yes

See also: þes

English

Etymology

From Middle English yes, yis, from Old English ġēse, ġīse, ġȳse, *ġīese (“yes, of course, so be it”), equivalent to ġēa (“yes", "so”) + sī(e) (“may it be”), from Proto-Indo-European *yē (“already”). Compare yea.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛs/

• UK

  (file)

• US

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Particle

yes

1. A word used to show agreement or acceptance.

   Yes, you are correct.

   Yes, you may go play outside now.

   Yes, sir, we have your package right here.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Hi, Jonathan. Are you busy? — Yes, I’m busy.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. A word used to indicate disagreement or dissent in reply to a negative statement.

   It was not my fault we lost the race.
   Oh, yes, it was!

Usage notes

• In Old and Middle English, yes was a more forceful affirmative than yea.
• An example of yes used to disagree with a statement: the questions "You don’t want it, do you?" and "Don’t you want it?" are answered by "yes" if the respondent does want the item, and "no" if not. Many languages use a specific word for this purpose; see translation table below.

Synonyms

• Dialect or archaic forms: arr, ay, aye, yea, yassuh
• Nautical, military, telecommunications: affirmative
• Colloquial or slang forms: ya, yah, yeah, yeh, yep, yeppers, yup, yuppers, yus, ahuh, mhm, uh huh.
• See also: Thesaurus:yes

Antonyms

• Standard form: no
• Nautical, military, telecommunications: negative
• Dialect or archaic forms: nay
• Colloquial or slang forms: ixnay, nah, naw, nope
• See also: Thesaurus:no

Coordinate terms

• (expression of agreement or acceptance): nod

Derived terms

• yes man, yesman
• yes and amen
• yes and no
• yes-no question
• yessuh

 

Translations

word used to indicate agreement or acceptance

• Abkhaz: ааи (āāi), аиеи (āiei)
• Afrikaans: ja (af)
• Albanian: po (sq)
• Aleut: aang
• Alutiiq: aa'a
• American Sign Language: S@Side Nod
• Apache:

  Western Apache: au

• Arabic: نَعَم‎ (ar) (naʿam), أَجَل‎ (ar) (ʾajal), إِي‎ (ʾī)

  Cypriot Arabic: ye‎

  Egyptian Arabic: أَيْوَة‎ (áywa), ايوه‎ (áywa), اه‎ (ā)

  Hijazi Arabic: إيوه‎ (īwa)

• Aragonese: sí
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אין‎ (’ēn)

  Syriac: ܐܝܢ‎ (’ēn)

• Armenian: այո (hy) (ayo) (polite), հա (hy) (ha) (informal)
• Aromanian: ie
• Assamese: অ (o), হয় (hoy) (formal)
• Asturian: sí (ast)
• Aymara: jisa (ay)
• Azerbaijani: bəli (az), hə (az)
• Bashkir: эйе (eye)
• Basque: bai (eu)
• Bavarian: jo
• Belarusian: так (tak), да (da)
• Bengali: জি (ji) (formal), হ্যাঁ (hjã) (informal)
• Breton: ya (br)
• Bulgarian: да (bg) (da)
• Burmese: ဟုတ်ကဲ့ (my) (hutkai.), အင်း (my) (ang:), အေး (my) (e:) (among equals or to people of lower status)
• Catalan: sí (ca)
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵢⴰⵀ (yah)
• Central Sierra Miwok: guˀuh m pl
• Chamicuro: eje
• Chechen: хӏаъ (haʾ)
• Cherokee: ᎥᎥ (vv)
• Chichewa: inde
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 係 (yue) (hai⁶), 唔 (yue) (m⁴), 嗯 (ng²)

  Mandarin: 是 (zh) (shì), 對 (zh), 对 (zh) (duì), 啊 (zh) (à) (colloquial), (repeating the verb/attribute used in the question to mean "yes" 你知道吗？ 知道)

