Answer for "You know what?"

Question

Could 'Yes' be the answer for 'You know what?'

I mean:

A: 'You know what?'

B: 'Yes.'

C: 'I won the first prize.'

I'm not sure if I bother to write 'Yes' between A's words.

Answer 1

I think it would sound more natural if you replaced B's line with

'What?'

This logic is based on a typical conversation like the following:

'Guess what?'

'What?'

'I won first prize!'

Answer 2

The appropriate answer to

• You know what?

is

• No, What?

The person then proceeds to tell you the [amazing fact/tidbit of gossip].

If you reply (or interrupt) with a statement of your own, it frustrates the asker's intent to surprise you with something you don't know.

Answer 3

"Yes." as an answer works if it's a joke, or passive aggressive ("Yes, I know what you're about to say, so much for your making a big mystery of it"). If you want B to be replying in good faith ("It sounds like the announcement you're going to make is exciting and I want to hear it") you want it to be a question at least, i.e. "Yes ?" (as in the "filler" word for "I heard you, please proceed", not the actual answer "yes"). Other possibilities are "what ?", "no, what ?", "hmmmm ?"

Answer 4

It can be done both ways. This is James Patterson's way :-), showing impatience, and interrupting:

Double Cross - Page 52 James Patterson - 2007

“You know what — ”

“Yes,” Bree said. “We're done, Brady. For the moment, anyway. We're leaving.”

Answer 5

You know what? is not a question and does not expect an answer. It's an expression.

The correct response is to wait and let the speaker continue and announce the "what" of it.

See Wiktionary you know what

(idiomatic) A phrase used to get someone's attention before announcing something.
…
Well, you know what, he's got a cloud over him.

Similarly, guess what, you know, you-know-what, you know what I mean, if you know what I mean, you know what they say (ibid.)