How to say “former” in 31 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.
- ex/ˈeɡs/ Spanish
- πρώην/ˈproin/ Greek
- לשעבר/lʃeʔaˈvaʁ/ Hebrew
- ყოფილი[χʼo̞pʰili] Georgian
- նախկին/nɑχˈkin/ Armenian
- সাবেক/ʃabek/ Bengali
“former” in Spanish: ex · Greek: πρώην
It is commonest in Polish, where była is the 102nd most used word.
Former in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gewese/xəˈviəsə/ #1,947
- Albanian qytet/cyˈtet/ city, particularly as a former administrative… #386
- Armenian նախկին/nɑχˈkin/ former, ex- #871
- Bengali সাবেক/ʃabek/ former, precedent, preceding, previous #1,283
- Bosnian nekad/nêkad/ once, in former times #749
- Bulgarian бивш[bifʃ] former, previous, past, ex- #1,800
- Chinese 以往/i²¹⁴⁻³⁵ wɑŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ the past; former times #1,861
- Croatian nekad/nêkad/ once, in former times #890
- Czech bývalý[ˈbiːvaliː] #2,132
- Estonian endine/ˈend̥ine/ former, erstwhile #1,100
- Finnish entinen/ˈentinen/ former, previous, erstwhile #1,782
- French ancien/ɑ̃.sjɛ̃/ old, former, ex- #1,341
- Georgian ყოფილი[χʼo̞pʰili] former, ex- #1,056
- Greek πρώην/ˈproin/ former, ex, onetime, sometime #791
- Hebrew לשעבר/lʃeʔaˈvaʁ/ Former, past, previous, erstwhile, sometime #691
- Hungarian korábbi[ˈkoraːbːi] former, previous, earlier, preceding, older,… #2,326
- Icelandic fyrrverandi[ˈfɪrːˌvɛːrantɪ] former, ex- #774
- Indonesian mantan/ˈmantan/ former; ex- #1,059
- Korean 전직[t͡ɕʌ̹ɲd͡ʑik̚] one's former post #2,069
- Lithuanian buvę[ˈbʊʋʲæː] former, past, ex- #977
- Malay purba/ˈpurba/ ancient, former #1,803
- Persian سابق[sɒː.béɢ̥] former, precedent #1,067
- Polish była/ˈbɘ.wa/ former, previous #102
- Serbian nekad/nêkad/ once, in former times #696
- Slovak bývalý/biːvaliː/ former, past, ex- #1,078
- Slovenian bivši/bíːʋʃi/ #660
- Spanish ex/ˈeɡs/ former, ex- #1,672
- Swedish förra[²fœ̞rːa] former, last, previous #693
- Tamil முன்னாள்/mʊnːɑːɭ/ former, ex, ex- #381
- Ukrainian колишній[kɔˈɫɪʃnʲii̯] former, previous, erstwhile, ex- #2,067
- Urdu سابق/sɑːbɪq/ former, prior, precedent, preceding, foregoing #1,067
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 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.