• Choctaw: ome
• Comanche: haa
• Coptic: ⲁϩⲁ (aha), ⲥⲉ (se)
• Corsican: iè, sì
• Czech: ano (cs), jo (cs) (colloquial)
• Danish: ja (da)
• Dutch: ja (nl)
• Egyptian: (tjw)
• Esperanto: jes (eo)
• Estonian: jah (et), jaa (et)
• Faroese: ja (fo)
• Fijian: io (fj)
• Finnish: use the verb, kyllä (fi) (literary), joo (fi) (colloquial), juu (fi) (colloquial)
• Franco-Provençal: ouè
• French: oui (fr)
• Friulian: sì
• Galician: si (gl)
• Georgian: დიახ (diax), კი (ḳi), ჰო (ho), ხო (xo)
• German: ja (de)
• Greek: ναι (el) (nai)

  Ancient: ναί (naí)

• Greenlandic: aap
• Gujarati: હા (hā)
• Hebrew: כֵּן‎ (he) (ken)
• Hiligaynon: hu-o
• Hindi: हाँ (hi) (hā̃), जी (hi) (jī), जी हाँ (jī hā̃)
• Hungarian: igen (hu)
• Icelandic: já (is)
• Ido: yes (io)
• Indonesian: ya (id)
• Interlingua: si (ia)
• Interlingue: yes
• Irish: (not used, affirmative form of the verb is used instead)
• Italian: sì (it)
• Japanese: はい (ja) (hai) (polite), ええ (ja) (ē), うん (ja) (un) (informal)
• Kabyle: ih
• Kannada: ಹೌದು (kn) (haudu)
• Kapampangan: wa
• Kazakh: иә (kk) (ïä)
• Khmer: (female speaker) ច៎ា (jaa), (male speaker) បាទ (km) (baat), (informal) អើ (km) (’aə), (very informal) អឺ (km) (’əɨ)
• Korean: 네 (ko) (ne), 예 (ko) (ye), 응 (ko) (eung) (informal)
• Kyrgyz: ооба (ky) (ooba), макул (ky) (makul)
• Lao: ແມ່ນ (mǣn), ແມ່ນແລ້ວ (mǣn lǣu), ໂດຍ (dōi)
• Latgalian: nui, tai
• Latin: etiam (la), ita (la) (est), ita vērō, vērō (la), sīc (est)
• Latvian: jā (lv)
• Laz: ho
• Limburgish: jao (li)
• Lithuanian: taip (lt)
• Lombard: si, haé
• Luganda: yee
• Luo: ee
• Luxembourgish: jo (lb)
• Macedonian: да (da)
• Malagasy: eny (mg)
• Malay: ya (ms), (informal) ha'ah
• Malayalam: ശരി (ml) (śari)

• Maltese: iva (mt)
• Mandinka: haa
• Manx: she
• Maori: āe
• Mingrelian: please add this translation if you can
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Miskito: au
• Mongolian: тийм (mn) (tijm)
• Motu: e, o, oi
• Nahuatl: quemah
• Navajo: aooʼ
• Neapolitan: eine, sine
• Nepali: सही (sahī), जी (ne) (jī), हाँ (hā̃)
• Nootka: haa
• North Frisian: jåå
• Northern Ohlone: hé̄'e
• Northern Sami: juo
• Norwegian: ja (no)
• Novial: yes
• Occitan: òc (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic: ⰵⰹ (ei)
• Old English: ġēa, ġēse
• Old French: oïl
• Old Saxon: ja
• Oriya: ହଁ (hôm̐)
• Ossetian: о (o)
• Palauan: chochoi
• Pashto: هو‎ (ps) (ho)
• Persian: بله‎ (fa) (bale), آره‎ (fa) (âre), آری‎ (fa) (âri)
• Polish: tak (pl), (informal) no (pl), ano (pl) (informal), juści (dialectal or outdated), jo (pl) (dialectal), ja (pl) (dialectal)
• Portuguese: sim (pt)
• Punjabi: ਹਾਂ (hā̃)
• Quechua: ari
• Rajasthani: हां (hā̃)
• Rapa Nui: eee
• Romanian: da (ro)
• Romansch: (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) gea, (Sursilvan) gie, (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) ea, (Puter, Vallader) schi, (Puter, Vallader) hei, (Vallader) hai
• Russian: да (ru) (da), так (ru) (tak), ага́ (ru) (ahá, agá) (colloquial)
• Samoan: ioe
• Sanskrit: एवं (sa) (evaṃ), आं (āṃ)
• Sardinian: eja
• Saterland Frisian: jee
• Scots: aye
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: да

