Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Say No in Indo-European Languages
• Part 2 of 4: Say No in Afrasian Languages
• Part 3 of 4: Say No in Sino-Tibetan Languages
• Part 4 of 4: Say No in Austro-Asian Languages
• Tips

In this article, you will learn how to say no in a variety of languages, broken down into language families, including the Indo-European languages ​​of America and Europe, Afrasian languages ​​like Arabic, Hebrew, Maltese and Swahili, Sino-Tibetan languages ​​like Mandarin and Burmese (Myanmar) ), and finally, Vietnamese, which is part of the Austro-Asian languages. You will learn to speak and pronounce no, yes and other common words and phrases in all languages. You will also learn a little about the history of each language and read inherent sayings or proverbs that contain the word negation, whether it is "no", "not" or "nothing."

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Say No in Indo-European Languages

1. 1 To say no in Afrikaans, say ne. "No" in Afrikaans is not pronounced the way it is written, and sounds like "ne-heyu". To say yes, say I. Your tone should be long and low, with an x ​​at the end - ya-hu. Afrikaans is one of the languages ​​of South Africa. It is derived from the Dutch language of the West Germanic group, which in the 17th century brought European settlers to the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. Afrikaans is derived from a mixture of Dutch and other languages, including Bantu, Khoisan, and English. Afrikaans is the native language of about 10 million people. It is mainly spoken in South Africa, but also in parts of Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland.
2. 2 To say no in Portuguese, say não. “Não” is pronounced “nau” with a nasalized “ay”. Yes in Portuguese is sim, which is pronounced si. Portuguese is a Romance language with Latin roots, spoken by about 220 million people worldwide, mainly in Portugal and Brazil, but also in countries such as Mozambique, Cape Verde, Angola Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe. Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language in the world.
   • The Portuguese proverb containing the word “no” is “Não há remédio para o amor, exceto amar ainda mais”, which means that “there is only one remedy for love - even greater love”.
3. 3 To say no in Ukrainian, say no. "Ni" is written as "Ni" in Ukrainian. “Yes” in Ukrainian is “so”. Ukrainian is the twenty-second most spoken language in the world, spoken by 36 to 45 million people. The Ukrainian language is official only in Ukraine.
   • An expression with the word "ni" in Ukrainian is "Without rozumu nі sokiruyu rubati, nі lyhak v'yazati", which means that the level of preparation for life depends on the intellectual development of a person.
4. 4 To say no in German, say nain. During pronunciation, the accent is on the sound "ah". "Yes" in German is "I". German is the tenth most spoken language in the world, with 101 million native speakers and 128 million second languages. The German language has an official status in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy (South Tyrol), Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Switzerland.
   • The phrase "no way" in German will sound like "Auf keinen Fall" (Auf keinen Fall).
   • "Niht" is the equivalent of the word "no" in Russian.
   • "Kein" is another word for "no" and can mean "not," "none," and "none." The word "niemals" (nimals) is translated from German as "never".
   • A proverb with negation in German: "Wenn der Reiter nichts taugt, ist das Pferd schuld". This literally translates as "a bad rider cannot have a good horse." The meaning of the proverb is that a person should be responsible for his own actions, and not blame other people or circumstances for his troubles.
5. 5 To say no in Hindi, say nahi. In Hindi, "no" is written as "नहीं". “No” is pronounced “nahi” with soft consonants. The stress is placed on the syllable "na" at the beginning of a word with a nasal "n"."Yes" in Hindi is pronounced "ha" and is written like "हाँ". Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world, as well as a native language of 370 million people and a second language of 120 million. Hindi has official status in Fiji and India.
   • To say no more politely, add ji to the beginning or end of nahi. The same goes for the word "yes", haa.
   • Despite the fact that the official language in India is Hindi, 22 more languages ​​and 720 dialects are spoken in the country.
   • The expression with the word "no" in Hindi is "जल में रहकर मगर से बैर ठीक नहीं", which says that "living in water, you should not be at enmity with a crocodile." This means that you should strive to maintain good relationships with the people you work or live with.
   • There are three stylistic varieties of Hindi: one is used in high court, journalism, literature, philosophy and religion; the other, the Persian version, is used in lower courts, films, and some genres of literature; and a third, anglicized version, in business management, college, science, and technical journals.
6. 6 To say “no” in Armenian, say “voch”. In Armenian, “no” is written as “ոչ” and reads like “voch”. “Yes” in Armenian is “ha”. "Che" and "ae" also mean "no" and "yes" in Armenian. An estimated 6.7 million people worldwide speak Armenian. 3.4 million of them live in Armenia, while the rest mostly live in Georgia and Russia. However, a small Armenian population is also present in Lebanon, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Iraq, France, the United States and Bulgaria.
   • Currently, the Armenian language is represented by Western Armenian (Arewmtahayerên) and Eastern Armenian (Arewelahayerên) variants. In addition to these, there are also many other dialects, although their number declined sharply after 1915, when the Armenian Genocide took place in Turkey.
   • The expression with the word “no” in Armenian is “Ոչ իմ հալը, ոչ քո հարսանիք գալը”, which reads like “Voch im hal, voch qo harsaniq gal” (Voch im khal voch kharsanik gala). This literally translates as "neither my position, nor your wedding." And this means that the speaker now does not care about other people's problems.
7. 7 To say no in French, say non.

