How to say “alone” in 43 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 Italian, where solo is the 39th most used word.
- Albanian vetëm #47
- Arabic وحيد #995
- Armenian մենակ #469
- Basque soil alone, empty #1,069
- Bengali একাকী #1,034
- Bosnian nasamo in private, alone, face-to-face #1,583
- Bulgarian сам alone, by oneself #189
- Catalan sola #520
- Chinese 一人 by one person; alone #715
- Croatian nasamo in private, alone, face-to-face #1,605
- Czech sami alone, by oneself #827
- Esperanto sola lone, alone, only, sole #205
- Estonian üksinda alone, by oneself #821
- Finnish yksin alone, by oneself #293
- Galician soa #410
- Georgian მარტო #167
- German allein #312
- Greek μόνος solitary, alone #274
- Hebrew לבד Alone, apart, not together, on one's own #274
- Hindi अकेले alone, by oneself #481
- Hungarian egyedül alone, by oneself, on one's own #231
- Icelandic eitt #132
- Indonesian sendirian #427
- Italian solo only, just, but, alone, merely #39
- Korean 오직 only, solely, alone, exclusively, but #517
- Lithuanian vieni one, only, sole, alone, single #592
- Macedonian сам alone, by oneself #237
- Malayalam ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക് #300
- Norwegian alene #286
- Persian تنها #87
- Polish sam alone, by oneself, without company #141
- Portuguese sozinho alone; by oneself; on one's own #540
- Russian оставить to leave, to leave alone #763
- Serbian nasamo in private, alone, face-to-face #1,551
- Slovenian sam alone, sole #112
- Spanish solamente only, alone, merely #1,456
- Swedish ensam #355
- Tagalog hayaan to be left alone #235
- Telugu ఒంటరి alone, single #1,573
- Turkish bırak let alone #204
- Ukrainian наодинці alone, privately, tête-à-tête #2,170
- Urdu اکیلے alone, by oneself #361
- Vietnamese kệ to leave alone; to let be #1,317
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.