  Roman: da (sh)

• Shor: эзе (eze)
• Sicilian: sè (scn)
• Sikkimese: please add this translation if you can
• Silesian: ja
• Sinhalese: ඔවු (ovu)
• Slovak: áno (sk), hej (colloquial), no (informal)
• Slovene: dà (sl), já (sl)
• Somali: haa (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: jo

• Southern Ohlone: gehe
• Southern Sierra Miwok: hy·ʔy·
• Spanish: sí (es)
• Svan: ა̄დუ (ādu), ა̄დვ (ādv)
• Swahili: ndiyo (sw)
• Swedish: ja (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠅꠄ (oe)
• Tagalog: oo (tl), (formal) opo (tl)
• Tajik: ҳа (tg) (ha), бале (tg) (bale), ори (ori)
• Tamil: ஆமாம் (ta) (āmām)
• Taos: hą
• Tatar: әйе (tt) (äye)
• Taíno: han
• Telugu: అవును (te) (avunu), ఔను (te) (aunu)
• Thai: ใช่ (th) (châi), ครับ (th) (kráp) (male speaker), ค่ะ (th) (kâ) (female speaker), ถูก (th) (tùuk), ถูกต้อง (tùuk-dtɔ̂ng) (formal), อืม (th) (ʉʉm) (informal)
• Tok Pisin: ya, yes, yesa
• Tongan: io
• Turkish: evet (tr), he (tr), ha (tr)
• Turkmen: hawa
• Ukrainian: так (uk) (tak)
• Urdu: ہاں‎ (hā̃), جی‎ (jī), جی ہاں‎ (jī hā̃)
• Uyghur: ھەئە‎ (he'e)
• Uzbek: ha (uz), boʻpti (uz)
• Vietnamese: vâng (vi) (Northern Vietnam), dạ (vi) (Southern Vietnam), có (vi) (in response to a question containing có), phải (vi) (in response to a question containing (có) phải), được (vi) (in response to a question containing được không), rồi (vi) (in response to a question containing chưa), ờ (vi) (informal), ừ (informal)
• Volapük: si (vo)
• Walloon: oyi (wa), awè (wa), åy (wa)
• West Frisian: ja (fy)
• Winnebago: hąąhąʼa
• Wiradhuri: ngawa
• Wolof: waaw (wo), waawaaw
• Xhosa: ewe
• Yagnobi: ҳа
• Yiddish: יאָ‎ (yo)
• Yoruba: bẹ́ẹ̀ ni, bẹ́ẹ̀ náà ni, hẹn (informal)
• Yup'ik: ii-i
• Zazaki: e
• Zulu: yebo (zu)
• ǃXóõ: ʻée, ʻíi, ʻē êh

word used to indicate disagreement or dissent in reply to a negative statement

• Arabic: بَلَى‎ (balā)
• Catalan: sí (ca)
• Danish: jo (da)
• Dutch: jawel (nl), toch (nl), (most common form) wel (nl)
• Estonian: ikka (et)
• Faroese: jú, júgv
• Fijian: ia (fj), io (fj)
• Finnish: verb + -pas, kylläpäs, joopas (colloquial), juupas (fi) (colloquial)
• French: si (fr)
• German: doch (de)
• Greek: ναι (el) (nai)
• Hebrew: דווקא כן‎ (dávka (dáfka, colloquial) kén)
• Hungarian: de igen
• Icelandic: jú (is)
• Italian: sì (it), invece sì

