# Yes / No



## Jana337

The wave of referenda in Europe aroused my curiosity about how you express yes and no in your languages. Could you please also mention colloquial expressions? 

Czech:
yes - *ano* (coll. *jo*, read [yoh]
no - *ne*

Jana


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## ayed

Welcoem Jana 337

Yes :
Na'am "  نعم   "
Tayyib "طيب" =O.K
Abshir "ابشر"=be rejoiced
ِAttmainn " اطمئن"=be reassured

As for "No ":
La : لا

Abudun : ابداً never

This is what I have in my mind yet.
Thanks
Ayed


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## julieb01

In French : yes = oui / no = non
In Spanish : yes = si / no = no


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## belén

Found this links 
yes in all languages
no in all languages


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## Jana337

Thanks, Bélen, the link looks worth exploring in a greater detail!

Jana


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## mjscott

Japanese
hai = yes
iie = no


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## ivanbcn

In Italian,
*sí* = yes
*no* = no


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## Lancel0t

in Filipino or Tagalog

Yes = Oo
No = Hindi


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## Tabac

Turkish:

yes = evet
no = hayir (no dot on 'i') much like English 'higher'


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## Whodunit

In German:

Yes = Ja
Yup = Jo, Jap
No = Nein
Nope/Nah = Nee

In Russian:

Yes = Да
No = Нет

In Koran:

Yes = 그렇다
No = 아니다

In Japanese:

Yes = はい
No = いいえ

In Grrek:

Yes = Ναι
No = Αριθ

In Chinese:

Yes = 是
No = 不

I just wanted wanted to mention the special scrpits. Here. If you want to have the pronounciation, just ask me.


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## Christhiane

NorwegianDanish:
Yes = Ja (j is pronounced as a y), jo
No = Nei

In Norwegian only: Yes/No, unsure= Tja.


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## elroy

Arabic: na'am and laa
Colloquial Palestinian Arabic: ah, la'
Dutch: ja and nee
Hebrew: ken and lo


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## lsp

ivanbcn said:
			
		

> In Italian,
> *sí* = yes
> *no* = no


sì, not sí


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Arabic: na'am and laa



Why not كلا? (kellaa)


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## abc

belen said:
			
		

> Found this links
> yes in all languages
> no in all languages


 
Who,

Both Northerners and Southerners employ *Da.* and *Va^ng *although Southerners tend to use *Da.* a lot more than *va^ng *and Northerners also often use *Da. va^ng* to make the reply more formal or polite.


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## mia04

hi
in greek
yes- ne (the 'e' would be pronounced the way for example you say the 'e' in the word egg)
no- ohi


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## Sev

Colloquial "yes" in French is "ouais"


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## marco_bcn

Romanian:

Yes - Da
No  - Nu

Marco


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## Lin

In Japanese,

Yes - hai
No- iie

Lin


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## teanga tiger

Here's a useful one for all of you.

Yes and No in Irish is indeed the repitition of the verb
e.g. An dtúgann tú? ( Do you give? )
      Tugann ( Yes )
      Ní thugann ( I don't  )

But in some circumstances Sea ( pronounced like yeah with an s ) and ní hea would be used. This is especially done by grammatically poor teenagers.

And for referendums the choice is either Tá ( yes ) or Níl ( No )

If this is too complicated you don't have to worry; hardly anyone speaks Irish in Irealnd.


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Why not كلا? (kellaa)



كلا is possible but emphatic. 

The neutral word is لا.


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> كلا is possible but emphatic.
> 
> The neutral word is لا.



Okay, thank you very much.


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## MisiaLainiel

Hi, all!
I don't know if this has been posted already but I've been trying to find the translation for the word *yes* in as many languages as possible. I was hoping you could help me add more items to the list.

This is what I have so far (it's not much, though) 

English - *yes*
Spanish - *sí*
Portuguese - *sim*
Italian - *si*
French - *oui*
German - *ja*
Dutch - *tak*
Finnish - *kyllä*
Russian - *da*
Turkish - *evet*
Japanese - *hai*

Please correct any mistakes!
Thank you!


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## vanilla_kiss64

In Tagalog

oo = yes


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## MisiaLainiel

Oops, so there was a thread for this after all. I don't know why I couldn't find it.
The Freelang links are very helpful, but how reliable are they? Do we know the lists have been checked by native speakers of each language? Sorry if I'm being too fussy!

Thanks again!


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## jana.bo99

Hello,

Slovenian:

Yes - Ja!
No   - Ne!

Croatian:

Yes - Da!
No  - Ne!

(it looks, like I repeat myself!)

jana.bo


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## Joannes

MisiaLainiel said:


> Dutch - *tak *


That's Belarusian/Polish/Ukrainian. The Dutch word is *ja* (or *jawel* if the question was in the negative).



MisiaLainiel said:


> The Freelang links are very helpful, but how reliable are they? Do we know the lists have been checked by native speakers of each language? Sorry if I'm being too fussy!


