How to say “yes” around the world

212 languages · 212 in their own spelling

हाँ · হ্যাঁ · ouiyes · ya · jaevet · అవును · vâng是 · sí · simنَعَم · ndiyo · 네да · ಹೌದು · takigen · òc · იახOther shapes

Dots of one colour begin with a similar sound. Colours group words by the class of their first consonant (a sound-class method used in linguistics): words that begin alike share a colour. This shows resemblance, not common origin — proving relationship needs case-by-case comparison. Readable forms come from Wiktionary translation tables; many smaller languages come from the ASJP word lists, in ASJP’s simplified transcription.

Language	Word	Romanization	Family
Chinese	是	shì	Sino-Tibetan
English	yes		Indo-European
Spanish	sí		Indo-European
Hindi	हाँ	hā̃	Indo-European
Arabic	نَعَم	naʕam	Afro-Asiatic
Bengali	হ্যাঁ	hễ	Indo-European
Indonesian	ya		Austronesian
Portuguese	sim		Indo-European
French	oui		Indo-European
Russian	да	da	Indo-European
Japanese	はい	hai	Japonic
Swahili	ndiyo		Atlantic-Congo
Turkish	evet		Turkic
Telugu	అవును	avunu	Dravidian
Korean	네	ne	Koreanic
German	ja		Indo-European
Vietnamese	vâng		Austroasiatic
Tamil	ஆம்	ām	Dravidian
Cantonese	係	hai⁶	Sino-Tibetan
Urdu	ہاں	hā̃	Indo-European
Italian	sì		Indo-European
Egyptian Arabic	أَيْوَة	ʔaywa	Afro-Asiatic
Gujarati	હા	hā	Indo-European
Western Farsi	بله	bale	Indo-European
Min Nan Chinese	好	hó	Sino-Tibetan
Levantine Arabic	اِيه	ē	Afro-Asiatic
Kannada	ಹೌದು	haudu	Dravidian
Algerian Arabic	ايه	ēh	Afro-Asiatic
Polish	tak		Indo-European
Yoruba	bẹ́ẹ̀ ni		Atlantic-Congo
Malayalam	ശരി	śari	Dravidian
Odia	ହଁ	hã	Indo-European
Burmese	ဟုတ်ကဲ့	hutkai.	Sino-Tibetan
Igbo	eē		Atlantic-Congo
Ukrainian	так	tak	Indo-European
Uzbek	ha		Turkic
Romanian	da		Indo-European
Dutch	ja		Indo-European
Amharic	አዎን	ʾäwon	Afro-Asiatic
Thai	ใช่	châi	Tai-Kadai
Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian	да		Indo-European
Khmer	អើ	’aə	Austroasiatic
Somali	haa		Afro-Asiatic
Turkmen	hawa		Turkic
Nepali	सही	sahī	Indo-European
Assamese	অঁ	õ	Indo-European
Sinhala	ඔවු	owu	Indo-European
Greek	ναι	nai	Indo-European
Hijazi Arabic	إيوه	īwa	Afro-Asiatic
Tajik	ҳа	ha	Indo-European
Sylheti	ꠅꠄ	oe	Indo-European
Kazakh	иә	iyä	Turkic
Hungarian	igen		Uralic
Zulu	yebo		Atlantic-Congo
Nyanja	inde		Atlantic-Congo
Tunisian Arabic	إي	ay	Afro-Asiatic
Southern Pashto	هو	ho	Indo-European
Czech	ano		Indo-European
Uighur	ھەئە	he'e	Turkic
Afrikaans	ja		Indo-European
Swedish	ja		Indo-European
Azerbaijani	bəli		Turkic
Iloko	wen		Austronesian
Bulgarian	да	da	Indo-European
Hiligaynon	hoo		Austronesian
Xhosa	ewe		Atlantic-Congo
Belarusian	так	tak	Indo-European
Neapolitan	eine		Indo-European
Central Kurdish	ئەرێ	erê	Indo-European
Danish	ja		Indo-European
Slovak	áno		Indo-European
Kabyle	ih		Afro-Asiatic
Finnish	joo		Uralic
Lao	ແມ່ນ	mǣn	Tai-Kadai
Norwegian	ja		Indo-European
Tatar	әйе	äyye	Turkic
Catalan	sí		Indo-European
Guarani	heẽ		Tupian
Sicilian	se		Indo-European
Kirghiz	ооба	ooba	Turkic
Armenian	այո	ayo	Indo-European
Ganda	yee		Atlantic-Congo
Lithuanian	taip		Indo-European
Tok Pisin	ya		Indo-European
Lombard	si		Indo-European
Georgian	დიახ	diax	Kartvelian
Goan Konkani	व्है	vhai	Indo-European
Albanian	po		Indo-European
Luo	ee		Nilotic
Mongolian	тийм	tiim	Mongolic-Khitan
Bikol	iyo		Austronesian
Galician	si		Indo-European
Pampanga	ua		Austronesian
Slovenian	dà		Indo-European
Esperanto	jes		Artificial Language
Kʼicheʼ	je'		Mayan
Macedonian	да	da	Indo-European
