yes

See also: þes

English

Etymology

From Middle English yes, from Old English ġīese (“by all means, of course, yes”), derived from the same root as yea.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛs/

• UK

  (file)

• US

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Particle

yes

1. 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. 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!

3. (humorous) Answer to a question presuming one answer when all answers are correct.

   Do you like cake, or pie?
   Yes.

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

• say yes
• very yes
• yes and
• yes and amen
• yes and no
• yes-brainer
• yes-huh
• yes-man
• yesman, yes man
• yes-no
• yes-no question
• yessuh
• yessum
• yes way
• yes woman

 

Translations

word used to indicate agreement or acceptance

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

  Western Apache: au, haʼah

• Arabic: نَعَم (ar) (naʕam), أَجَل (ar) (ʔajal), إِي (ar) (ʔī)

  Algerian Arabic: ايه, هيه, واه

  Cypriot Arabic: ye

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

  Hijazi Arabic: إيوه (īwa), نَعَم (naʕam) (in respond to call)

  Iraqi Arabic: إي (ī)

  North Levantine Arabic: اِيه (ē)

  South Levantine Arabic: آه (ʔā)

• Aragonese: sí
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אין (’ēn)

  Syriac: ܐܝܢ (’ēn)

• Armenian: այո (hy) (ayo) (polite), հա (hy) (ha) (informal)
• Aromanian: ie
• Assamese: অঁ (õ), হয় (hoy) (formal)
• Asturian: sí (ast)
• Aymara: jisa (ay)
• Azerbaijani: bəli (az), hə (az)
• Bashkir: эйе (eye)
• Basque: bai (eu)
• Belarusian: так (tak), да (da)
• Bengali: জি (ji) (formal), হ্যাঁ (bn) (hễ) (informal)
• Bikol Central: iyo (bcl)
• 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)
• Burushaski: awá
• Carpathian Rusyn: айно (ajno), так (tak), йо (jo)
• Catalan: sí (ca)
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵢⴰⵀ (yah)
• Central Sierra Miwok: guˀuh m pl
• Chamicuro: eje
• Chechen: хӏаъ (haʔ)
• Cherokee: ᎥᎥ (vv)
• Chichewa: inde
• Chickasaw: i̠i
• Chinese:

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

  Mandarin: 是 (zh) (shì), 對／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: (echo answer - use the verb), kyllä (fi) (literary), joo (fi) (colloquial), juu (fi) (colloquial)
• Franco-Provençal: ouè
• French: oui (fr)
• Friulian: sì
• Galician: si (gl)
• Garo: hoe
• Georgian: დიახ (diax), კი (ḳi), ჰო (ho), ხო (xo)
• German: ja (de)

  Bavarian: jo

  Pennsylvania German: ja

• Greek: ναι (el) (nai)

  Ancient: ναί (naí)

• Greenlandic: aap
• Guaraní: heẽ
• Gujarati: હા (hā)
• Halkomelem: á:'a
• Hebrew: כֵּן (he) (ken), הֵן (he) (hen) (rare, formal)
• Hiligaynon: hoo
• Hindi: हाँ (hi) (hā̃), जी (hi) (jī) (polite), जी हाँ (jī hā̃) (polite)
• Hungarian: igen (hu)
• Icelandic: já (is)
• Ido: yes (io)
• Ilocano: wen
• Indonesian: ya (id)
• Interlingua: si (ia)
• 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)
• Jeju: ᄋᆞ (aw) (informal), 예 (ye) (polite)
• Kabyle: ih
• Kaingang: hÿ
• Kannada: ಹೌದು (kn) (haudu)
• Kapampangan: ua, ne, o, opu
• Kazakh: иә (kk) (iä)
• Khmer: (female speaker) ច៎ា (jaa), (male speaker) បាទ (km) (baat), (informal) អើ (km) (’aə), (very informal) អឺ (km) (’əɨ), ចាស (km) (caah) (female speaker), ចា៎ះ (caah) (female speaker)
• Konkani: व्है (vhai)
• Korean: 네 (ko) (ne), 예 (ko) (ye), 응 (ko) (eung) (informal), 어 (ko) (eo) (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, xo
• Limburgish: jao (li)
• Lithuanian: taip (lt)
• Lombard: si (lmo), haé
• Low German:

