How to say “behind” in 47 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.
- atrás/aˈtɾas/ Spanish
- сзади[ˈzːadʲɪ] Russian
- خلف/xal.fa/ Arabic
- पीछे/piːt͡ʃʰeː/ Hindi
- πίσω/ˈpiso/ Greek
- מאחורי/me(ʔ)aχoˈʁ̞ej/ Hebrew
“behind” in Spanish: atrás · German: hinter · Portuguese: atrás · Russian: сзади · Arabic: خلف · Hindi: पीछे · Turkish: arkasında · Greek: πίσω
It is commonest in Slovenian, where za is the 12th most used word.
Behind in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans agter/ˈɐxtər/ #256
- Albanian pas/pas/ behind, beyond #103
- Arabic خلف/xal.fa/ #389
- Armenian հետև/heˈtev/ #684
- Basque atzean/at͡s̻ean/ #276
- Bengali পিছনে/pit͡ʃʰone/ #294
- Bosnian iza/iza/ #366
- Bulgarian зад[zat] #406
- Catalan darrere[dəˈre.ɾə] behind, at the back #488
- Chinese 留下/li̯oʊ̯³⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵¹/ to leave behind; to leave #165
- Croatian iza/iza/ #382
- Czech za[ˈza] #32
- Danish bag/baːˀɣ/ #398
- Dutch achter/ˈɑxtər/ #232
- English after/ˈæftəɹ/ Behind; later in time; following #161
- Esperanto malantaŭ/maˈlantau̯/ behind, at the back of #795
- Estonian taha/ˈtɑhɑ/ #127
- Finnish jätä/ˈjætæ/ to leave, leave behind #543
- French laisser/lɛ.se/ to leave, to leave behind #323
- Galician atrás/aˈtɾas/ behind, in back of #491
- German hinter/ˈhɪntər/ behind, after #419
- Greek πίσω/ˈpiso/ behind, back #110
- Hebrew מאחורי/me(ʔ)aχoˈʁ̞ej/ behind, in back of #523
- Hindi पीछे/piːt͡ʃʰeː/ #240
- Hungarian mögött[ˈmøɡøtː] #785
- Indonesian balik/ˈbaliʔ/ behind, rear, back-end #753
- Italian indietro/inˈdjɛ.tro/ back, behind, backwards #434
- Latvian aiz[àjs] #282
- Lithuanian paskui/pɐsˈkʊɪ/ following someone, behind #199
- Macedonian зад[zat] #380
- Malay belakang/bəˈlakaŋ/ behind; following #282
- Malayalam പുറകിൽ/purɐkil/ behind, in back of #844
- Norwegian bak/ˈbɑːk/ at the back, behind #335
- Persian دنبال[d̪om.bɒ́ːl̥] rear; behind #146
- Portuguese atrás/aˈtɾa(j)s/ #265
- Romanian după/ˈdupə/ #105
- Russian сзади[ˈzːadʲɪ] #2,140
- Serbian iza/iza/ #381
- Slovak opustiť/ɔpuscic/ to abandon, leave, leave behind #680
- Slovenian za/za/ #12
- Spanish atrás/aˈtɾas/ #474
- Swedish bakom/ˈbɑːkɔm/ #451
- Tagalog iwan/ˈʔiwan/ to be left behind #643
- Tamil பின்னால்/pɪnːɑːl/ #251
- Telugu వెనుక/ʋenuka/ behind, after, afterwards #164
- Turkish arkasında/aɾkasɯnˈda/ #960
- Vietnamese nấp[nəp̚˧˦] to hide oneself behind something #2,086
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.