How to say “hard” in 47 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.
- קשה/kaˈʃe/ Hebrew
- მაგარი[mäɡäɾi] Georgian
- কঠিন/koʈʰin/ Bengali
- കഠിനമായ/kɐʈ(ʰ)inɐmaːjɐ/ Malayalam
- سفت/seft/ Persian
“hard” in French: dur · Turkish: zor
It is commonest in Hebrew, where קשה is the 180th most used word.
Hard in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian vrazhdë/vɾaʒdə/ hard, rough, unfriendly #1,995
- Arabic تحاول/taħaːwala/ to try hard, to finesse #293
- Armenian հեշտ/heʃt/ easy, not hard, light #419
- Basque gogor/ɡoɡor/ #356
- Bengali কঠিন/koʈʰin/ hard, difficult #287
- Bosnian tvrdi/ˈtvrdi/ hard, firm #1,847
- Bulgarian тежко[ˈtɛʃko] heavily, hard #1,348
- Catalan dur[ˈdu] #549
- Chinese 努力/nu²¹⁴⁻²¹ li⁵¹/ diligently; hard #164
- Croatian tvrdi/ˈtvrdi/ hard, firm #1,574
- Czech kéž[ˈkɛːʃ] A statement of a wish that is hard or… #1,229
- Danish svært/ˈsvɛɐ̯ˀd/ difficult, hard, stiff, tough #395
- Dutch harde/ˈhɑrdə/ hard, strong #1,681
- English difficult/ˈdɪfɪkəlt/ Hard, not easy, requiring much effort #898
- Esperanto malfacila/malfaˈt͡sila/ #1,444
- Estonian kõva/ˈkɤvɑ/ hard, solid, rigid #923
- Finnish vaikea/ˈʋɑi̯keɑ/ difficult, hard #596
- French dur/dyʁ/ #456
- Galician duro[ˈduɾʊ] #588
- Georgian მაგარი[mäɡäɾi] hard, firm, strong #771
- German fest/fɛst/ firm; compact; hard #597
- Greek δύσκολο/ˈðiskoˌlo/ difficult, hard, tough, arduous #429
- Hebrew קשה/kaˈʃe/ #180
- Hindi मुश्किल/mʊʃ.kɪl/ difficult, hard #394
- Hungarian kemény[ˈkɛmeːɲ] #733
- Icelandic duglegur[ˈtʏɣ.lɛːɣʏr] diligent, working hard or skilfully #2,273
- Indonesian sulit/ˈsulɪt̚/ hard, difficult #323
- Italian difficile/difˈfi.t͡ʃi.le/ difficult, hard #453
- Latvian kurpes/ˈkurpes/ shoes with heels and hard soles, covering the… #1,458
- Lithuanian kietas[¹ˈkʲiɛtɐs] hard, solid #763
- Macedonian цврсто[ˈt͡svr̩stɔ] firmly, hard, fast #1,410
- Malay batu/batu/ stone; a hard earthen substance that form… #428
- Malayalam കഠിനമായ/kɐʈ(ʰ)inɐmaːjɐ/ #870
- Norwegian vondt[ʋʊnt] difficult, hard #558
- Persian سفت/seft/ #1,667
- Polish trudno/ˈtrud.nɔ/ hard, with difficulty #844
- Portuguese difícil/d͡ʒiˈfi.siw/ difficult, hard, unlikely #368
- Romanian dur/dur/ hard, tough #1,377
- Serbian tvrdi/ˈtvrdi/ hard, firm #1,730
- Slovenian trd/tə́rt/ hard, stiff, rigid #1,363
- Spanish difícil/diˈfiθil/ difficult, hard, tough, challenging, rough,… #403
- Swedish hårt/hoːʈ/ in a hard manner; inflexibly, unyieldingly #647
- Tagalog malakas/malaˈkas/ strong; hard #350
- Tamil முறை/mʊrɐɪ̯/ to become stiff, hard #127
- Turkish zor/ˈzoɾ/ hard, difficult #230
- Urdu سخت/səxt̪/ strict, severe, hard, tough, harsh #543
- Vietnamese cây[kəj˧˧] plant with a hard trunk or stem, such as a… #497
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), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), 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.