How to say “ask” in 52 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 Polish, where proszę is the 53rd most used word.
- Afrikaans vra #119
- Albanian pyes to ask, make a question #437
- Arabic تخبر to inquire, to ask #946
- Armenian հարցնել to ask; to inquire #949
- Basque eskatu to ask, request #157
- Bengali অনুরোধ to request, to ask for #606
- Bosnian zar used in tag questions, to ask for an… #72
- Bulgarian моля to ask, to request #90
- Catalan demanar to ask for; to request #461
- Chinese 要求 to ask; to request; to require; to demand; to… #170
- Croatian zar used in tag questions, to ask for an… #80
- Czech zeptat to ask #656
- Danish bad to ask, request #369
- Dutch vraag to ask #264
- English invited To ask for the presence or participation of… #1,558
- Esperanto petas to ask for, request, beg, bid #151
- Estonian palus to ask for, request #944
- Finnish pyydän to ask, request #391
- French demande to ask #314
- Galician pregunta to ask #536
- Georgian გთხოვთ please, I ask...; I'm begging you #238
- German frage to ask #352
- Greek ρωτήσω to ask #731
- Hebrew ביקש to ask for, request #932
- Hindi पूछना to ask, enquire #642
- Hungarian kérem to ask, to make a request #139
- Icelandic spyrja to ask #257
- Indonesian minta to ask, ask for, request #237
- Italian chiesto to ask #388
- Korean 부탁합니다 to request, to ask to do well, to ask to… #1,215
- Latvian jautā to ask question, to inquire, to question #1,282
- Lithuanian prašyti to ask #1,338
- Macedonian прашам to ask #433
- Malay tanya to ask #343
- Malayalam ചോദിക്കുക to ask #1,902
- Norwegian spør to ask, inquire #395
- Persian بپرسم to ask, inquire #572
- Polish proszę to ask for, to request #53
- Portuguese pedir to ask for; to request #492
- Romanian rog to ask politely, to say please #98
- Russian спросить to ask #735
- Serbian zar used in tag questions, to ask for an… #70
- Slovak pýtal to ask, to demand #775
- Slovenian vprašati to ask #434
- Spanish pregunta to ask #469
- Swedish be to ask for, request someone else to do… #392
- Tagalog tanungin to ask someone #615
- Telugu అడిగారు to ask #520
- Turkish sorun to ask, to ask about, to inquire #110
- Ukrainian запитати to ask, to inquire #1,157
- Urdu پوچھنا to ask, enquire #460
- Vietnamese xin to ask for; to beg for; to request #83
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.