Part 2 of 4: Say No in Afrasian Languages

1. 1 To say no in Hebrew, say lo. "O" should be low, and the accent in pronunciation is on the sound "l". "Yes" in Hebrew is written like "כן" and sounds like "ken". In ancient times, Hebrew was spoken in Palestine, but by the 3rd century it was beginning to be replaced by the Western Aramaic dialect. In the 9th century, spoken Hebrew completely fell out of use, with the only exceptions being liturgical practices and literature. Only from the beginning of the 20th century there has been a revival of Hebrew, which became the state language of the State of Israel, which declared its independence in 1948. Approximately 5 million people in the world speak Hebrew.
   • There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, which are written from right to left in the Semitic script.
   • The phrase “I have no idea” in Hebrew is transliterated as “ein li mu-sag” (ain li mu-sag) and is written as “אין לי מושג”.
   • An expression with the word "no" in Hebrew is "מרוב עצים לא רואים את היער", which translates as "merov etzim lo ro'im eth ha'ya'ar" (merov etzim lo ro'im es ha'ya'ar). Literally, this translates as “you cannot see the forest for the trees” and means that, obsessing over the little things and the secondary, you do not see the main thing and the situation as a whole.
2. 2 To say no in Arabic, say la. It is pronounced with a guttural bow - "la-a". Examples of pronunciation of the glottal stop can be the words "no-a", "mu-ar" and "one by one". To say “thank you but no” in Lebanese Arabic, say “la-a-shukran”. In Arabic, this phrase will look like "لا شكرا". "Yes" in Arabic is "naam" or "نعم" and is pronounced "naaam". The middle "a" is soft.Arabic is the language of the Qur'an, the religious language of all Muslims, and the most developed among the Semitic languages.
   • Arabic is spoken in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and parts of the Middle East. Arabic is the official language in many countries, including Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Yemen.
   • Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world, as well as a native language of 206 million people and a second language of 24 million.
   • To say “I have no idea” in Arabic, say “La adril” (La-a-adril). This phrase is spelled as "لاأدري".
   • An expression with the word "no" in Egyptian Arabic is transliterated as "la yuldaġ il-mo'men min goHr marratein" (la-a yuldag il-momen min go'r marratein). In Arabic, this phrase is written as "لا يلدغ المؤمن من جحر مرتين" and literally translates as "the believer will not be bitten twice from the same hole." Equivalent in Russian: “Burned out on deception - let the liar be ashamed; I got caught a second time - a fool shed tears ”.
3. 3 To say no in Maltese, say le. "Le" is pronounced the same way as it is written. "Yes" in Maltese is "willow" and pronounced like "willow". Maltese is close to Arabic, especially its Algerian and Tunisian dialects, and it is also the Semitic language spoken on the island of Malta. However, unlike Arabic, the Italian and Sicilian languages ​​have had a great influence on the Maltese language. Maltese is also distinguished by its writing system, which is based on the Latin alphabet. There are two dominant varieties of the Maltese language, divided between the educated upper and middle classes living near cities such as the capital, Valletta, and the industrial and agricultural classes with a dialect close to Arabic. About half a million people in the world speak Maltese.
   • The Maltese archipelago is located in the Mediterranean Sea between the northern coast of Africa and Sicily. In 870 A.D. Malta was first inhabited by the Arabs, who remained there until 1090, when they were invaded by the Europeans. Malta was ruled by various European nations: the Sicilians until 1530, the Italians until 1798, and finally the British until 1964, when Malta gained its independence.
   • The word "never" in Maltese is pronounced "at". "Nothing" is pronounced "shane" in Maltese. To say nobody, say had.
   • The expression with the word “no” in Maltese is “Hadd ma jiehu xejn mieghu” (had ma iehu shein mieghu), which means “you won't take anything with you to the next world”.
4. 4 To say no in Swahili, say hapana. During pronunciation, the emphasis is on the syllable "ap". Yes in Swahili is ndiyo. Swahili is one of the Bantu languages ​​and is spoken by approximately 10 million people. But more importantly, Swahili is used as a language of interethnic communication in East Africa, serving as a link between Africans who speak different dialects and the languages ​​spoken from Kenya to Tanzania, including also the African Great Lakes region.
   • Swahili originated from the mixing of Arabic and Bantu languages. Swahili began to take shape during the trade between Arab seafarers and Bantu-speaking tribes. Most of his vocabulary was borrowed from the Arabic language, while the grammar from the Bantu languages. The first Swahili manuscripts found were written in Arabic, but Swahili already uses the letters of the Latin alphabet.
   • To say no thanks in Swahili, say hapana asante.
   • The Swahili expression for “no” is “kuambizana kuko kusikilizana hapana” (kuambizana kuko kusikilizana hapana), which means that no one ever listens to advice.

