Bob didn't come to office today.
I was asked "Didn't you see Bob today?"
Should I say "Yes, I didn't see him today" or "No, I didn't see him today"?
Answer
"Didn't you see Bob today?" means that the person asking the question assumes that you saw Bob. The negation works like a tag question, so the sentence basically means the same as "You saw Bob today, didn't you?"
So, the appropriate response should be as if the tag question were omitted.
Speaker 1: any of… "Didn't you see Bob today?" or "You saw Bob today, didn't you?" or "You saw Bob today?" (The three formulations of the question are mostly equivalent.)
Your appropriate response: "No, I didn't see him today."
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