How to say “answer” in 50 different 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.
- 대답[ˈtɛ(ː)da̠p̚] Korean
- जवाब/d͡ʒə.ʋɑːb/ Hindi
- απάντηση/aˈpandisi/ Greek
- תשובה/tʃuˈva/ Hebrew
- პასუხი[pʼäsuχi] Georgian
- պատասխան/pɑtɑsˈχɑn/ Armenian
“answer” in German: antwort · Italian: rispondere · Portuguese: resposta · Korean: 대답 · Hindi: जवाब · Greek: απάντηση
It is commonest in Tamil, where பதில் is the 190th most used word.
Answer in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans antwoord/ˈɐnt.vuə̯rt/ #317
- Albanian përgjigje/pəɾɟiɟɛ/ #763
- Arabic إجابة/ʔi.d͡ʒaː.ba/ reply, response, answer #1,551
- Armenian պատասխան/pɑtɑsˈχɑn/ answer, reply, response #392
- Bengali জবাব/d͡ʒɔbab/ answer; reply #722
- Bosnian odgovor/ôdɡoʋoːr/ #675
- Bulgarian отговор[ˈɔdɡovor] answer, reply #955
- Catalan resposta/rəsˈpɔstə/ answer, response #731
- Chinese 回答/xu̯eɪ̯³⁵ tä³⁵/ to reply; to answer; to respond #187
- Croatian odgovor/ôdɡoʋoːr/ #658
- Czech odpověď[ˈotpovjɛc] #881
- Danish svar/svɑːˀ/ to answer, reply, respond #575
- Dutch antwoord/ˈɑntʋoːrt/ to answer, reply #617
- English yes/jɛs/ Answer to a question presuming one answer… #77
- Esperanto respondu/resˈpondu/ to reply, answer, respond #796
- Estonian vastus/ˈvɑstus/ answer, response #908
- Finnish vastata/ˈʋɑstɑtɑˣ/ to answer, to reply; to respond #1,351
- French réponse/ʁe.pɔ̃s/ response, answer, reply #851
- Galician resposta/resˈposta/ answer, response #761
- Georgian პასუხი[pʼäsuχi] #645
- German antwort/ˈantvɔʁt/ #921
- Greek απάντηση/aˈpandisi/ answer, response #838
- Hebrew תשובה/tʃuˈva/ answer, response #1,052
- Hindi जवाब/d͡ʒə.ʋɑːb/ answer, reply, response #435
- Hungarian választ[ˈvaːlɒst] answer, reply #1,277
- Icelandic svara[ˈsvaːra] answer, reply #488
- Indonesian jawab/ˈd͡ʒawab/ to answer #479
- Italian rispondere/risˈpon.de.re/ to answer, to reply, to respond #1,193
- Korean 대답[ˈtɛ(ː)da̠p̚] answer; response #1,239
- Latvian atbildi/ˈatbilldi/ #752
- Lithuanian atsakymas[ɐt²ˈsɑːkʲiːmɐs] #761
- Macedonian одговори[ɔdˈɡɔvɔɾi] to answer, reply #618
- Malay jawab/ˈd͡ʒawab/ an answer or reply #588
- Malayalam ഉത്തരം/ut̪t̪ɐɾɐm/ #201
- Norwegian svar/ˈsvɑːr/ to reply, answer #586
- Persian جواب[d͡ʒæ.vɒ́ːb̥] answer, reply #191
- Polish odpowiedź/ɔtˈpɔ.vjɛt͡ɕ/ answer, response, reply #1,094
- Portuguese resposta/ʁesˈpɔs.tɐ/ answer, response #779
- Romanian răspunde/rəs.ˈpun.de/ to respond, reply, answer #853
- Russian решение[rʲɪˈʂɛnʲɪje] decision, solution, answer #723
- Serbian odgovor/ôdɡoʋoːr/ #667
- Slovak odpoveď/ɔtpɔvec/ #472
- Slovenian odgovor/ɔdɡɔ́ːʋɔr/ #367
- Spanish respuesta/resˈpwesta/ reply, response, answer #817
- Swedish nej/nɛj/ no; a negative answer #38
- Tamil பதில்/pɐd̪ɪl/ answer, reply #190
- Turkish cevap/dʒeˈvap/ response, reply, answer #364
- Ukrainian відповідь[ˈʋʲidpɔʋʲidʲ] answer, reply, response #866
- Urdu جواب/d͡ʒə.ʋɑːb/ answer, reply, response #241
- Vietnamese cãi[kaːj˦ˀ˥] to answer back; to talk back; to argue #1,187
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.