How to answer close-ended questions

I’m guessing you’ve heard this advice before: If you want better conversations, stop asking close-ended questions.

Am I right?

If you haven’t, here’s the 10-second breakdown:

Close-ended questions are the type of questions that can be answered with a simple yes, no, or similar one-word responses. And when asked in a conversation, they often bring that conversation to a halt.

“Did you have a good weekend?” - “Yes, thank you. Did you?” - “I did.” … Crickets.

And so an often shared piece of advice is not to ask close-ended questions if we want to have a good conversation—which is great advice.

But what do we do when other people ask us close-ended questions?

Reinterpret the close-ended question

The solution is simple:

Don't answer the question they asked. Answer the question they likely meant to ask.

When someone asks, “Did you have a good weekend?” they're not conducting a survey. They don't actually want a yes or no—they're trying to connect with you. They want to know what you did, what you experienced, what about it you enjoyed (or didn’t).

So when you get a close-ended question, reinterpret it as an open-ended one:

• “Did you have a good weekend?” becomes “What did you do this weekend?”
• “Did you like the movie?” becomes “What did you like/dislike about the movie?”
• “Are you excited about your vacation?” becomes “What are you excited to do on your vacation?”

You can, of course, feel free to give a one-word answer to their close-ended question to kick things off, but after that, you should immediately launch into your open-ended answer.

“Yes! I can’t wait to get away from work for a while, sleep in, eat good food, and read a nice book.”

So the formula is simple: Take their close-ended question, interpret what they're actually curious about, and give them a real answer that includes a few details, experiences, or opinions.

Three major benefits of open-ended answers

By reinterpreting close-ended questions this way, you accomplish several things.

First, you give the other person information that is much easier to respond to, build on, or ask follow-up questions about than a simple “yes” or “no” would be.

Second, you demonstrate that you're genuinely interested in having a real conversation. You're not just going through the motions of polite small talk. You're actively trying to create a connection.

Third, you create some flow to the conversation. You encourage elaboration and sharing by doing it first, which will often help others open up and share more in return.

Keep in mind, though, that it’s a good idea to keep your answer relatively short. A sentence or two is often enough to move the conversation forward, at least until they start asking more deep-probing questions.

I hope this helps give your future conversations a little boost!