bai
/bai̯/
In Basque, 'yes' is bai.
bai is the standard and most commonly used word for 'yes' in Basque, acting as a particle to indicate agreement or acceptance. You may also encounter Ados, which specifically indicates acceptance or agreement. For a more emphatic way to express strong agreement or confirmation, you can use baietz.
Meaning: word used to indicate agreement or acceptance (particle)
Which one should you use?
The particle bai is used to express agreement, whereas the noun baietz refers to the concept of an affirmative answer or 'yes' itself. Additionally, the phrase bai horixe is an informal way to say 'yes, exactly'.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
baietz serves as the substantive form of the particle bai.
How do you pronounce it?
/bai̯/
Did you know?
- Basque is a language isolate, meaning the word bai has no proven linguistic relatives in any other language family in the world.
- The word bai can be repeated as bai, bai to express impatience or dismissal, similar to how an English speaker might say 'yeah, yeah' to signal they want the other person to stop talking.
- In Basque, the word bai is used as an emphatic particle to mean 'indeed' or 'actually' when contradicting a negative statement, even if the speaker is not technically saying 'yes' to a question.
Examples in context
- Bai.Yes.This example shows the use of bai as a simple affirmative.Tatoeba #4838238 by basaundi, translation #477086 by soweli_Elepanto
- Bai!Yes!This example shows the use of bai as an emphatic affirmative.Tatoeba #8937844 by basaundi, translation #1148358 by cntrational
Example conversation
Nerea asks Gaizka if he is hungry.
- NereaGoikizki, gosean zaude?Gaizka, are you hungry?
- GaizkaBai, oso gosean nago.Yes, I am very hungry.
- NereaZer nahi duzu jan?What do you want to eat?
- GaizkaPizza bat nahi dut.I want a pizza.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “yes” translations and entries bai, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
