How to say “afterwards” in 30 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Turkish, where sonra is the 44th most used word.
- Albanian pastaj afterwards, after that, then #146
- Armenian հետո then, afterwards #100
- Bosnian kasnije later on, afterwards #310
- Bulgarian после later, afterwards #197
- Croatian kasnije later on, afterwards #365
- Czech potom afterwards, subsequently #349
- Danish siden since, later, afterwards, in the time since… #152
- Esperanto poste afterwards, later #127
- Estonian pärast after, afterwards, following, later, past,… #76
- German danach after it, after that; thereafter, afterwards #675
- Greek μετά afterwards, later #105
- Hindi फिर then, afterwards; so #80
- Hungarian utána afterwards, after something #456
- Italian dunque then, afterwards #1,082
- Latvian pēc after, afterwards, later, later on #59
- Macedonian после afterwards, later #173
- Malay kemudian after; afterwards #187
- Malayalam പിന്നീട് later, afterwards; on a later time #187
- Norwegian etterpå after, afterwards #927
- Persian بعد then, after; afterwards #65
- Polish potem then, later, afterwards #201
- Romanian apoi subsequently, afterwards, next, then #168
- Russian потом afterwards, afterward, after that #158
- Serbian kasnije later on, afterwards #305
- Spanish después later, afterwards, afterward, post #160
- Swedish sedan then, after this, afterwards; next in order #269
- Tagalog pagkatapos after; afterwards #222
- Tamil பின்னர் after, afterwards, subsequently, later, later… #118
- Telugu తరువాత afterwards, next #113
- Turkish sonra later, after, afterwards, post- #44
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.