How to say “believe” in 44 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.
- creo/ˈkɾeo/ Spanish
- верить[ˈvʲerʲɪtʲ] Russian
- 相信/ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵ ɕin⁵¹/ Chinese
- πιστεύω/piˈste.vo/ Greek
- האמין/heʔeˈmin/ Hebrew
- მგონია[mɡo̞niä] Georgian
“believe” in Spanish: creo · French: crois · Italian: credo · Portuguese: acredito · Chinese: 相信 · Russian: верить · Turkish: inan · Greek: πιστεύω
It is commonest in Chinese, where 相信 is the 37th most used word.
Believe in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans glo/χlʊə/ to believe #156
- Albanian besoj/bɛˈsɔj/ to believe #167
- Arabic اعتقد/iʕ.ta.qa.da/ to believe in; to have faith in #153
- Bosnian vjerujem/ˈvjerʊjem/ to believe, have faith in #451
- Bulgarian вярвам[ˈvʲa̟rvɐm] to believe #397
- Catalan cuida[ˈkuj.ðə] to think, to believe #1,997
- Chinese 相信/ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵⁵ ɕin⁵¹/ to believe; to trust; to have faith #37
- Croatian vjerujem/ˈvjerʊjem/ to believe, have faith in #351
- Czech věřit[ˈvjɛr̝ɪt] to believe #550
- Danish tror/ˈtʁoɐ̯ˀ/ to believe #65
- Dutch geloof/ɣəˈloːf/ to believe, to hold a belief #302
- English expect/ɪkˈspɛkt/ To predict or believe that something will… #785
- Esperanto kredas/ˈkredas/ to believe #194
- Estonian arvan/ˈɑrvɑn/ to believe, to assume, to think #120
- Finnish usko/ˈusko/ to believe, have faith #228
- French crois/kʁwa/ to believe #145
- Galician creo/ˈkɾeo/ to believe #144
- Georgian მგონია[mɡo̞niä] to believe #398
- German glaube/ˈɡlaʊ̯bə/ to believe something #178
- Greek πιστεύω/piˈste.vo/ to believe #225
- Hebrew האמין/heʔeˈmin/ to believe #2,191
- Hungarian hiszem[ˈhisɛm] to believe #77
- Icelandic trúa[ˈtʰruːa] to believe #451
- Indonesian percaya/pərˈt͡ʃaja/ to believe, to have trust #161
- Italian credo/ˈkre.do/ to believe #134
- Latvian tici/ˈtit͡si/ to believe #591
- Lithuanian tikėti[tʲɪ¹ˈkʲeːtʲɪ] to believe, to trust #947
- Macedonian веруваш[ˈvɛɾuvaʃ] to believe, trust #387
- Malayalam വിശ്വസിക്കുക/ʋiʃʋɐsikkjuɡɐ/ to believe #1,474
- Norwegian tror/ˈtruːr/ to think, believe #67
- Polish wierzę/ˈvjɛ.ʐɛ/ to believe #508
- Portuguese acredito/ˌakredˈʒitu/ to believe #387
- Romanian cred/ˈkred/ to believe #56
- Russian верить[ˈvʲerʲɪtʲ] to believe, to trust #1,170
- Serbian vjerujem/ˈvjerʊjem/ to believe, have faith in #875
- Slovenian verjeti/ʋɛrjèːti/ to believe #238
- Spanish creo/ˈkɾeo/ to believe #79
- Swedish tror/truːr/ to believe, to think #69
- Tagalog maniwala/maniˈwalaʔ/ to believe; to trust #578
- Tamil நம்பு/nɐmbɯ/ to trust, believe #777
- Turkish inan/iˈnan/ to believe, have faith #1,614
- Ukrainian повірити[pɔˈʋʲirete] to believe #839
- Urdu ماننا/mɑːnnɑː/ to believe #1,687
- Vietnamese tin[tin˧˧] to believe; to trust; to have faith #104
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 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.