Limburgan	jao		Indo-European
Latvian	jā		Indo-European
Quechua	arí		Quechuan
Scots	aye		Indo-European
Chechen	хӏаъ	haʔ	Nakh-Daghestanian
Mandinka	haa		Mande
Estonian	jah		Uralic
Bashkir	эйе	eye	Turkic
Garo	hoe		Sino-Tibetan
Western Frisian	ja		Indo-European
Basque	bai		Isolates
Welsh	ie		Indo-European
Picard	oui		Indo-European
Rusyn	айно	ajno	Indo-European
Morisyen	wi		Indo-European
Walloon	oyi		Indo-European
Maltese	iva		Afro-Asiatic
Crimean Tatar	ebet		Turkic
Occitan	òc		Indo-European
Vlax Romani	va		Indo-European
Kaqchikel	ja'		Mayan
Silesian	ja		Indo-European
Asturian	sí		Indo-European
Samoan	ioe		Austronesian
Mingrelian	იახ	iax	Kartvelian
Fijian	io		Austronesian
Icelandic	já		Indo-European
Friulian	sì		Indo-European
Guianese Creole French	wi		Indo-European
Tuvinian	ийе	iye	Turkic
Plautdietsch	jo		Indo-European
Laz	ho		Kartvelian
Māori	āe		Austronesian
Abkhaz	ааи	aaj	Abkhaz-Adyge
Tonga (Tonga Islands)	io		Austronesian
Mískito	au		Misumalpan
Navajo	aooʼ		Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit
Corsican	iè		Indo-European
Pennsylvania German	ja		Indo-European
Aromanian	ie		Indo-European
Breton	ya		Indo-European
Faroese	ja		Indo-European
Marshallese	aaet		Austronesian
Scottish Gaelic	seadh		Indo-European
Southern Altai	эйе	eye	Turkic
Burushaski	awá		Isolates
Sanskrit	एवं	evaṃ	Indo-European
Romansh	gea		Indo-European
Motu	e		Austronesian
North Saami	juo		Uralic
Palauan	chochoi		Austronesian
Central Yupik	ii-i		Eskimo-Aleut
Tohono O'odham	heu'u		Uto-Aztecan
Svan	ა̄დუ	ādu	Kartvelian
Western Apache	au		Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit
Cherokee	ᎥᎥ	vv	Iroquoian
Yagnobi	ҳа	ha	Indo-European
Northern Frisian	jåå		Indo-European
Louisiana Creole	wé		Indo-European
Choctaw	a̱		Muskogean
Aragonese	sí		Indo-European
Lower Sorbian	jo		Indo-European
Jejueo	ᄋᆞ	aw	Koreanic
Rapanui	eee		Austronesian
Mrassu Shor-Tutal	эзе	eze	Turkic
Manx	she		Indo-European
Interlingua	si		Artificial Language
Comanche	haa		Uto-Aztecan
Taos Northern Tiwa	hą		Kiowa-Tanoan
Pacific Gulf Yupik	aa'a		Eskimo-Aleut
Halkomelem	á:'a		Salishan
Aleut	aang		Eskimo-Aleut
Cypriot Arabic	ye		Afro-Asiatic
Mudburra	yuu		Pama-Nyungan
Chickasaw	i̠i		Muskogean
Wiradhuri	ngawa		Pama-Nyungan
Central Sierra Miwok	guˀuh		Miwok-Costanoan
Chamicuro	eje		Arawakan
Gulf Arabic	إي	ī	Afro-Asiatic
Gilit Mesopotamian Arabic	إي	ī	Afro-Asiatic
Aramaic	אין	’ēn	Afro-Asiatic
Aymara	jisa		Aymaran
Central Atlas Tamazight	ⵢⴰⵀ	yah	Afro-Asiatic
Coptic	ⲁϩⲁ	aha	Afro-Asiatic
Arpitan	ouè		Indo-European
Old French	oïl		Indo-European
Saterland Frisian	jee		Indo-European
Ancient Greek	ναί	naí	Indo-European
Kalaallisut	aap		Eskimo-Aleut
Hebrew	כֵּן	ken	Afro-Asiatic
Kaingang	hÿ		Nuclear-Macro-Je
Latin	etiam		Indo-European
Low German	jo		Indo-European
Moselle Franconian	jo		Indo-European
Malagasy	eny		Austronesian
Malay	ya		Austronesian
Southern Sierra Miwok	hy·ʔy·		Miwok-Costanoan
Classical Nahuatl	quemah		Uto-Aztecan
Nuu-chah-nulth	haa		Wakashan
San Francisco Bay Ohlone	hé̄'e		Miwok-Costanoan
Mutsun	gehe		Miwok-Costanoan
Church Slavic	ⰵⰹ	ei	Indo-European
Old English	ġēa		Indo-European
Old Saxon	ja		Indo-European
Iron Ossetian	о	o	Indo-European
Eastern Panjabi	ਹਾਂ	hā̃	Indo-European
Sardinian	eja		Indo-European
Tagalog	oo		Austronesian
Taino	han		Arawakan
Ho-Chunk	hąąhąʼa		Siouan
Woiwurrung-Thagungwurrung	ngai		Pama-Nyungan
Wolof	waaw		Atlantic-Congo
Yiddish	יאָ	yo	Indo-European
Dimli	e		Indo-European
East Taa	ʻée		Tuu