Why is 的 used with 是 sometimes to answer in the affirmative? As in 是的 I've seen 是的 used multiple times as a &quot;yes&quot; answer to a question.
As in the following interaction:

A: 这只猫是你的吗?
B: 是的。

How is it different than just 是 by itself?
Thanks!
I believe there is no semantic difference between 是。 and 是的。when used in answers. Both are very common, but using just one word / phoneme to reply colloquially can be a little bit too spartan / less polite sometimes.