sí

See also: Appendix:Variations of "si"

Languages (14)

Asturian • Catalan • Fala • Faroese • Ghomala' • Hokkien • Hungarian • Icelandic • Irish • Lakota • Nheengatu • Old Irish • Pichinglis • Spanish

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Page categories

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin sīc.

Particle

sí

1. yes (word used to indicate agreement or acceptance)

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sīc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈsi]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Homophone: si

Particle

sí

1. yes (affirmation; commonly used to respond affirmatively to a question)

   Synonym: hoc

Adverb

sí

1. the opposite of 'not'

   Synonym: hoc

   No parles català? – Sí que el parlo!

   Do you not speak Catalan? – I do speak it [Catalan]!

Usage notes

• Sí is used to add positive emphasis to the verb, much like the auxiliary do in affirmative sentences in English. It generally contrasts with a previous no, and is placed in the same location within the sentence. This is a usage the word shares with Spanish.

Antonyms

• no

See also

• si

Further reading

• “sí” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “sí”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “sí”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Fala

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: sí

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese si (“yes”), from Latin sīc (“thus, so”), from Proto-Indo-European *so (“this, that”).

Adverb

sí

1. yes

Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese si, from Latin sibi, from Proto-Indo-European *sébʰye.

Pronoun

sí

1. Reflexive prepositional pronoun; oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, yourself; each other, one another

See also

Fala personal pronouns

			nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
singular	first person		ei	me, -mi		mi
	second person		tú	te, -ti		ti
	third person	m	el	le, -li	uLV, oM	el
		f	ela		a	ela
plural	first person	common	nos	musL nusLV nos, -nusM		nos
		m	noshotrusM			noshotrusM
		f	noshotrasM			noshotrasM
	second person	common	vos	vusLV vos, -vusM		vos
		m	voshotrusM			voshotrusM
		f	voshotrasM			voshotrasM
	third person	m	elis	le, -li	usLV, osM	elis
		f	elas		as	elas
third person reflexive			—	se, -si		sí

Dialects:  ^L Lagarteiru   ^M Mañegu   ^V Valverdeñu

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[1], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 258

Faroese

Verb

sí

1. imperative of síggja: behold

Ghomala'

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -i

Adverb

sí

1. on the ground

   (Can we add an example for this sense? )

Particle

sí

1. Marker of the Progressive aspect (with a focus on presence).

   Synonyms: bó, wə́

   Gaə̌ sí fá' ― I am working.

Adjective

sí (lexical tone unattested)

1. positive (for a test)

   Antonym: tə̌ sí pə́

   (please add the primary text of this usage example) ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Adverb

sí

1. to sting

   Synonym: jɛ́

   Féŋ sí. ― The wound stings.

Derived terms

• shyə tə̂msǐ

See also

• cwəcwə
• cwəcwə símnə́
• símnə́

References

• Erika Eichholzer (editor) et al, Dictionnaire ghomala’ (2002)
• K'ayyang Foba Maï, Processus de grammaticalisation en Ghomala’ (2021)
• Fezeu Molaping Franck Jordan (2019), The Skopos theory applied to subtitling of audiovisual programmes on the fight against HIV/AIDS and Malaria from French into Ghomala’

Hokkien

For pronunciation and definitions of sí – see 死 (“die; death; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 死).

For pronunciation and definitions of sí – see 始 (“beginning; start; to begin; to start; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 始).

For pronunciation and definitions of sí – see 豕 (“pig; boar”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 豕).

For pronunciation and definitions of sí – see 矢 (“arrow; to vow; to swear; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 矢).

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃiː]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʃiː

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Schi (“ski”), originally from Norwegian ski (“ski”).

Noun

sí (plural sík)

1. ski

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	sí	sík
accusative	sít	síket
dative	sínek	síknek
instrumental	sível	síkkel
causal-final	síért	síkért
translative	sívé	síkké
terminative	síig	síkig
essive-formal	síként	síkként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	síben	síkben
superessive	sín	síken
adessive	sínél	síknél
illative	síbe	síkbe
sublative	síre	síkre
allative	síhez	síkhez
elative	síből	síkből
delative	síről	síkről
ablative	sítől	síktől
non-attributive possessive – singular	síé	síké
non-attributive possessive – plural	síéi	síkéi

Possessive forms of sí

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	sím	síjeim (or síim)
2nd person sing.	síd	síjeid (or síid)
3rd person sing.	síje	síjei (or síi)
1st person plural	sínk	síjeink (or síink)
2nd person plural	sítek	síjeitek (or síitek)
3rd person plural	síjük	síjeik (or síik)

Derived terms

• síel
• sízik

Compound words

• síbajnok
• síbakancs
• sícipő
• síléc
• sílift
• síoktató
• sípálya

Etymology 2

An onomatopoeia (sound imitation).

