, да and нет are particles used to respond to questions without question words or questions formed with the particle ли (e.g., Готов ли ты?).

1. Basic Usage
Usually, these words start a sentence and are followed by a comma. Unlike English, Russian does not use 'do-support' (like 'Yes, I do'). You simply say да or repeat the verb. Importantly, the word order in a Russian yes/no question is usually identical to a declarative statement. To ask a yes/no question out loud without a question word, Russian relies on intonation (known as IK-3, or Интонационная конструкция 3): your voice pitch rises sharply on the focused word and then drops.

2. The Existential 'Нет'
When you want to say 'there is no...', 'I don't have...', or that someone or something is not present (e.g., Его нет дома - He is not at home), you use нет. This is the negative counterpart to the affirmative есть (there is / I have). While есть takes the Nominative case, the subject (or entity) that is missing or absent with нет must be in the Genitive case. In colloquial speech, you will often hear нету used instead of нет (e.g., У меня нету времени). This rule persists across tenses: in the present, нет is a frozen form that never changes regardless of whether the missing thing is singular or plural. In the past, use не было, and in the future, use не будет. Note that these are all impersonal, frozen forms—they never change to match the missing subject (e.g., always не было, never не были), and they always require the Genitive.

3. Answering Negative Questions
Answering negative questions (like 'You don't smoke?') in Russian can be tricky. Answering with a bare Да or Нет is highly ambiguous, so native speakers almost always repeat the verb. If you agree with the negative statement (you indeed don't smoke), you say Нет, не курю or Да, не курю. To contradict the person and say that you actually do smoke, you can use either Нет or Да followed by the affirmative verb: Нет, курю or Да, курю (Actually, yes I do smoke). Native speakers also frequently use the phrase Да нет here, as in Да нет, курю (Well no, actually I do smoke).

4. The phrase 'Да нет'
You might hear Russians say Да нет, наверное. This doesn't mean 'Yes and no.' Here, да is a filler word that serves to soften the response, making a refusal or disagreement sound more polite and less direct. It is a universal, highly common way to deliver a soft, polite, or hesitant 'no' to any question or proposal, not just to contradict negative statements. The phrase means 'No, not really' or 'Probably not.'

5. Other uses of 'Да'
In colloquial speech, да is frequently used as a question tag at the end of a sentence (e.g., Хорошая погода, да? - Nice weather, right?). It can also be used as an emphatic particle with imperatives (e.g., Да говори уже! - Just speak already!). In specific fixed expressions, да can mean 'and' (e.g., щи да каша) or 'but' (e.g., Мал, да удал - Small but mighty). It can also start a wish, similar to 'let' (e.g., Да будет свет! - Let there be light!).

6. Everyday Conversational Staples
In casual speech, you will often hear ага (yeah) and не-а (nope) instead of the standard yes and no. The word Да? can be used as a standalone question meaning 'Really?' or as 'Hello?' when answering the phone. Finally, the phrase Ну да means 'Well, yes' or 'Obviously'.