Part 3 of 4: Say No in Sino-Tibetan Languages

1. 1 To say no in Mandarin Chinese, say bu4. "Not" is written like "不" and reads like "boo". "No" in Mandarin Chinese is written "不是" and reads "bu2shi4". The number "4" in pronunciation means a drop in tone and an abrupt end. The Chinese language has 5 tones that define the meaning of words. The tone determines the meaning of words as much as the difference between the words horse and mother. For example, depending on the pronunciation of the word “ma” in Chinese, it can mean “mother,” “hemp,” “horse,” “scold,” and it can also be a question word.
   • Chinese is the most widely spoken modern language both in China and around the world. Chinese is a native language of 873 million people and a second language of 178 million. It has official status in China and Singapore. People living north of the Yangtze River in China speak the Mandarin Chinese dialect, as do the other population of the country, whose total number is 2/3 of the total population.
   • Four different dialects of Chinese are mainly spoken in China, of which the dialect from the capital, Beijing stands out the most. The Beijing dialect is considered the standard form of the Chinese language, also called goyu.
   • To say “no, thank you,” you have to say “bu2ce4”, which is written as “不 谢”. The second tone means that when pronouncing bu2ce4, it is necessary to raise the intonation of the voice, as when asking a question. The number "4" means a drop in tone and an abrupt end. Informally, the phrase "not worth gratitude" in Chinese would sound like "bu2yun4ce4". And it is written like this - "不用 谢".
   • The expression with the word “no” in Mandarin Chinese is “不 作死 就 不会 死” or “bù zuō sǐ jiù bú huì sǐ” (bu zuo si jiu bu shui si). Literally, this translates as "you won't die without zuo" and means that if you do not commit stupid things, you can not be afraid of the consequences of these stupidities.
2. 2 To say no in Burmese (Myanmar), say ma ho boo. When using negation in Burmese, the following constructs should be used: ma + ___ + bu or ma + ___ + not. The first denotes the incompleteness of an action, as, for example, in the phrase "nei ma kaing bu", meaning "I did not touch." The construction "Nei ma kaing neh" denotes a prohibition on action and translates as "do not touch". "Yes" in Burmese would be "hmande". Burmese is spoken in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, located in the western part of Southeast Asia.
   • Never in Burmese is be daw hma. “No problem” in Burmese is “pyat tha nar ma hoat ba bu”.
   • The "rounding" of writing marks is caused by the proliferation of palm leaves and paper as new writing materials. The oldest example of Burmese writing dates back to the 11th century, written using Pali, the alphabet of India and Taiwan.
   • Like Chinese, Burmese is also tonal and has three tones: high, low, and raspy, and incoming and downward.

Part 4 of 4: Say No in Austro-Asian Languages

1. 1 To say no in Vietnamese, say hong. To say “no, thank you” in Vietnamese, you need to say “Da Không Cảm ơn”, which is pronounced “for’ hong kam on ”. To politely say "yes" in Vietnamese, say "da" (pronounced ka "for"). Another way to give an affirmative answer is with the word "vâng" (weng).
   • Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam. It is spoken by approximately 70 million people. With the exception of two rural dialects, Hue and Vinh, Vietnamese dialects do not differ as much from each other as, for example, dialects in different parts of the United States. Standard Vietnamese is taught in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Many Vietnamese words have been borrowed from China.
   • The expression with the word "no" in Vietnamese is "Điếc không sợ sung". It means that the one who does not know anything, and does not doubt anything.

Tips

• Practice saying no every day and / or try to supplement your own rejection style with foreign words.
• Find a site with audio examples of words, such as Dictionary.com or another language portal, to hear the correct pronunciation of words.