How to say “else” in 32 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.
It is commonest in Tamil, where அல்லது is the 56th most used word.
- Afrikaans ander another, another person, someone else #114
- Bengali অন্য other, something else #157
- Bulgarian друг other, another, else #177
- Catalan primer first; before anything else #215
- Chinese 其他 other; else #88
- Danish anden other, another, else #160
- Dutch eerst first, at first, before something else #292
- English first Before anything else; firstly #140
- Esperanto aliloke elsewhere, somewhere else; anywhere else #1,571
- Finnish muuten else, or else, otherwise #385
- French ailleurs elsewhere; somewhere else #748
- Georgian თორემ or else, otherwise #401
- German woanders elsewhere, somewhere else #1,898
- Greek αλλιώς otherwise; else; differently #420
- Hebrew ולא or else #209
- Hindi अन्यथा otherwise, or else #1,418
- Hungarian más someone else, something else #131
- Icelandic annars or else, otherwise #242
- Indonesian lain other, another, else #90
- Italian altro other, another, more, further, else #119
- Korean 혹은 or; or else #593
- Lithuanian toliau further; else #201
- Malay penutup lid; something used to close something else #1,534
- Persian وگرنه otherwise; or else; if not #527
- Portuguese senão else, otherwise; apart from, besides #1,246
- Romanian altceva something else #415
- Swedish andra other, else, other one #131
- Tagalog katumbas equivalent of something else; equal #1,849
- Tamil அல்லது or, if not, or else #56
- Telugu లేకుంటే or else, otherwise #1,786
- Turkish başkası someone, something, anyone or anything else #1,665
- Vietnamese hộ in place of someone else; in someone else's… #540
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.