Verb

sí

2. (archaic) to howl, cry, whiz, shriek, screech, shrill

   Synonyms: sivít, visít, sikít, vijjog, rikolt, sikolt, süvít

Conjugation

Conjugation of sí

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
indica­tive	indica­tive	pre­sent	indef.	sívok	sísz	sí	sívunk	sítok	sínak
			def.	sívom	sívod	síja	síjuk	síjátok	síják
			2nd obj	sílak
		past	indef.	síttam	síttál	sítt	síttunk	síttatok	síttak
			def.	síttam	síttad	sítta	síttuk	síttátok	sítták
			2nd obj	síttalak
		future		Future is expressed with a present-tense verb with a completion-marking prefix and/or a time adverb, or—more explicitly—with the infinitive plus the conjugated auxiliary verb fog, e.g. síni fog.
archaic preterite		indef.	sívék	sívál	síva	sívánk	sívátok	sívának
		def.	sívám	sívád	sívá	sívánk	sívátok	sívák
		2nd obj	síválak
archaic past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala (volt), e.g. sí vala, sítt vala/volt.
archaic future	indef.	sívandok	sívandasz	sívand	sívandunk	sívandotok	sívandanak
	def.	sívandom	sívandod	sívandja	sívandjuk	sívandjátok	sívandják
	2nd obj	sívandalak
condi­tional	pre­sent	indef.	sínék	sínál	sína	sínánk	sínátok	sínának
		def.	sínám	sínád	síná	sínánk (or sínók)	sínátok	sínák
		2nd obj	sínálak
	past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. sítt volna
sub­junc­tive	sub­junc­tive	pre­sent	indef.	síjak	síj or síjál	síjon	síjunk	síjatok	síjanak
			def.	síjam	sídd or síjad	síja	síjuk	síjátok	síják
			2nd obj	síjalak
(archaic) past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. sítt légyen
infinitive	síni		sínom	sínod	sínia	sínunk	sínotok	síniuk
other forms	verbal noun		present part.	past part.	future part.	adverbial participle		causative
	sívás		sívó	sítt	sívandó	síva (síván)
The archaic passive conjugation had the same -(t)at/-(t)et suffix as the causative, followed by -ik in the 3rd-person singular (and the concomitant changes in conditional and subjunctive mostly in the 1st- and 3rd-person singular like with other traditional -ik verbs).

Potential conjugation of sí

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
indica­tive	indica­tive	pre­sent	indef.	síhatok	síhatsz	síhat	síhatunk	síhattok	síhatnak
			def.	síhatom	síhatod	síhatja	síhatjuk	síhatjátok	síhatják
			2nd obj	síhatlak
		past	indef.	síhattam	síhattál	síhatott	síhattunk	síhattatok	síhattak
			def.	síhattam	síhattad	síhatta	síhattuk	síhattátok	síhatták
			2nd obj	síhattalak
archaic preterite		indef.	síhaték	síhatál	síhata	síhatánk	síhatátok	síhatának
		def.	síhatám	síhatád	síhatá	síhatánk	síhatátok	síhaták
		2nd obj	síhatálak
archaic past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala (volt), e.g. síhat vala, síhatott vala/volt.
archaic future	indef.	síhatandok or sívandhatok	síhatandasz or sívandhatsz	síhatand or sívandhat	síhatandunk or sívandhatunk	síhatandotok or sívandhattok	síhatandanak or sívandhatnak
	def.	síhatandom or sívandhatom	síhatandod or sívandhatod	síhatandja or sívandhatja	síhatandjuk or sívandhatjuk	síhatandjátok or sívandhatjátok	síhatandják or sívandhatják
	2nd obj	síhatandalak or sívandhatlak
condi­tional	pre­sent	indef.	síhatnék	síhatnál	síhatna	síhatnánk	síhatnátok	síhatnának
		def.	síhatnám	síhatnád	síhatná	síhatnánk (or síhatnók)	síhatnátok	síhatnák
		2nd obj	síhatnálak
	past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. síhatott volna
sub­junc­tive	sub­junc­tive	pre­sent	indef.	síhassak	síhass or síhassál	síhasson	síhassunk	síhassatok	síhassanak
			def.	síhassam	síhasd or síhassad	síhassa	síhassuk	síhassátok	síhassák
			2nd obj	síhassalak
(archaic) past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. síhatott légyen
infinitive	(síhatni)		(síhatnom)	(síhatnod)	(síhatnia)	(síhatnunk)	(síhatnotok)	(síhatniuk)
other forms	positive adjective			negative adjective		adverbial participle
	síható			síhatatlan		(síhatva / síhatván)