• Japanese: いいえ (ja) (īe)
• Korean: 아니요 (ko) (aniyo)
• Latin: immō (la), immō vērō
• Norwegian: jo (no)
• Pashto: هو‎ (ps) (ho)
• Persian: چرا‎ (fa) (čerâ)
• Polish: ależ tak, owszem (pl)
• Portuguese: sim (pt)
• Romansch: (Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader) bain, (Sursilvan) bein, (Sutsilvan) bagn, (Surmiran) gea bagn, (Puter, Vallader) bainschi, (Puter, Vallader) bainschi hei, (Vallader) bainschi hai
• Russian: ещё как (ješčó kak), наоборо́т (ru) (naoborót), напро́тив (ru) (naprótiv)
• Slovene: dà (sl), já (sl)
• Spanish: por el contrario, sí (es)
• Swedish: jo (sv)
• Vietnamese: có chứ (in response to a statement containing không có), được chứ (in response to a statement containing không được)
• Walloon: siya (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Alabama: ^{(please verify)} yamá, ^{(please verify)} yamma
• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} po (sq)
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} أَجَل‎ (ar) (ʾajal)
• Aymara: ^{(please verify)} jisa (ay)
• Bengali: ^{(please verify)} হ্যাঁ (hjã)
• Bikol Central: ^{(please verify)} oo
• Breton: (1) ^{(please verify)} ya (br), ^{(please verify)} eo (br), (2) ^{(please verify)} geo (br)
• Cebuano: ^{(please verify)} oo
• Chickasaw: ^{(please verify)} hohmi, ^{(please verify)} ah
• Garifuna: (used by males) ^{(please verify)} ayé, (used by females) ^{(please verify)} ayí
• Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} heẽ
• Hiligaynon: ^{(please verify)} huo
• Ilocano: ^{(please verify)} wen
• Inuktitut: ^{(please verify)} ᐄ (ii)

• Kapampangan: ^{(please verify)} wa
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} belê (ku), ^{(please verify)} erê (ku), ^{(please verify)} a (ku), ^{(please verify)} e (ku), ^{(please verify)} ئا‎ (ku) (a), ^{(please verify)} بەڵێ‎ (ku) (bellê)
• Maguindanao: ^{(please verify)} wai
• Malagasy: ^{(please verify)} eny (mg)
• Maléku Jaíka: ^{(please verify)} áo
• Maori: ^{(please verify)} ae, ^{(please verify)} āe
• Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} eja
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} да ^{(please verify)} da (sh)
• Sinhalese: ^{(please verify)} ඔවු (ovu)
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} ndiyo (sw), ^{(please verify)} sawa (sw)
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} oo (tl)
• Tausug: ^{(please verify)} huun
• Tupinambá: (said by men) ^{(please verify)} pá, (said by men and women) ^{(please verify)} e'ẽ
• Tz'utujil: ^{(please verify)} ken

Interjection

yes!

1. Used to express pleasure, joy, or great excitement.

   Our second goal of the match! Yes!

   Antonym: no

2. Response that confirms that the user is paying attention.

Translations

expression of pleasure, joy or great excitement — See also translations at yay

• Breton: ya (br)
• Dutch: ja (nl)
• Esperanto: jes (eo)
• Finnish: jes! (fi)
• French: oui (fr)
• Georgian: ურა (ura), ვაშა (vaša)
• German: ja (de)
• Gothic: 𐌾𐌰 (ja)
• Greek: ναι (el) n (nai)
• Hebrew: יש!‎ (he) (yesh!)
• Irish: sea (ga)
• Italian: sì (it)
• Japanese: よし (ja) (yoshi), やった (yatta)
• Latin: sīc, eu (la), euge, evax, iō

• Norwegian: yes (no) n
• Old English: gea
• Polish: tak (pl)
• Portuguese: sim! (pt), é! (pt), assim! (pt), isso! (pt), aí! (pt)
• Russian: да (ru) (da)!
• Scottish Gaelic: tha
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: to!

