How to say “hard” in 47 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 முறை is the 127th most used word.
- Albanian vrazhdë hard, rough, unfriendly #1,995
- Arabic تحاول to try hard, to finesse #293
- Armenian հեշտ easy, not hard, light #419
- Basque gogor #356
- Bengali কঠিন hard, difficult #287
- Bosnian tvrdi hard, firm #1,847
- Bulgarian тежко heavily, hard #1,348
- Catalan dur #549
- Chinese 努力 diligently; hard #164
- Croatian tvrdi hard, firm #1,574
- Czech kéž A statement of a wish that is hard or… #1,229
- Danish svært difficult, hard, stiff, tough #395
- Dutch harde hard, strong #1,681
- English difficult Hard, not easy, requiring much effort #898
- Esperanto malfacila #1,444
- Estonian kõva hard, solid, rigid #923
- Finnish vaikea difficult, hard #596
- French dur #456
- Galician duro #588
- Georgian მაგარი hard, firm, strong #771
- German fest firm; compact; hard #597
- Greek δύσκολο difficult, hard, tough, arduous #429
- Hebrew קשה #180
- Hindi मुश्किल difficult, hard #394
- Hungarian kemény #733
- Icelandic duglegur diligent, working hard or skilfully #2,273
- Indonesian sulit hard, difficult #323
- Italian difficile difficult, hard #453
- Latvian kurpes shoes with heels and hard soles, covering the… #1,458
- Lithuanian kietas hard, solid #763
- Macedonian цврсто firmly, hard, fast #1,410
- Malay batu stone; a hard earthen substance that form… #428
- Malayalam കഠിനമായ #870
- Norwegian vondt difficult, hard #558
- Persian سفت #1,667
- Polish trudno hard, with difficulty #844
- Portuguese difícil difficult, hard, unlikely #368
- Romanian dur hard, tough #1,377
- Serbian tvrdi hard, firm #1,730
- Slovenian trd hard, stiff, rigid #1,363
- Spanish difícil difficult, hard, tough, challenging, rough,… #403
- Swedish hårt in a hard manner; inflexibly, unyieldingly #647
- Tagalog malakas strong; hard #350
- Tamil முறை to become stiff, hard #127
- Turkish zor hard, difficult #230
- Urdu سخت strict, severe, hard, tough, harsh #543
- Vietnamese cây plant with a hard trunk or stem, such as a… #497
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.