— They’re staying here? They don’t want to come with us?
— No.
— Ok, we’ll go without them, then.
— I mean ‘no it’s not true, they want to come with you’

Sounds familiar? Ever been in a situation where you don’t know whether to reply yes or no because either reply will be unclear?

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Yes and no

In linal, there’s no such thing as yes or no like used in English and other languages.
Instead there are words that mean "what you just said is correct" or "incorrect".

— You didn’t want me to tell them?
— Incorrect.
— Oh cool, I thought I’d made a blunder.

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Negative form

"This is not green" is understood as "it is not true to say that this is green".
It is understood as [the absence of "this is green"], not as "this is the opposite of green" (what would that be?).

However, with "you must not do this", not works the other way around.
This time, the sentence is understood as [the opposite of "you must do this"], not as [the absence of "you must do this"] (aka "it is not true to say that you must do this").

Strange, isn’t it? Some "not"s mean [the absence of], other "not"s mean [the opposite of].

This is why linal has two negations: na (absence of) and ha (opposite of).
Mathematically speaking, na means ×0 and ha means ×−1.

These may also be affixed to adjectives, verbs, etc.

Example: beli (beautiful) / nabeli (something else than beautiful) / habeli (ugly)

Note that the existence of a thus constructed antonym doesn’t preclude the existence of another antonym in its own right (for example "ugli").

Examples

Na I like this = it’s not true to say that I like this (nor that I dislike it).

Ha I like this / I halike this = I dislike this.

This is navery good = I wouldn’t say very good. Quite good or some good I can agree with.

Na this is very good = It is not true that this is very good (the truth here may vary from very bad to quite good).

This is very hagood = this is very bad.

This is havery good = this is little good (the closest to what is understood with "this is not very good" in English).

Na I want you to do this = it’s not true to say that I want you to do this.

I hawant you to do this or
I want you to na do this = I refuse that you do this.

I haallow you do to this = I forbid that you do this.

They hahelped us = they made it harder for us / hindered/impeded us.

Hayou would love classical music = a person that would be the exact opposite of you would love classical music.