# Why the heck do English speakers say 'yes' for the affirmative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2001, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128 "2001-05-02T19:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/21 "2001-05-04T02:24:40Z")
Just another data point: In classical Latin, there is no word for “yes” or “no”: You answer a question by repeating the verb. For instance: “Do you swim?” “I swim”. Of course, the Latin word for “I swim” is… You guessed it… “no”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/22 "2001-05-04T12:10:46Z")
In English, _nay_ means ‘no’, but in Modern Greek _nai_ means ‘yes’ and in Korean _ne_ means ‘yes’. In Polish, _tak_ means ‘yes’ but in Malay _tak_ means ‘no’. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/23 "2001-05-04T18:22:35Z")
Isn’t the Greek word for “no” pronounced _oh-kee_? Or is there a colloquial alternative? Things can get hairy in Greece if you aren’t paying attention. _Okie_, _nai_, no, yes??? Also, I’ve read that in Greece, smiling can be taken as a sign of anger. Any old smile, or a specific type of smile (like a beauty-queen forced smile)? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/24 "2001-05-04T18:29:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sjc \* > **And now, as I’m thinking about it, is it true that Irish (Gaelic) speakers do not have a single word for ‘yes’ and ‘no’? (I seem to recall reading something about this somewhere.) Is it true that they have to say things like ‘it is so’ or ‘it is not so’? Now that I think about it some more I realize that this isn’t as crazy as I first thought.** That’s right, sjc. To answer a “yes or no” question you use either the positive or the negative form of the verb used in the question (in Irish, in most cases this simply involves repeating the verb - positive - or preceding it with _ní_ - negative). This is also the case in the other Celtic languages, though it is by no means unique to those languages. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/25 "2001-05-04T18:51:12Z")
**Bordelond** , _nai_, I mean yes, the Modern Greek for ‘no’ is _okhi_. You might find some Greeks telling you it’s “_ohi_,” depending on their dialect. **ruadh** , so the Irish way of negating and affirming is the same as in Chinese? _Tá_. ---
**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/26 "2001-05-04T19:21:37Z")
**sjc** to answer your question about Irish Gaelic not having a yes or no. They do not. I asked the same question in this thread here. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=51230](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=51230) Also, several other languages don’t either like Latin as **Chronos** explained earlier. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128/27 "2001-05-04T19:22:39Z")
_Is ea._ Also the same as Swahili and Finnish, and several other, smaller languages. It really isn’t as strange as it might seem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-do-english-speakers-say-yes-for-the-affirmative/64128.md?page=1)