How to say “both” in 36 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.
- ambos/ˈambos/ Spanish
- كلا/kilaː/ Arabic
- दोनों/d̪oː.nõː/ Hindi
- ორივე[o̞ɾive̞] Georgian
- উভয়/ubʱɔj/ Bengali
- ఇద్దరు/ˈiddaru/ Telugu
“both” in Spanish: ambos · German: beide · Portuguese: ambos · Arabic: كلا · Hindi: दोनों
It is commonest in Latvian, where gan is the 69th most used word.
Both in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kaptein/kɐpˈtɛɪn/ captain, both in the land and naval senses of… #426
- Arabic كلا/kilaː/ #71
- Bengali উভয়/ubʱɔj/ #1,229
- Bosnian oboje/ˈoboje/ #583
- Croatian oboje/ˈoboje/ #549
- Czech oba/oba/ #437
- Danish begge[ˈb̥ɛɡ̊ə] #312
- Dutch allebei/ˌɑləˈbɛi̯/ #601
- English history/ˈhɪs.tə.ɹi/ The aggregate of past events, both unrecorded… #790
- Esperanto ambaŭ/ˈambau̯/ #450
- Estonian mõlema/ˈmɤlemɑ/ both, the two #1,411
- Finnish molemmat/ˈmolemːɑt/ #594
- Galician ambos/ˈambos/ #1,234
- Georgian ორივე[o̞ɾive̞] #333
- German beide/ˈbaɪ̯də/ #315
- Hindi दोनों/d̪oː.nõː/ #264
- Hungarian mindketten[ˈmintkɛtːɛn] #614
- Icelandic bæði/ˈpaiːðɪ/ #1,636
- Indonesian keduanya/kəduˈaɲa/ both; both of them, they both #1,158
- Italian sia/ˈsi.a/ both ... and #83
- Korean 양[ja̠ŋ] two; both #315
- Latvian gan/ˈɡan/ both, and #69
- Lithuanian abu[ɐˈbʊ] #282
- Malay berdua/bərduə/ #265
- Norwegian begge/ˈbɛɡə/ #330
- Polish oboje/ɔˈbɔ.jɛ/ #912
- Portuguese ambos/ˈɐ̃.bus/ #698
- Romanian amândoi/ˌamɨnˈdoj/ #534
- Russian вот[vot] Used before; both before and after; or after… #53
- Serbian oboje/ˈoboje/ #594
- Slovak oba/ɔba/ #1,805
- Spanish ambos/ˈambos/ #719
- Swedish båda/ˈboːˌda/ both; either, each of two #365
- Tagalog ta/ta/ by both you and I; of both you and I #1,329
- Telugu ఇద్దరు/ˈiddaru/ each of the two; one and the other; both #770
- Ukrainian оба[ɔˈba] #746
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.