Minimal Responses: How to spell noises like "Mm-hmm" and "Uh-uh"

Updated: 07/24/24

Usually, the person in charge of the recording will encourage the speaker to say a clear “yes” or “no” in response to questions. In reality, you’ll quickly learn that no one follows this. Typically, people use something called minimal responses to indicate yes or no or let another speaker know that they are listening. Here is the spelling you should use for the three most common affirmative/positive minimal responses:

• Mm-hmm
• Uh-huh
• Mmm

Here is the spelling you should for the three most common negative minimal responses:

• Mm-mm
• Uh-uh
• Nuh-uh

Clearly, these are very similar in spelling and phonetics, so be sure that you catch the response accurately. This is actually not as difficult as you might think; your ears are already primed for picking up these minimal responses just from living as an English speaker.