Derived terms

• sikít
• sikolt
• sikoly
• silány
• sió
• sivatag
• sivár
• sivít
• síp
• süvít
• süvölt

Related terms

• sír

Further reading

• (ski): sí in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• (to howl, cry): sí in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse sí-, from Proto-Germanic *sin-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Adverb

sí

1. always

   Synonyms: alltaf, ávallt, sífelllt, æ, ætíð

Derived terms

• sí og æ (“always, permanently, continually”)

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃiː/
• Homophone: síth (“peace”)

Etymology 1

From Middle Irish side, from Old Irish síd, from Proto-Celtic *sīdos (“mound (inhabited by fairies); peace”), from Proto-Indo-European *sēds, from *sed- (“to sit”). Doublet of síth.

Alternative forms

• sidhe, síodh (superseded)

Noun

sí m (genitive singular sí, nominative plural síthe)

1. fairy mound, tumulus

Declension

Declension of sí (fourth declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative sí síthe vocative a shí a shíthe genitive sí síthe dative sí síthe forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an sí na síthe genitive an tsí na síthe dative leis an sí don sí leis na síthe

Derived terms

• aos sí (“fairies”)
• bean sí (“banshee, fairy woman”)
• ceol sí (“fairy music; enchanting music”)
• dumha sí (“fairy mound”)
• leannán sí (“phantom lover”)
• long sí (“phantom ship”)
• sián (“fairy mound”)
• síbhean (“fairy woman”)
• síbhruíon (“fairy palace”)
• síofrach (“elfin, fairy-like”)
• síofróg (“elf-woman, fairy”)
• síofróireacht (“fairy lore”)
• sióg (“fairy”)
• síothshluagh (“fairy host, fairy army”)
• síscéal (“fairy-tale”)
• síúil (“fairy-like, elfin; weird”)
• slua sí (“fairy host”)
• solas sí (“misguiding light”)

Etymology 2

From Old Irish sí, from Proto-Celtic *sī, from Proto-Indo-European *síh₂.

Pronoun

sí (emphatic form sise, conjunctive)

1. she
2. it (referring to a feminine noun)

See also

Irish personal pronouns

	person		conjunctive (emphatic)	disjunctive (emphatic)	possessive determiner
singular	first		mé (mise)		mo L m' before vowel sounds
	second		tú (tusa)1	thú (thusa)	do L d' before vowel sounds
	third	m	sé (seisean)	é (eisean)	a L
		f	sí (sise)	í (ise)	a H
		n	—	ea	—
plural	first		muid, sinn (muidne, muide), (sinne)		ár E
	second		sibh (sibhse)1		bhur E
	third		siad (siadsan)	iad (iadsan)	a E

^L Triggers lenition   ^E Triggers eclipsis   ^H Triggers h-prothesis

¹ Also used as the vocative

The reflexive is formed by adding féin to the relevant pronoun.
For instance, "myself" = mé féin, "yourselves" = sibh féin.

