How to answer the questions beginning with "don't you"

[chance22]

If someone asked, "Don't you love me?", is it right to say "Yes, I do" to express the idea of "yes, I love you"?

[BobK]

But a safer answer is a look of horror: 'But darling, how could you possibly doubt it?' (
Lawyers will recognizze this as a cop-out...)

b

[emsr2d2]

I must remember never to ask BobK a potentially contentious question like that!

As a general rule, questions which start "Do you" or "Don't you" attract either "Yes, I do" or "No, I don't" in one form or another as part of the response. There can be ambiguity if you don't clarify with "I do" or "I don't" though.

- Don't you want pizza for dinner?
- Yes.

Does the response mean "Actually, yes, I do want pizza for dinner" or does it mean "Yes, you're right, I don't want pizza for dinner"?

[chance22]

I must remember never to ask BobK a potentially contentious question like that!

As a general rule, questions which start "Do you" or "Don't you" attract either "Yes, I do" or "No, I don't" in one form or another as part of the response. There can be ambiguity if you don't clarify with "I do" or "I don't" though.

- Don't you want pizza for dinner?
- Yes.

Does the response mean "Actually, yes, I do want pizza for dinner" or does it mean "Yes, you're right, I don't want pizza for dinner"?

Is it more likely to be interpreted as "Yes, I want pizza", just as the answer to those tag questions: "You don't want pizza, do you?" "Yes" means "Yes I do want it" while "No" means "No I don't want it"

[bhaisahab]

Is it more likely to be interpreted as "Yes, I want pizza", just as the answer to those tag questions: "You don't want pizza, do you?" "Yes" means "Yes I do want it" while "No" means "No I don't want it"

I find "Don't you want pizza for dinner?" an odd question, unless there is some earlier discussion behind it.

[emsr2d2]

I find "Don't you want pizza for dinner?" an odd question, unless there is some earlier discussion behind it.

Oh, absolutely, as a standalone question it would be very odd but if it cropped up in a discussion about dinner, there would still be the possibility of some ambiguity if the response were simply "Yes" or "No".