How to say “explain” in 40 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.
- explicar/eɡspliˈkaɾ/ Spanish
- объяснить[ɐbjɪsˈnʲitʲ] Russian
- شرح/ʃaraħa/ Arabic
- 解釋/t͡ɕi̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ Chinese
- բացատրել/bɑt͡sʰɑtˈɾel/ Armenian
- বোঝানো/bo.d͡ʒʰa.no/ Bengali
“explain” in Spanish: explicar · French: expliquer · German: erklären · Italian: spiegare · Portuguese: explicar · Chinese: 解釋 · Russian: объяснить · Arabic: شرح
It is commonest in Basque, where azaldu is the 431st most used word.
Explain in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans verklaar/fərˈklɑːr/ to explain, to declare #688
- Albanian shpjegoj/ʃpjɛˈɡɔj/ to explain #1,157
- Arabic شرح/ʃaraħa/ to explain #2,201
- Armenian բացատրել/bɑt͡sʰɑtˈɾel/ to explain #969
- Basque azaldu/as̻aldu/ to explain #431
- Bengali বোঝানো/bo.d͡ʒʰa.no/ to explain #1,309
- Bosnian objasniti/objǎsniti/ to explain #1,124
- Catalan explicar[əks.pliˈka] to explain #635
- Chinese 解釋/t͡ɕi̯ɛ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ to explain; to elucidate #1,496
- Croatian objasniti/objǎsniti/ to explain #863
- Czech vysvětlit[ˈvɪsvjɛtlɪt] to explain #1,070
- Danish forklare/fɒˈklɑːˀɐ/ to explain #714
- Dutch uitleggen/ˈœy̯tˌlɛ.ɣə(n)/ to explain #1,074
- English details/ˈdiːteɪlz/ To explain in detail #1,806
- Esperanto klarigi/klaˈriɡi/ to explain #1,091
- Estonian selgitama/ˈselɡ̊itɑmɑ/ to explain, clear, clarify #2,012
- Finnish selittää/ˈselitːæːˣ/ to explain #849
- French expliquer/ɛks.pli.ke/ to explain #836
- Galician explicar/ekspliˈkaɾ/ to explain #1,505
- German erklären/ɛɐ̯ˈklɛːʁən/ to explain, to make clear #730
- Greek εξηγήσω/e.ksiˈʝi.so/ to clarify, explain, illustrate #1,033
- Hindi बताओ/bə.t̪ɑː.oː/ to tell, explain #227
- Indonesian menjelaskan/mənd͡ʒəˈlaskan/ to explain #780
- Italian spiegare/spjeˈɡa.re/ to explain, elucidate, expound, show,… #1,731
- Lithuanian aiškinti[¹ˈɑˑɪʃʲkʲɪnʲtʲɪ] to explain, clarify #2,344
- Macedonian објасни[ˈɔbjasni] to explain, explicate #1,148
- Malay jelaskan[d͡ʒə.las.kan] To explain #741
- Norwegian forklare/fɔrˈklɑːrə/ to explain #712
- Polish wyjaśnić/vɘˈjaɕ.ɲit͡ɕ/ to explain, to clarify #1,326
- Portuguese explicar/is.pliˈka(ʁ)/ to explain #980
- Romanian explica[ekspliˈka] to explain #1,342
- Russian объяснить[ɐbjɪsˈnʲitʲ] to explain #1,041
- Serbian objasniti/objǎsniti/ to explain #1,331
- Spanish explicar/eɡspliˈkaɾ/ to explain #1,909
- Swedish förklara/fœrˈklɑːra/ to explain #629
- Tagalog magpaliwanag/maɡpaliˈwanaɡ/ to explain oneself; to clarify #1,767
- Tamil விளக்கு/ʋɪɭɐkːɯ/ to explain, make clear, elucidate #1,030
- Turkish açıklama/a.t͡ʃɯk.ɫaˈma/ to explain #1,613
- Ukrainian пояснити[pɔjɐsˈnɪte] to explain, to explicate #1,197
- Vietnamese giảng[zaːŋ˧˩] to explain; to explicate; to lecture #1,870
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), 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.