How to say “any” in 49 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 Albanian, where më is the 8th most used word.
- Afrikaans geen no, not a, not an, not any #92
- Albanian më more, some more, any more #8
- Arabic قرية any populated area or the community thereof #1,633
- Armenian որևէ #662
- Basque edozein #308
- Bengali কোনো #129
- Bosnian ikada ever, at any time #484
- Bulgarian все every, any #104
- Catalan ja already, any more #45
- Chinese 任何 any; all #52
- Croatian ikada ever, at any time #467
- Czech každopádně in any case, in any event, either way #1,411
- Danish enhver any, every, each #824
- Dutch geen no, not a, not an, not any #42
- English no Not any #27
- Esperanto moŝto translates any noble style, either alone or… #300
- Estonian iga #195
- Finnish mitään anything, any; nothing, no #45
- French aucun no, none, not any #324
- Galician calquera any; whichever; whatever #222
- Georgian რაიმე any, anything #357
- German keine no; not a; not one; not any #71
- Greek ποτέ ever; at any time #82
- Hebrew עוד still, longer, more; no longer, no more, any… #73
- Hindi कोई some, certain, any #47
- Hungarian jobb construed with szeretne in any person and… #140
- Indonesian lagi again, anew, anymore; any longer #47
- Italian più anymore, any longer #78
- Korean 것 thing; something; that which; what; used to… #27
- Latvian vairs any more, anymore #113
- Macedonian никој no, not any #128
- Malay daging Any sort of flesh #686
- Malayalam വിരൽ digit, any of the narrow appendages of the… #1,181
- Norwegian noensinne ever, at any time #777
- Persian زنا zina, any kind of premarital or extramarital… #2,114
- Polish kiedykolwiek at any time, whenever, ever #690
- Portuguese alguma some, any #129
- Romanian orice #188
- Russian больше any more #87
- Serbian ikada ever, at any time #480
- Slovak akýkoľvek #1,448
- Spanish alguna some, any #233
- Swedish något any, some, anything, something #108
- Tamil சும்மா leisurely, without any occupation or work,… #564
- Telugu బంతి a ball of any kind #409
- Turkish yılan snake, any legless reptile of the suborder… #1,848
- Ukrainian любий any, either, whichever one wants #787
- Urdu کوئی #32
- Vietnamese em pronoun used to refer to any person described… #24
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.