  German Low German: jo (nds), jo (nds)

• 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
• Middle Korean: 에ᇰ (eyng)
• Mingrelian: იახ (iax), ქო (ko)
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Miskito: au
• Mongolian: тийм (mn) (tiim)
• 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)
• Occitan: òc (oc)
• Odia: ହଁ (hỗ)
• Old Church Slavonic: ⰵⰹ (ei)
• Old English: ġēa, ġīese
• Old French: oïl
• Old Saxon: ja
• Old Tupi: pá
• Ossetian: о (o)
• Palauan: chochoi
• Pashto: هو (ps) (ho)
• Persian: بله (fa) (bale), آره (fa) (âre), آری (fa) (âri)
• Picard: oui
• Plautdietsch: jo (nds)
• Polish: tak (pl), (informal) no (pl), ano (pl) (informal), juści (dialectal or outdated), jo (pl) (dialectal), ja (pl) (dialectal)
• Portuguese: sim (pt)
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਹਾਂ (hā̃),

  Shahmukhi: ہاں (hāṉ), جِی (jī), ہاں جِی (hāṉ jī), جْیا (jyā), آہو (āho)

• Quechua: ari
• Rajasthani: हां (hā̃)
• Rapa Nui: eee
• Romani: va, ova, oja, ja, tam, tàmi

  Vlax Romani: ya (Kalderash)

• 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), आम् (sa) (ām)
• Sardinian: eja
• Saterland Frisian: jee
• Scots: aye
• Scottish Gaelic: (not used, affirmative form of the verb is used instead); seadh (much more limited than English usage; used as general acknowledgement of an utterance)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: да

  Roman: da (sh)

• Shor: эзе (eze)
• Sicilian: se, sì (scn)
• Sikkimese: please add this translation if you can
• Silesian: ja
• Sinhalese: ඔවු (owu)
• Slovak: áno (sk), hej (colloquial), no (sk) (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), (polite) opo (tl)
• Taíno: han, jan
• Tajik: ҳа (tg) (ha), бале (tg) (bale), ори (ori)
• Tamil: ஆம் (ta) (ām), ஆமாம் (ta) (āmām)
• Taos: hą
• Tatar: әйе (tt) (äye)
• 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 (th) (tùuk-dtɔ̂ng) (formal), อืม (th) (ʉʉm) (informal)
• Tok Pisin: ya, yes, yesa
• Tongan: io
• Turkish: evet (tr), he (tr), ha (tr)
• Turkmen: hawa
• Tuvan: ийе (iye)
• 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 (vi) (informal)
• Volapük: si (vo)
• Walloon: oyi (wa), awè (wa), åy (wa)
• Welsh: (not used, affirmative form of the verb is used instead); ie, ia (colloquial)
• West Frisian: ja (fy)
• Winnebago: hąąhąʼa
• Wiradjuri: ngawa
• Wolof: waaw (wo), waawaaw
• Xhosa: ewe
• Yagnobi: ҳа (ha)
• Yiddish: יאָ (yo)
• Yoruba: bẹ́ẹ̀ ni, bẹ́ẹ̀ náà ni, hẹn (informal)
• Yup'ik: ii-i
• Zazaki: e (diq)
• Zulu: yebo (zu)
• ǃXóõ: ʻée, ʻíi, ʻē êh

