How to say “ask” in 52 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.
- pregunta/pɾeˈɡunta/ Spanish
- спросить[sprɐˈsʲitʲ] Russian
- 要求/jɑʊ̯⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/ Chinese
- पूछना/puːt͡ʃʰ.nɑː/ Hindi
- ρωτήσω/ˈɾo.ti.so/ Greek
- հարցնել/hɑɾt͡sʰˈnel/ Armenian
“ask” in Spanish: pregunta · French: demande · German: frage · Italian: chiesto · Chinese: 要求 · Russian: спросить · Hindi: पूछना · Turkish: sorun
It is commonest in Bulgarian, where моля is the 90th most used word.
Ask in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vra/frɑː/ #119
- Albanian pyes/ˈpyes/ to ask, make a question #437
- Arabic تخبر/taxabbara/ to inquire, to ask #946
- Armenian հարցնել/hɑɾt͡sʰˈnel/ to ask; to inquire #949
- Basque eskatu/es̺katu/ to ask, request #157
- Bengali অনুরোধ/onuɾod̪ʱ/ to request, to ask for #606
- Bosnian zar/zâr/ used in tag questions, to ask for an… #72
- Bulgarian моля[ˈmɔlʲɐ] to ask, to request #90
- Catalan demanar[də.məˈna] to ask for; to request #461
- Chinese 要求/jɑʊ̯⁵⁵ t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/ to ask; to request; to require; to demand; to… #170
- Croatian zar/zâr/ used in tag questions, to ask for an… #80
- Czech zeptat[ˈzɛptat] to ask #656
- Danish bad[ˈb̥að] to ask, request #369
- Dutch vraag/vraːx/ to ask #264
- English invited/ɪnˈvaɪtɪd/ To ask for the presence or participation of… #1,558
- Esperanto petas/ˈpetas/ to ask for, request, beg, bid #151
- Estonian palus/ˈpɑlus/ to ask for, request #944
- Finnish pyydän/ˈpyːdæn/ to ask, request #391
- French demande/də.mɑ̃d/ to ask #314
- Galician pregunta/pɾeˈɡunta/ to ask #536
- Georgian გთხოვთ[ɡ̊tʰχo̞ftʰ] please, I ask...; I'm begging you #238
- German frage/ˈfʁaːɡə/ to ask #352
- Greek ρωτήσω/ˈɾo.ti.so/ to ask #731
- Hebrew ביקש/biˈkeʃ/ to ask for, request #932
- Hindi पूछना/puːt͡ʃʰ.nɑː/ to ask, enquire #642
- Hungarian kérem[ˈkeːrɛm] to ask, to make a request #139
- Icelandic spyrja[ˈspɪrja] to ask #257
- Indonesian minta/ˈminta/ to ask, ask for, request #237
- Italian chiesto/ˈkjɛs.to/ to ask #388
- Korean 부탁합니다[putʰakʰamnida] to request, to ask to do well, to ask to… #1,215
- Latvian jautā/ˈjautaː/ to ask question, to inquire, to question #1,282
- Lithuanian prašyti[prɐ¹ˈʃʲiːtʲɪ] to ask #1,338
- Macedonian прашам[ˈpraʃam] to ask #433
- Malay tanya/ˈtaɲə/ to ask #343
- Malayalam ചോദിക്കുക/t͡ʃoːd̪ikkjuɡɐ/ to ask #1,902
- Norwegian spør/ˈspøːr/ to ask, inquire #395
- Persian بپرسم/bepoɾsæm/ to ask, inquire #572
- Polish proszę/ˈprɔ.ʂɛ/ to ask for, to request #53
- Portuguese pedir/peˈd͡ʒi(ʁ)/ to ask for; to request #492
- Romanian rog[roɡ] to ask politely, to say please #98
- Russian спросить[sprɐˈsʲitʲ] to ask #735
- Serbian zar/zâr/ used in tag questions, to ask for an… #70
- Slovak pýtal/piːtal/ to ask, to demand #775
- Slovenian vprašati/ʋpràːʃati/ to ask #434
- Spanish pregunta/pɾeˈɡunta/ to ask #469
- Swedish be/ˈbeː/ to ask for, request someone else to do… #392
- Tagalog tanungin/tanuˈŋin/ to ask someone #615
- Telugu అడిగారు/ˈaɖiˌɡaːru/ to ask #520
- Turkish sorun/soˈɾun/ to ask, to ask about, to inquire #110
- Ukrainian запитати[zɐpeˈtate] to ask, to inquire #1,157
- Urdu پوچھنا/puːt͡ʃʰ.nɑː/ to ask, enquire #460
- Vietnamese xin[sin˧˧] to ask for; to beg for; to request #83
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.