Mutation

Mutated forms of sí

radical	lenition	eclipsis
sí	shí after an, tsí	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “sí”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931), Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish Dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 65
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “sí”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 síd, síth (‘fairy mound’)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Lakota

Noun

sí

1. foot, paw

Nheengatu

Etymology

Inherited from Old Tupi sy, from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *t͡ʃɨ, from Proto-Tupian *tɨ. Displaced by manha, from Portuguese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: sí

Noun

sí (plural sí-itá)

1. (obsolete) mother (female parent)

   Synonym: manha

   Coordinate term: uba

Related terms

• amanasí
• arasí
• kurasí-sí
• siangawa
• simena
• sí-nungara

References

• Avila, Marcel Twardowsky (2021), “sí”, in Proposta de dicionário nheengatu-português [Nheengatu–Portuguese dictionary proposal] (in Portuguese), São Paulo: USP, →DOI, page 697

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʲiː/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *sī (compare Welsh hi), from Proto-Indo-European *síh₂.

Pronoun

sí

1. she

   Sí fri gábud condon·fóir.

   May she protect us against danger.

2. it (referring to a feminine noun)

   Is sí thol Dée.

   It is God's will.

Related terms

• sissi (emphatic)

Descendants

• Irish: sí
• Manx: ee
• Scottish Gaelic: i

Etymology 2

See síi.

Pronoun

sí

1. alternative spelling of síi

Pichinglis

Etymology

From English see.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sí/

Verb

sí

1. to see
2. to find

References

• Kofi Yakpo (2019), A grammar of Pichi (Studies in Diversity Linguistics; 23)‎^[2], Berlin: Language Science Press, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 574

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi/ [ˈsi]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: sí
• Homophone: si

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish sy, from Latin sīc (est).

Particle

sí

1. yes (commonly used to respond affirmatively to a question)

   Synonyms: claro, por supuesto, (colloquial, Mexico, Guatemala) simón, (colloquial) sip

   Antonyms: no, (colloquial, Mexico) nel

2. A syntactic marker for emphasis or to replace an earlier verb, allowing the speaker to avoid repeating the verb, both similar to English do

   Antonym: no

   "Les gusta el chocolate, ¿verdad?" "A mí sí, pero a él no."

   "You both like chocolate, right?" "I do, but he doesn't."

3. (Spain) hello (used to answer the telephone)

Usage notes

• As an emphasis or pro-verb, this term has in Spanish a usage that is not usually explicitly translated into English, since it could sound like a pleonasm, being that "positively", "affirmatively", and always related to a negation (explicit or not):
  • Él sí puede, yo no

    He (positively) can, I cannot.

  • Esto sí es una fiesta.

    This sure is a party. / This is what I call a party.

  • No sabemos si es sostenible, pero lo que sí sabemos es que funciona muy bien.

    We don't know if it's sustainable, but what we do know is that it works very well.

Derived terms

• porque sí
• sí o sí
• sí y no

Noun

sí m (plural síes or sís)

1. yes; aye, ay; approbation, acceptance

   Ganaron los síes.

   The ayes have it.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin sibi, from Proto-Indo-European *sébʰye, dative of *swé (“self”). Cognate with French soi, Italian sé, and Portuguese si.

Pronoun

sí

1. himself, herself, itself, themselves, yourself, yourselves (form of se used after prepositions)

   para sí ― for himself/herself/itself/themselves/yourself/yourselves

Derived terms

• cosa en sí
• de por sí
• entre sí
• por sí
• por sí y ante sí
• sí mismo

See also

Spanish personal pronouns

				Nominative	Disjunctive	Dative	Accusative	Comitative
First-person	Singular			yo	mí	me		conmigo
	Plural	Masculine1		nosotros		nos		—
		Feminine		nosotras
Second-person	Singular	Tuteo		tú	ti	te		contigo
		Voseo		vos	—
		Formal2	Masculine1	usted		le, se3	lo
			Feminine				la
	Plural	Familiar4	Masculine1	vosotros		os
			Feminine	vosotras
		Formal/general2	Masculine1	ustedes		les, se3	los
			Feminine				las
Third-person	Singular	Masculine1		él		le, se3	lo
		Feminine		ella			la
		Neuter		ello5			lo
	Plural	Masculine1		ellos		les, se3	los
		Feminine		ellas			las
	Reflexive			—	sí	se		consigo

1. Like other masculine words, masculine pronouns can be used when the gender of the subject is unknown or when the subject is plural and of mixed gender.
2. Treated as if it were third person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity.
3. If le or les precedes lo, la, los, or las in a clause, it is replaced with se (e.g. se lo dije instead of *le lo dije).
4. Used primarily in Spain.
5. Used only in rare circumstances.

See also

• si

Further reading

• “sí”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024