For as far as I can tell (and I can tell quite far in this particular case ), they are reliable. I can't tell how reliable all the information on these two webpages is, but it sure is a lot.


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## MisiaLainiel

Joannes said:


> That's Belarusian/Polish/Ukrainian. The Dutch word is *ja* (or *jawel* if the question was in the negative).


 
Thanks for the correction! It's great to have it checked by a native speaker. It doesn't get any more reliable than that!


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## avok

Bosnian

Yes:Yes / Jes

No:No


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## su_

*Evet* (yes) and *hayır* (no) in standard Turkish (as tabac mentioned).

However you also asked for colloquial usage. Here it is:

For yes: *hım*, *hı hı* ( both are sounds not words but everyone uses them in informal situations), *hee* (sound, used esp. in villages, rural ares;not accepted by elites!)

For no: *yok* (word), *ıh ıh*, *yoo *(sounds, acceptable by everyone, informal) .

Also,there is a sound (which is used to mean 'no' or 'disapproval') produced by touching the tip of the tongue to the edge of the upper palate. something like tcık but impossible to put it into writing so it is used as
*'cık cık cık'* (should be 3 together) in everyday informal writing, esp. in cartoons or humor magazines.


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## Nizo

*Esperanto*
yes = _jes_
yes = _jes ja_ (when responding to a negative question)
no = _ne_


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## Nanon

By the way, French also has *si* when responding to a negative question.


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## kusurija

In Lithuanian:
Yes = taip[~tejp]; colloquial: jo
No = ne


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## avok

avok said:


> Bosnian
> 
> Yes:Yes / Jes
> 
> No:No


 
Bosnian language spoken in Turkey: I edit ...

Yes: Jes

No: Nije / Jok / No (?)


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## MarX

Indonesian:

_written_:
yes = *ya*
no = *tidak*

_spoken:_
yes = *iya*
no = *ngga'* (with a glottal stop)

I've no idea whence the discrepancy between *tidak* and *ngga'*. But I almost never say *tidak* when speaking Indonesian, except of course when reading or in formal situations.


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## apmoy70

Greek:

Yes: *«Ναι»* [ne] < Classical affirmative particle *«ναί» naí̯* (Attic *«νή» nḗ*, Boeot. *«νεί» neí̯*) --> _really, yes_ (PIE *(h₁e)no- _that one_ cf Latin nē, ToB nai, _really, indeed_).
No: *«Όχι»* [ˈɔ.çi] < Classical particle used to show disagreement or negation *«οὐ» ou* which antevocalically becomes *«οὐκ» ouk*, (Homeric) *«οὐκί» oukí*, (Attic) *«οὐχί» oukʰí* --> _not._
The Hom. *«οὐκί»* contains the IE neuter indefinite pronoun *kʷid (cf Proto-Germanic *hwaz > Eng. who/what) and is the oldest form; thence *«οὐκ»* by elision and *«οὐχ»* with aspiration, if the latter was not elided from *«οὐ-χι»*, containing the stressing particle IE *ǵʰi (Pok. 417f.), like *«ναί-χι» naí̯-kʰĭ*, *«ἧ-χι»* *hê-kʰĭ* etc. = Skt. हि (hi) in नहि (na-hi), _surely not_, Av. zi.
The MoGr *«όχι»* derives from the crasis of the 1st p. personal pronoun *«ἐγώ» ĕgṓ* + *«οὐχί» oukʰí* > (colloq.) *«ἐγὤχι» ĕgṓkʰĭ* > Byz.Gr aphetism *«ὤχι» ṓkhi* & (later) *«ὄχι» ókhi* > MoGr *«όχι»*.


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## Dymn

*Catalan*: _sí / no_


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## KalAlbè

*Haitian Creole:*

Wi / No

*Portuguese:*

Sim / Não


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## Sardokan1.0

_*Sardinian :*_

*Yes : *

*éja*_ (abbreviation _*"éi"*_)_ - pronounce "éya"; from Latin "etiam" = yes, surely_._
_*émmo *(abbreviation* "éh"*) _- from Latin "immo" = indeed, even, furthermore.

éja it's mostly used for exclamations or single answers, émmo it's also used in answers and affirmations. While the two abbreviation are often combined together as exclamation "éi éh!"; which could be translated as : wait and hope, wait and see, it's not going to happen.

Examples :

_Did you read that book? - Lèggidu l'has cussu liberu?
Yes - éja / émmo.
Yes I did - émmo, iá l'happo lèggidu.
Did you really read it? - Lèggidu de a beru l'has?
Yes - éi / éh._

_*No : Non  *- answering with emphasis* "Nòno!"*_


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## Agró

*Sicilianu*
SI e NO 
(usati solo tra coetanei dello stesso ceto, per gli altri si usava il SISSI e il NONZI)


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