On: Nepal's Kusunda language has no words for "yes" or "no"

[bobthepanda]

In fact, in cantonese to say no you would just add negation to ‘yes’.

hai/mh hai

‘Hai’ is basically used as yes but it’s actually the verb to be, so essentially yes is more like ‘{subject} is’.

[SeanLuke → bobthepanda]

Sure but it's not just haih. For example, if I were to ask you if you have any snakes, in english, you'd say "no". But in Cantonese you'd say "mouh" (effectively mh yauh: "don't have" or "without").

[bobthepanda → SeanLuke]

Oh okay, I think I get it now.

(It's weird to think about grammar sometimes in a language you just grow up with.)