Two ways to ask a yes/no question
A yes/no question expects nothing but sí (yes) or no (no) as an answer. In English that almost always means reaching for a helper verb — do, does, did, or a form of be. Spanish needs none of that. There are two equally correct ways.
Way 1 — intonation alone: the word order stays exactly as in a statement, and the voice rises at the end. In everyday speech this is the most common form. English has this pattern only as a casual echo question (You speak Spanish?); in Spanish it is fully neutral.
María trabaja aquí.
María works here. (voice falls)
¿María trabaja aquí?
Does María work here? (voice rises)
Way 2 — verb before subject: the verb moves in front of the subject, like English with be (Is she here?), but with every verb: María tiene un coche becomes ¿Tiene María un coche?
¿Vive Pedro en Madrid?
Does Pedro live in Madrid?
¿Estudia Ana español?
Does Ana study Spanish?
Answering: sí and no
A bare sí or no is enough. A full answer repeats the verb; Spanish has no short Yes, I do: Sí, hablo español. After no the word appears twice: first as the answer, then as the negation of the verb.
Sí, claro.
Yes, of course.
¿Tienes tiempo?
Sí, hablo español.
Yes, I speak Spanish.
¿Hablas español?
No, gracias.
No, thank you.
¿Quieres un café?
No, no hablo inglés.
No, I don't speak English.
¿Hablas inglés?