• Slovene: to! (sl)
• Spanish: sí (es)
• Swedish: ja (sv)
• Turkish: evet (tr)
• Welsh: ie'n
• Wiradhuri: yaala!, yalu

response that confirms attention

• Finnish: niin (fi)

• Vietnamese: vâng (vi) (Northern Vietnam), dạ (vi) (Southern Vietnam), ơi (vi) (informal)

Noun

yes (plural yeses or yesses)

1. An affirmative expression; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.

   Was that a yes?

   Synonyms: aye, yea, nod

   Antonyms: no, nay

2. A vote of support or in favor/favour of something.

   The workers voted on whether to strike, and there were thirty "yeses" and one "no".

   Synonyms: aye, yea

   Antonym: nay

Translations

answer that shows agreement or acceptance

• Arabic: نَعَم‎ (ar) f (naʿam), نَعَمَانِ‎ f du (naʿamāni), نَعَمَات‎ f pl (naʿamāt)
• Czech: ano (cs)
• Danish: ja (da)
• Finnish: kyllä (fi)
• French: oui (fr) m, si (fr) m
• Georgian: თანხმობა (tanxmoba)
• German: Ja (de) m or n
• Greek: ναι (el) n (nai)

• Italian: sì (it) m
• Portuguese: sim (pt) m, afirmativo (pt) m
• Russian: да (ru) m (da)
• Slovene: dà (sl) m
• Spanish: sí (es)
• Swedish: ja (sv)
• Yoruba: òòò, ẹyi (honorific)

vote of support

• Finnish: jaa (fi), kyllä (fi)
• French: oui (fr) m
• Georgian: კი (ḳi)
• German: Ja (de) n
• Greek: ναι (el) n (nai)

• Italian: sì (it) m, voto a favore m
• Portuguese: sim (pt) m, a favor (pt) m
• Spanish: sí (es) m, a favor m
• Swedish: ja (sv)

Verb

yes (third-person singular simple present yeses, present participle yessing, simple past and past participle yessed)

1. (colloquial, transitive) to agree with, affirm, approve.

   Did he yes the veto?

   • 1972 Oct, Barth, John, “Perseid”, in Harper's Magazine, page 79:

     "That's really what you wanted?" I yessed both; ...

   Synonyms: agree, consent, nod

2. (slang) to attempt to flatter someone by habitually agreeing

Derived terms

• yes man
• yes to death

 

Translations

to affirm

• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)
• Italian: approvare (it)

• Spanish: aceptar (es)
• Swedish: godkänna (sv), acceptera (sv)

attempt to flatter by agreeing

• Finnish: myönnellä (fi)

See also

• yee

Anagrams

• Sey., Sye, eys

---

Asturian

Verb

yes

1. second-person singular present indicative of ser

---

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English yes.

Interjection

yes

1. (colloquial) Expression of triumph, vehement approval, etc.

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English yes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: yes
• Rhymes: -ɛs

Interjection

yes

1. (colloquial) yay (exclamation of happiness or enthusiasm)

   Synonym: jee

---

French

Etymology

From English yes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛs/

Interjection

yes

1. (chiefly Quebec, colloquial) yes!

   Synonym: oui

---

Ido

Etymology

From Esperanto jes, from English yes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jes/

Adverb

yes

1. yes

   Antonym: no

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

yes (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of is (“ice”)

Etymology 2

Interjection

yes

1. Alternative form of yis (“yes”)

Etymology 3

Determiner

yes

1. (East Anglia) Alternative form of þes (“these”)

Etymology 4

Noun

yes

1. (Late Middle English) plural of ye (“eye”)

---

Novial

Particle

yes

1. yes

   Antonym: no

---

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɟ͡ʝes/

Noun

yes

1. plural of ye

---

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English yes.

Particle

yes

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

Interjection

yes

1. yes (used to express pleasure, joy, or great excitement)