# No? Sì? Right? Neh?



## AmoL'italiano

Certain cultures end sentences with certain things. Some places say, "You like chocolate, no?" Some places say, "You can see, yes?" I know in the U.S. we say, "You write books, right?" What does your country say?

Thanks!
Dylan


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## Suane

My Slovakian culture will say:...., ne? Or more formal:....., nie?
"Nie" means no,  "ne" is the same, but shorten.

In English, you can also say the opposite verb like: Can you see that, can't you?


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## AmoL'italiano

Suane said:
			
		

> In English, you can also say the opposite verb like: Can you see that, can't you?


 
Actually, in English we say it a bit differently in a question when using the opposite verb form. So we either say:

Can you see it?

Or:

You can see it, can't you? (Verb and subject switch places, as though making a statement.)

We also only do this when we have a positive question. You would never see:

You can't see this, can you?  

You MIGHT see:

You can't see this... or can you? As though stating a fact, and then questioning yourself. 



Also- I was reading a book called Shogun, and it was set in Japan and in the dialogue the Japanese ended many sentences with, "neh?" I was wondering if that is true, if anyone knows?


Thanks!
Dylan


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## lazarus1907

In Spain we say "¿no?" all the time for everything.


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## elroy

In (colloquial Palestinian) Arabic we say *صح؟* (_SaH?_), which means "right?"


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## Suane

AmoL'italiano said:
			
		

> You can see it, can't you? (Verb and subject switch places, as though making a statement.)
> 
> We also only do this when we have a positive question. You would never see:
> 
> You can't see this, can you?
> 
> You MIGHT see:
> 
> You can't see this... or can you? As though stating a fact, and then questioning yourself.


 
Ah, ok thank you...now I can see that my teacher is even more stupid than I thought...


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## AmoL'italiano

Haha Suane, well do what I did! My Italian teacher and Italian class hasn't taught me much..... so I took it upon myself to learn! And thank god for this forum....


Dylan


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## DanyD

In Italian we say "no?", sometimes "giusto?".


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## AmoL'italiano

Oh, thanks DanyD- I was wondering that. I thought that's what you said, and apparently it is! I have also heard, "Sì o no?" Is that common?

Dylan


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## Jhorer Brishti

In bengali we say "naa"(no, used as won't you?) or "THik naa"?(Is it not so/right?)

  Also, shouldn't this thread be in Other languages(considering the direction it's taken)..?


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## fille anglaise

AmoL'italiano said:
			
		

> Also- I was reading a book called Shogun, and it was set in Japan and in the dialogue the Japanese ended many sentences with, "neh?" I was wondering if that is true, if anyone knows?


 
Never having been to Japan, I can't really say how much Japanese people use it, but I have learnt the word "ne" as meaning "isn't it?", "don't you?" etc. or being used to add emphasis to a sentence.


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## tvdxer

AmoL'italiano said:
			
		

> We also only do this when we have a positive question. You would never see:
> 
> You can't see this, can you?



That must be a regional thing, since here in Minnesota we phrase sentences like that very regularly.


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## ronanpoirier

In portuguese we say "né?" which is a contraction of "não é?" which means "isn't it?"

In french I hear a lot of people saying "d'accord" which means something like "do you agree?"


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## Vespasian

In Switzerland (Swiss German) people say "oder?" which means "or?".


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## optimistique

In Dutch we say '*toch?'*.
And I'm afraid I really can't translate it. It is a sort of modular adverb and on top of that it can have multiple meanings. Let's say it contains the meaning of asking for confirmation here, and that's exactly what you're doing.


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## AmoL'italiano

tvdxer said:
			
		

> That must be a regional thing, since here in Minnesota we phrase sentences like that very regularly.


 
Well I suppose it isn't unheard of hear in the East, but it's much less common... And I was born in the Midwest and I don't remember hearing it much there either, maybe I'm wrong.

Dylan


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## Bienvenidos

In New England you might here that. It sounds normal to me, but of course when I hear it in my head there's a voice inflection on _*can you?* _Like first you are stating a *fact* that the person can't hear it, and then you're contemplating (and asking them) if they can hear it.

*You can't hear it, or can you?*
*You can't heart it...can you?*

*Bien*


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian, we use _ikke sant_, which literally means '[negating adverb] true'.

A: Fint vær idag, ikke sant? (Nice weather today, right?)

If A had dropped _ikke sant_ from that sentence, B could answer:

B: Ja, ikke sant? ('Yes, I know' would be the best translation of that I think).


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## maxiogee

Ireland has many sentence-ender. They are usually applied to questions, as a sort of reinforcement, or to a statement to which they seek the listener's explicit concurrence or understanding.

"So I says to him: 'Are you looking for a fight?' - didn't I?"
"I was running for the bus - do you see? - and the lights changed, didn't they? - just as I was getting to the stop."

I see them as verbal proof of a lack of ability to think ahead to what one is going to say next. I'm a regular at AA meetings. We're not always the most lucid of thinkers and it can be painful to sit and listen to someone trying to "share" as they grope for the next word and 'fill in' the verbal gaps with "like, you know?" and "like", "I mean to say" and "are you with me?"
I'm not above it myself but I think many of those who do it don't realise that they do. I've often wondered how they would react if they were to hear themselves played back on a tape - during which they would realise how little they actually 'say' while they are speaking.


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## betulina

In Catalan we say "*no?*" and "*oi?*", which has not a direct translation. It's similar to what Optimistique said about the Dutch "toch?". It's what you say asking for a confirmation of what you've just said. And we can say it after the sentence or at the beginning:

-_Ho faràs, oi? _(You will do it, won't you?)
_-Oi que ho faràs?_ (in English it has the same translation, I suppose - In Spanish I think it would be "¿Verdad que lo harás?")

However, the "intention" of the sentence is slightly different.


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## Whodunit

There are plenty of such question tags in German:
*nicht? (= not)*
*oder? (= or)*
*wahr? (= true)*
stimmt's? (= is that correct?)
oder etwa nicht? (= or isn't it?)
hm? (= hm)
was? (= what)

The first three are the most common interjections.


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## danielfranco

In Mexico City is very common to ask "¿no?" at the end of almost anything you say... It actually goes to the silly extent of answering somebody's question affirmatively with: "Sí, ¿no?", as if that makes it "extra" true, or something!


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## Paulinne

Hi!!
In the Czech Rep. we say: *.....,ne*? Almost the same as the Slovakians  It means "no"..

In France we say *...., n'est-ce pas?*  or  *....,non?* 

P.


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## DanyD

AmoL'italiano said:
			
		

> Oh, thanks DanyD- I was wondering that. I thought that's what you said, and apparently it is! I have also heard, "Sì o no?" Is that common?
> 
> Dylan


 
It's used a little bit differently, but this is quite difficult to explain... 
However, this is my try:

You say something that is obvious to you, but the person you're talking to looks kind of astonished: you say "Sì o no?" to be sure they agree with you. At least, I mainly heard it said by a teacher to their stunned/astonished students.

Maybe another Italian will succeed better!


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## Outsider

ronanpoirier said:
			
		

> In portuguese we say "né?" which is a contraction of "não é?" which means *"isn't it?"*


In Portugal, we still say "...não é?" 

Also heard, among others:
"...não?" (*no?*)
"...hã?" (*hey?*)
"...não é verdade?" (*isn't that so?*)
"...verdade?" (*true?*)


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## Dobean

In Italian we say "Giusto?" ("Right?"), "Vero?" ("Is it true?") or "O mi sbaglio?" ("Or am I wrong?").


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