How to say “certain” in 41 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.
“certain” in Spanish: cierto · Italian: certa · Arabic: متأكد · Turkish: kesin
It is commonest in Indonesian, where pasti is the 133rd most used word.
Certain in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans sekere/ˈsɪəkərə/ some, certain #865
- Albanian duhet/ˈdu.het/ to do with certainty; indicates that the… #27
- Arabic متأكد/mutaʔakkid/ certain, sure #214
- Armenian ոմն/ˈvomən/ some, certain #1,673
- Bosnian siguran/sîɡuːran/ sure, certain #266
- Bulgarian сигурен[ˈsiɡorɛn] sure, certain, positive #237
- Chinese 某些/moʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵/ some; certain #611
- Croatian siguran/sîɡuːran/ sure, certain #272
- Czech jistý[ˈjɪstiː] certain, sure #478
- Danish banken/ˈbɑŋɡən/ only used in certain expressions #1,585
- Dutch nou/nɑu̯/ come on; modal particle indicating a certain… #103
- English some/sʌm/ A certain number #100
- Esperanto certas/ˈt͡sertas/ to be certain #303
- Estonian kindel/ˈkind̥el/ sure, certain #188
- Finnish varma/ˈʋɑrmɑ/ sure, certain #254
- French sûr/syʁ/ sure, certain #139
- Greek σίγουρος/ˈsiɣuɾos/ secure, certain #351
- Hebrew בטוח/baˈtu.aχ/ Confident, sure, certain #135
- Hindi कोई/koː.iː/ some, certain, any #47
- Hungarian bizonyos[ˈbizoɲoʃ] sure, certain #917
- Icelandic viss[ˈvɪs(ː)] certain, sure, positive #182
- Indonesian pasti/ˈpas.ti/ certain, sure #133
- Italian certa/ˈtʃɛrta/ certain, sure #1,217
- Korean 이래[iɾɛ] the time following a certain event, until now… #508
- Macedonian сигурен[ˈsiɡuɾɛn] sure, certain #205
- Malay tempat/təmpat/ A certain place #97
- Norwegian adam/ˈɑːdɑm/ Certain properties of a person, often derived… #1,513
- Persian را[ɹɒː] Follows certain nouns being used adverbially,… #64
- Polish pewno/ˈpɛv.nɔ/ absolutely, for certain, certainly,… #258
- Romanian sigură/ˈsiɡuˌɾə/ sure, certain to be true #551
- Russian кое-что[ˌko(j)ɪ ˈʂto] a certain something #301
- Serbian siguran/sîɡuːran/ sure, certain #273
- Slovak istý/ˈistiː/ certain, sure #193
- Slovenian včasih/ʋt͡ʃáːsix/ sometimes, on certain occasions #189
- Spanish cierto/ˈθjeɾto/ a certain, a specific #245
- Swedish vet/ˈveːt/ to know; to be certain about, to have… #36
- Tagalog sigurado/siɡuˈɾado/ sure; certain #276
- Turkish kesin/ceˈsin/ certain, definitive #443
- Ukrainian якийсь[jɐˈkɪi̯sʲ] some, a certain #555
- Urdu بعض/bɑːz/ some, certain, few, several #701
- Vietnamese mò[mɔ˨˩] certain herbaceous plants #1,430
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 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.