How to say “exist” 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.
- existe/eɡˈsiste/ Spanish
- 存在/t͡sʰu̯ən³⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- υπάρχει/iˈparçi/ Greek
- არსებობს[äɾse̞bo̞bs] Georgian
- بود[buːd̪̥] Persian
“exist” in Spanish: existe · French: existe · German: existiert · Italian: esiste · Chinese: 存在 · Greek: υπάρχει
It is commonest in Persian, where بود is the 14th most used word.
Exist in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bestaan/bəsˈtɑːn/ to exist #349
- Armenian եղել/jeˈʁel/ to be, to exist #110
- Basque egon/eɡon/ to be, exist #46
- Bosnian sam/ˈsɐm/ to be, to exist #8
- Catalan és[es] to be, to exist #8
- Chinese 存在/t͡sʰu̯ən³⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵¹/ to exist; to be; to be present #175
- Croatian sam/ˈsɐm/ to be, to exist #8
- Dutch was/ʋɑs/ to be, to exist #27
- English thing/θɪŋ/ That which is considered to exist as a… #137
- Esperanto ekzistas/ekˈzistas/ to exist #256
- French existe/ɛɡ.zist/ to exist #1,032
- Galician existe/eˈʃiste/ to exist #735
- Georgian არსებობს[äɾse̞bo̞bs] to exist #263
- German existiert/ˌɛksɪsˈtiːɾt/ to exist #2,263
- Greek υπάρχει/iˈparçi/ to exist, be, live #89
- Hebrew יש/jeʃ/ there is or are; there exist; see usage notes… #14
- Hungarian megvan[ˈmɛɡvɒn] to exist #306
- Indonesian ada/ˈʔä.dä/ to be present, to exist, be there #15
- Italian esiste/eˈzis.te/ to exist, to be #1,042
- Latvian būtu/ˈbuːtu/ to be, to exist #62
- Macedonian постои[ˈpɔstɔi] to exist #276
- Malayalam ഉണ്ട്/uɳɖɨ/ to be, exist, be present, be located #36
- Norwegian finnes/ˈfɪˌneːs/ to be, exist, occur, be found #460
- Persian بود[buːd̪̥] to exist #14
- Polish istnieje/isˈtɲɛ.jɛ/ to exist #942
- Portuguese há/ˈa/ there be; exist #51
- Romanian exista[eɡ.zisˈta] to exist #652
- Serbian sam/ˈsɐm/ to be, to exist #8
- Slovenian biti/bìːti/ to be, to exist #84
- Spanish existe/eɡˈsiste/ to exist #1,083
- Swedish finns/ˈfɪns/ to exist; to be #93
- Tagalog wala/waˈlaʔ/ nothing; to not exist; there is no #34
- Tamil உள்ளது/ʊɭːɐd̪ɯ/ to be, exist #19
- Telugu కలుగు/kaluɡu/ to live, exist #1,983
- Turkish olduğunu/oɫduːˈnu/ to become, come to exist, come into being #41
- Urdu ہیں/ɦɛ̃ː/ to be, to exist #9
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) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.