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

• Arabic: بَلَى (balā)
• Breton: geo (br)
• 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 (fi), joopas (fi) (colloquial), juupas (fi) (colloquial)
• French: si (fr)
• Georgian: კი (ḳi)
• German: doch (de), wohl (de)
• Greek: ναι (el) (nai)
• Hebrew: דווקא כן (dávka (dáfka, colloquial) kén)
• Hungarian: de igen, de (hu)
• Icelandic: jú (is)
• Italian: sì (it), invece sì
• Japanese: いいえ (ja) (īe)
• Kapampangan: alina, aliman, aliya, ua
• 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)
• Romanian: ba da
• 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)
• Sicilian: se, e mmeci se
• Slovene: dà (sl), já (sl)
• Spanish: 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. 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) (ʔajal)
• Aymara: ^{(please verify)} jisa (ay)
• Breton: (1) ^{(please verify)} ya (br), ^{(please verify)} eo (br), (2) ^{(please verify)} geo (br)
• Chickasaw: ^{(please verify)} hohmi, ^{(please verify)} ah
• Garifuna: (used by males) ^{(please verify)} ayé, (used by females) ^{(please verify)} ayí
• Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} heẽ
• Inuktitut: ^{(please verify)} ᐄ (ii)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} ئا (ckb) (a), ^{(please verify)} بەڵێ (bellê)

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} belê (ku), ^{(please verify)} erê (ku), ^{(please verify)} a (ku), ^{(please verify)} e (ku)

• 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 (owu)
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} ndiyo (sw), ^{(please verify)} sawa (sw)
• 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. An exclamation of pleasure or approval, usually transcribed with an exclamation point.

   Antonym: no

   Our second goal of the match! Yes!

2. Response that confirms that the user is paying attention.
3. (interrogative) Used to ask for more information with a request.

   I need some help.
   Yes?

Translations

expression of pleasure, joy or great excitement — see also 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)
• Kapampangan: ayua, ayuanaman
• 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
• Wiradjuri: yaala!, yalu

response that confirms attention

• Finnish: niin (fi)
• Japanese: はい (ja) (hai)
• Kapampangan: wa, o, opu
• Nepali: हजुर (hajura)
• Vietnamese: vâng (vi) (Northern Vietnam), dạ (vi) (Southern Vietnam)

response that asks for more information about a request

• 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.

   Synonyms: aye, yea, nod

   Antonyms: no, nay

   Was that a yes?

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

   Synonyms: aye, yea

   Antonym: nay

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

Translations

answer that shows agreement or acceptance

• Arabic: نَعَم (ar) f (naʕam), نَعَمَانِ f du (naʕamāni), نَعَمَات f pl (naʕamāt)
• Basque: baietz
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同意 (zh) (tóngyì)

• 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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同意票

• 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 or yesses, present participle yessing, simple past and past participle yessed)

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

   Synonyms: agree, consent, nod

   Did he yes the veto?

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

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

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

Derived terms

• yes to death

Translations

to affirm

• Dutch: beamen (nl)
• Esperanto: jesi
• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)
• German: bejahen (de)
• Italian: approvare (it)
• Spanish: aceptar (es)
• Swedish: godkänna (sv), acceptera (sv)

attempt to flatter by agreeing

• Finnish: myönnellä (fi)
• Russian: подда́кивать (ru) impf (poddákivatʹ), подда́кнуть (ru) pf (poddáknutʹ)

See also

• yee

Anagrams

• Sey., Sye, eys, sye

Asturian

Verb

yes

1. second-person singular present indicative of ser

Coatepec Nahuatl

Noun

yes

1. blood.

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

Borrowed from English yes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛs/

• Audio

  (file)

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”)

Spanish

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈʝes/ [ˈɟ͡ʝes]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʝes/ [ˈɟ͡ʝes]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈʃes/ [ˈʃes]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʒes/ [ˈʒes]

• Rhymes: -es
• Syllabification: yes

Noun

yes f pl

1. plural of ye

Tocharian B

Pronoun

yes

1. you (plural), you all

See also

• ñaś
• su
• tuwe
• wes

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)