How To Say “No” In Different Languages

The only way to say “no” is by saying no. Of course, sometimes it gets challenging to say no. But there’s just no other way around it. Think about it, you cannot say “yes” when you mean “no” because that doesn’t sound right at all. You also cannot say coconuts when you mean “no” because, again, that doesn’t sound right at all. Unless coconuts is your code word for “no” then that could work. Maybe?

Nevertheless, “no” means no. And it’s very important to say this two-letter word in English with conviction. If you say “no” in other languages, which is not impossible at all, say it with conviction as well. Because no matter how simple and short this word is, “no” is one of the most powerful words in the whole wide world.

• English: no (no)
• French: non (noh)
• German: nein (nine)
• Dutch: nee (ney)
• Korean: 아니요 (aniyo)
• Japanese: いいえ (i-ie)
• Tagalog: hindi (hin-di)
• Brazilian Portuguese: não (now)
• Hindi: नहीं (nahin)
• Turkish: hayır (hah-yuhr)
• Finnish: ei (ey)
• Italian: no (no)
• Spanish: no (no)
• Russian: нет (nyet)
• Vietnamese: không (kohng)
• Swedish: nej (ney)
• Ukrainian: ні (ni)
• Norwegian: nei (nay)
• Afrikaans: nee (nay)
• Basque: ez (ez)
• Catalan: no (no)
• Indonesian: tidak (tee-dahk)
• Polish: nie (nyeh)
• Greek: όχι (o-chi)