With this lesson, we will learn how to say yes and no in Tahitian and also to say yes I do in Tahitian.
Yes and no in Tahitian – Yes I do in Tahitien
For this first part, let’s start directly with the translations of yes and no in Tahitian:
| English | Tahitian |
| Yes | Ê |
| Yes I do | ‘O ia |
| No | Aita |
Aita and eita
Watch out for aita writing. It’s written with an “a.” The word eita also exists with an “e”, we will see in a next lesson how to use it.
In both cases, aita and eita are pronounced eita. There is no phonic distinction between the two words, although in writing the two words are quite different.
A little complement of vocabulary
| Tahitian | English |
| ‘O ia mau | Indeed, exact, perfectly |
Examples
Here some examples to illustrate the new vocabulary words.
Example for yes and no
I propose a short dialogue to illustrate yes and no.
| Tahitian | English |
| Tē haere nei ‘oe i te haapiiraa ? | Are you going to school? |
| Ê | Yes |
| Aita | No |
Example for Yes I do
‘O ia which translates as Yes I do in English contradicts a denial posed by the enunciator.
| Tahitian | English |
| Aita ‘oe e haere nei i te haapiiraa ? | Aren’t you going to school? |
| ‘O ia | Yes I am |
And then what?
I just wanted to tell you that:
I’m very proud of you
You now know how to say yes and no, that’s great. This is a big step in learning Tahitian. And with ‘o ia, we have new lessons on denial in perspective to illustrate the cases where we can use ‘o ia.
Finally, with this lesson, we learned 6 words or vocabulary phrases. We now know how to say yes, no, yes I do.
See you soon for a next lesson. If you are curious about the negative form, here is the link : The negation in Tahitian – Eere, eita, aita.